Poll: Nearly 3 in 4 first-time voters favor Obama
Monday, October 27th, 2008First-time voters favor Obama over McCain by a nearly 3 to 1 margin, according to an ABC News-Washington Post poll. The poll, conducted Oct. 17-20, found Obama supporters leading McCain supporters among first-time voters by 73 to 26 percent.
That’s a much bigger margin than the Democratic candidate enjoyed four years ago, when exit polls reported first-timers backing John Kerry over President Bush by only 7 percentage points, 53-46.
But the pollsters noted that turnout among first-time voters is challenging to predict. “That means targeted get-out-the-vote efforts can matter particularly with this group — not just in how many vote, but in how those who do vote divide between the candidates,” they said.
First-time likely voters this year include three times as many Democrats as Republicans, a sharp shift from 2004, when party registrations were about even.
A separate study found that voters between the ages of 18 and 34 rank experience low among the qualities they want in the next president.