Read more of the Rare Under-40 Poll results:
- Exclusive Rare Under-40 poll finds young people hold surprising views on Obama, marijuana, God and more
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Are young people turning away from God?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: What's worse — marijuana or alcohol?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Porn is ruining our sex lives?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Do young voters think religious people are more marginalized than before?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Obama's support from young people is waning
- Rare Under-40 Poll: On impeachment, young voters are split by party
- Rare Under-40 Poll: All aboard for the Mars colony?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Should government help young people with their student loan debt?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Who trusts the police more?
- Rare Under-40 Poll: Young people are still pro-choice
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About the poll
From August 11th till the 18th, Gravis Marketing, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 556 under 40 voters in the United States regarding current issues that impact the political and social landscape. The poll was conducted using Gravis Marketing Internet Panels (47%) and Gravis Automated Calls (53%) on behalf of online media outlet Rare.US. Overall, the poll has a margin of error of ± 5%. The general scope of the Gravis Marketing poll was to capture opinions of registered voters under the age of 40 on political, social, religious, and economic issues. The poll included a group of 54% female registered voters and 46% male voters across the United States. The majority of those polled (39%) stated they were 'independent' voters, while 32% claim to be members of the Democratic Party and 29% registered Republicans.
About Rare
Rare.us, a Cox Media Group property based in Washington, DC, was the fastest growing major media site in the United States in August with nearly 20 million visitors -- 40 times more than the same period a year ago. This unrivaled growth is the result of leveraging social media to discover and distribute the buzzworthy and uplifting content Americans will share with their networks.
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Young people are divided over whether they would support Barack Obama or Mitt Romney if the 2012 election were held again today, according to a new poll conducted for Rare, a Cox Media Group website based in Washington, DC.
Forty-four percent of voters said they would vote for President Obama, while 44 percent said they would pull the lever for Mitt Romney, a statistical tie. Twelve percent said they were unsure.
The question was asked as part of a first-of-its-kind Rare poll that surveyed only respondents under 40. The questions were tailored to chart trends in the opinions of younger voters.
>>Read all of Rare's under-40 poll results
For voters ages 18-29, typically regarded as the “youth vote,” Obama won 51 percent to Romney’s 37 percent. This shows serious erosion for Obama since the presidential election, when he won 60 percent of the youth vote. Youth voters made up roughly 19 percent of the 2012 electorate and many analysts believe their support decided the election.
The most startling finding may be that Romney would win 43 percent of the Hispanic vote, up from 27 percent in 2012 and the most since President George W. Bush won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004.
Roman Catholics, often seen as kingmakers in presidential elections, would support Romney over Obama by eight points, according to the poll.
Still, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch said the poll wasn’t particularly good news for either candidate.
“If I were Governor Romney I wouldn’t go around promoting this poll,” Fitton told Rare in a phone interview. “It’s no ringing endorsement of Romney, but certainly no ringing endorsement of President Obama.”
The Rare survey was conducted by nonpartisan Gravis Marketing between August 11 and August 18. A total of 556 respondents under age 40 were interviewed over the phone and using Internet panels. Overall, the poll has a margin of error of 5 percent.
Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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