The Daily Show gets its first presidential visit from Barack Obama next week as Democrats strive to reach young voters

With the Democratic party eager to get its supporters fired up and ready to vote, Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops with a presidential appearance on Comedy Central's Daily Show just days before the midterm elections.

The White House confirmed that President Obama will tape a segment to appear on the show next Wednesday night, three days before the show's host Jon Stewart holds a "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington DC as a moderate counterpart to Fox News host Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally held in the capital in August.

Obama's decision follows concerns that the wave of younger voters who helped propel him to the presidency in 2008 are disenchanted with politics and the Democratic party.

A new poll for CBS News found that 54% of first-time voters in 2008 were less likely to vote in the midterm elections, even though they remain largely supportive of Obama and his party.



In recent weeks the White House has sought out venues for Obama to make direct appeals to younger voters, including massive rallies on university campuses in key swing states and holding an hour-long "town hall" meeting shown live on MTV.

With its average nightly audience of 1.8 million viewers –a majority in the under 35 age bracket and highly engaged with current events – the Daily Show remains a potent direct line to the younger voters that Obama and his party need to lure to the polls on 2 November.

Since becoming president Obama has appeared on late night talkshows with Jay Leno and David Letterman – but Wednesday's appearance will be the first time he has gone on the Daily Show since becoming president. His four previous appearances were as a senator and presidential candidate.

Obama himself recently praised Stewart's rally, co-hosted with faux-conservative host Stephen Colbert of the satirical Colbert Report. Saying he was "amused" by talk of the rally, Obama said it was important that everyone's voices be heard.