Poll: Younger voters dissatisfied with Obama’s handling of the economy

A new poll found that a majority of younger voters disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the economy.

The results suggest Republicans have an opportunity to win back some of the younger voters who backed Obama in 2008. Obama vowed on the campaign trail to change Washington, but 69 percent of poll respondents contend that leaders in the nation’s capital are failing to serve their generation.

{mosads}Roughly 23.4 million 18-29 year-olds cast their votes in 2008, marking the highest turnout of young voters in modern presidential history. Young people made up about 18 percent of the electorate in 2008, and Obama won this age bracket by 34 percentage points. The president will be hard-pressed to do that again in 2012.

Forty-four percent of respondents disapprove of the president’s handling of youth unemployment while only 31 percent approved, according to the poll conducted by the polling company, inc./womantrend on behalf of Generation Opportunity, a youth mobilization group.

Sixty-one percent of respondents said they would place higher priority on a candidate’s position on issues and record in office, rather than charisma and likability when they cast their vote for president next year.

“With high unemployment and high uncertainty, there’s a lot of dissatisfaction among young people,” said Paul T. Conway, the president of Generation Opportunity.

Seventy-seven percent of poll respondents are delaying major life changes due to economic restraints while 27 percent said that they were delaying going back to school or entering professional training programs.

The nationwide poll surveyed 600 young adults 18-29, and has a margin of error of 4 percent.