Obama Approval Rating Increases Among College Students

Endurance we can believe in?

According to a new survey from the Harvard Institute of Politics, young adults still overwhelmingly like President Barack Obama. Among four-year college students alone, the president's approval rating has risen 9 points to 60 percent since a similar poll was conducted October. The president's overall approval rating holds at 55 percent among 18-to 29-year-olds, up 6 points from October.

As for Obama's pull among youth in 2012, 38 percent of Millenials said they'd vote for the president against a "generic Republican" candidate.

On a larger scale, 27 percent of students said they trusted the federal government, a 2-point decrease from last year. Fifty percent said they trusted the military, a 3-point drop. And 83 percent of students reported caring about America's global standing.

For more results, see the full survey here.

Comments

[Danny Wilde]

03:40 PM on 04/02/2011

Obama's approval rating is ZERO among anyone with an education higher than GED an IQ above cretinism and a net worth of over 5.00... However illiterate food stamp welfare gimme dat and gimme dose think hes great... A complete and total academic and professional fraud, traitor and is universally considered the worst and weakest leader of anything in the entire history of civilization

[taxi648]

12:23 AM on 04/04/2011

Danny Wilde, let me congratulate you for having the guts to post this. I look at the republican party and I see nothing but big government wanting to control my exsistence. I have never taken a handout, am certainly literate, and have a net worth that would take more then your fingers and toes to count. For a fact I support President Obama, as a registered republican, so what I know for sure is that he has a least ONE supporter with a masters degree +, and an above average intelligence quotient.

[MistyCG]

09:36 PM on 04/01/2011

I'm glad his base still likes him. He's done a lot for college students.

[Billyguitar]

02:14 PM on 04/01/2011

Just look at his popularity at it's most base level. The young folks see him as youthful and fairly hep. Now look at Gingrich and what do you see, old and square.

[journ student]

10:48 AM on 04/01/2011

I'm a recent college graduate and now working on my MA. I can't help but suspect that a large part of the president's support may be to do with the recently overhauled student loan system. Before I deferred my MA study, I went through the process of applying for a Stafford Loan through a bank. Absolute nightmare of red tape, roundabout logic, roadblocks and delays. The next year I applied for a Direct Loan, which was done through the government and my university (an overseas one at that), with no bank middleman. Straight forward and simple, both for me and my school. Easy as pie and my payments have been on time. This alone makes me grateful to the president and the Democratic Congress whose legislation make the loan process for me (and probably many, many other students) much easier.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

10:03 AM on 04/01/2011

While I am mildly pleased that Obama's college-aged cohort ratings have improved, Huffposters might like to know that informal polls last fall of my 4 CC classes revealed that only about 10% of them bothered to vote in the November 2010 mid-term elections, even with a California marijuana proposition on the ballot ( it eventually failed ).

IMHO, I believe that young voters were disappointed in Obama as POTUS, as were many progressives, and that they will not display much enthusiasm in November 2012. Because of their age group ( 18-24 ), they do not understand the necessity of voting, recognizing that perfection cannot be the enemy of the good. Next year, I will take a deep breath and complete my mail-in election form, voting for Obama, but only because any GOP alternative is simply unthinkable....

[flossophy]

01:13 AM on 04/01/2011

Wait wait... lemme see... 

Less-informed students at Liberally-dominated colleges have an increased approval rating of a Liberal president while his approval rating ta.nks with the rest of the population.  

*sigh*

[ReadThomasSowell]

01:20 AM on 04/01/2011

Spot on...again.

BTW, belated happy B-Day, Floss!

[flossophy]

01:28 AM on 04/01/2011

Thanks! 

I'm feelin' old... but not that old! ;)

[NotesFromME]

10:00 AM on 04/01/2011

Laughable in the extreme, considering the willful ignorance of so-called conservatives who have to resort to pathological lying to main support among their "base." The propaganda arm of the right--Fox News--is the most salient example. Overall their audience rate as the most uninformed or misinformed group in the country. Demonstrably false assertions and stereotypes are all you folks have to keep yourself fired up.

It is a fact that the more educated a person becomes, the more likely they are to be a Liberal. As for the allegation about "Liberal" professors, absolute and unmitigated hogwash. The content of most college classrooms has nothing to do with politics. My degrees are in History, and I teach History and Literature at the local state university. I sat in dozens of courses on both the undergraduate and graduate level in the process of getting my education and I can remember only a handful of times current politics was mentioned, and that was only in the most passing manner. In my own classes I encourage my students to write about their own views, but they are required to back them up with facts and primary sources. Unfortunately students raised on a diet of fact free talking points, ignorant babble, and vitriol struggle with critical thinking and evaluating evidence.

I come from a very old school conservative background,and belong to a VERY conservative church where Liberals and moderates are about forty percent of the congregation. Conservatism becomes more deranged every day.

[BarackstarObama]

12:44 AM on 04/01/2011

Exactly why the GOP wants to stop college students from voting.

[flossophy]

01:15 AM on 04/01/2011

College students have soft mushy minds that are plastic and moldable. 

I used to be one. 

Why do you think the Left, Inc have holed-up and entrenched themselves in academia?

[Ddorsey]

03:32 AM on 04/01/2011

That seems like a generalization, I know plenty of well informed liberal college students. I'd say the real difference maker is social issues. Younger people are just far more liberal on social issues across the board.

[Just a passerby]

06:37 AM on 04/01/2011

Now you're merely a poor tr0ll.

Wow, what progress!

Not.

[Coupons4Free1]

12:20 AM on 04/01/2011

Besides being a single mother, being the President of the United states is the most difficult job in the World. You are allways looked at under a microscope, everything is critizied or scrutinized. Almost like a no win situation. No President is perfect. No man is perfect. If there were another individual running this country he would be criticized as well. The man is doing the best he can do. Neither he nor anyone else is perfect. "Independent signing off"

[Cloud30]

12:15 AM on 04/01/2011

It's actually a bit unfair to dismiss the views of college students. If anything...college students aren't as stuck in their old or traditional ways or aren't as stuck in particular agendas as older voters

As a college kid myself, I can pretty much say that every college kid I knew during the 2008 campaign knew all the ins and outs of the candidates and their points of views. Many actually say they're not surprised by many of the things Obama does because if people actually Listened and paid attention during the campaign much of what he's doing was expected. In fact, if you go back and look, and not just at the sound bytes...you may find that to be true for the most part

[NotesFromME]

10:06 AM on 04/01/2011

Well said.

[maxom]

11:26 PM on 03/31/2011

AquaBuddha .......nope....got some bad stuff too....ha ha

[Harvey32]

11:19 PM on 03/31/2011

These stats mean nothing unless college students vote in the same percentages and with the same fervor as seniors, or evangelicals, or gun owners.

Until then, polling young people is like polling about who believes in UFOs or not. Interesting reading. Nothing related to real world.

And, since young people don't vote, expect to have Pell Grants cut (but social security preserved). Expect more military conflict. Expect less attention to environment.

Actions of logical consequences. The actions of our government is the direct and logical result of certain blocks of Americans voting in higher percentages than others. Period. It's not about the Koch Brothers. It's not about campaign finance laws. It's about feet - on the ground - walking to voting booths in numbers and casting ballots.

Period.

[NotesFromME]

10:09 AM on 04/01/2011

True enough on one level, but constantly firing up the base with agit-prop fueled by corporate interests goes a long way toward getting those feet walking.

[maxom]

09:48 PM on 03/31/2011

What do college kids know about what's going on in the world....most of them think a political party is a smoke in or drink in..

[AdamWest1313]

07:34 PM on 04/01/2011

And you base this on what? I go to college and spend a good 3 to 4 hours a day catching up on politics with a variety of news sources.

[Toooldtobelieve]

09:28 PM on 03/31/2011

There are many 60 year olds that approve of him also.

[taxi648]

12:05 AM on 04/04/2011

I also am in my 60's and agree with you. I am even a registered republican. Our country didn't get into this mess in two years and it is going to take a long tome to get things back to some semblance of
normalcy. The right man has the job. College kids need to work hard to keep President Obama in office.

[KIVPossum]

09:16 PM on 03/31/2011

Only 27% trust the government. That's sad. Already laying the foundation to expect and accept the worst from our leaders

[NotesFromME]

10:23 AM on 04/01/2011

When the unrelenting message from the right is that even good government IS the problem and that government employees--school teachers, public safety officers, road maintenance workers, clerks at the City Hall and DMV -- are villains rather than middle class public servants, it is a wonder that the number is that high.

[frank day]

09:11 PM on 03/31/2011

Was this before or after his budget proposal that cuts back Pell Grant amounts?

[one tequila two tequila]

09:24 PM on 03/31/2011

many are cutting back on work study programs