Opinion

Harvard poll finds a majority of young voters prefer GOP

Are the Democrats at risk of losing the youth vote? First lady Michelle Obama and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke rallied young voters in early October. Are the Democrats at risk of losing the youth vote? First lady Michelle Obama and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke rallied young voters in early October. Photo: Morry Gash / Associated Press Photo: Morry Gash / Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Harvard poll finds a majority of young voters prefer GOP 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

What is this, Stockholm syndrome?

The latest polling data from Harvard’s Institute of Politics should be discouraging to Democrats, who have traditionally been able to depend on young bleeding hearts for electoral support: A majority of 18- to 29-year-old likely voters now say they would prefer a Republican-controlled Congress to a Democratic one, by a margin of 4 percentage points. That’s true even though those very same voters say Democrats in Congress are doing a better job than their Republican counterparts.

To be fair, both parties get pretty lousy marks from young likely voters: Democrats received a 35 percent approval rating, while Republicans got 24 percent.

But even so, my generation’s stated preferences are perplexing: We Millennials apparently want to be ruled by the party we think is the greater of two evils.

This makes even less sense when you consider how the GOP has treated politically engaged Millennials.

Given young people’s voting records, and Republicans’ efforts to suppress the youth vote altogether, why are Millennials suddenly turning into Republicans en masse?

The answer is they aren’t. If you look at the entire universe of young people in Harvard’s poll — not just respondents who say they’ll “definitely” vote but also those who say they’re less likely to vote — they say they would prefer a Democratic-led Congress to a Republican-led one.

That is, the young overall still skew Democratic, just as history would predict. Many are just not motivated enough to act on their stated political beliefs by actually casting a ballot.

I think young people just feel abandoned by Democrats. With youth joblessness rates still crazy high, recent college graduates groaning under the weight of student loans and Millennials frequently blamed both for their own underemployment and the country’s overall economic woes, Democratic promises of hope and change have lost their shine. On lots of (mostly social) issues, Millennial views comport more closely with the Democratic platform than the Republican one, but of all current generations, Millennials are least likely to say they see much difference in the two parties.

Maybe the best form of youth voter suppression isn’t a voter ID law, long lines or closing the polls early. It’s persuading Millennials that our presumed leaders don’t give a damn about us.

©2014, Washington Post Writers Group

E-mail: crampell@washpost.com. Twitter: @crampell.