In a recent post I questioned the claim set forth in a July 1 New York Times article that the newest generation of voters, the so-called "post-millennials," were significantly more conservative and less supportive of President Obama than members of the millennial generation. The Times article cited an online survey conducted earlier this year by the Harvard Center for Politics, which found that Americans under the age of 25 were more skeptical of activist government and therefore more open to voting for Mitt Romney than the 25 to 29 year-olds who strongly supported Mr. Obama four years ago.
In my post I presented evidence from a recent Gallup Poll as well as the 2010 national exit poll that found post-millennials to actually be more liberal and more likely to vote Democratic than members of the millennial generation. I can now provide additional confirmation of these findings, based on evidence from the 2012 Gallup Tracking Poll.
Gallup does not normally separate 18 to 24 year-olds from 25 to 29 year-olds in their weekly breakdown of presidential candidate support by age groups among registered voters. In response to my request, however, Gallup generously provided me with the following results based on interviews with registered voters from early May through early July:
18-24 Obama 57, Romney 34 N=1470
25-29 Obama 53, Romney 35 N=1135
Contrary to the claims made in the New York Times article, post-millennials were significantly more supportive of President Obama than millennials. This is not surprising since the post-millennial generation is even more racially diverse than the millennial generation, a trend that is certain to continue with future generations of voters.