Are young voters really as Democratic as being portrayed?

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Young voters are only extremly liberal on social issues, when it comes to economy I believe we're equally split. Even the young hard-core republicans I know support gay rights and enviorment for example.

I don't see this as a lasting trend. As ottermax pointed out, it's very much a generational thing. Those who were young during the 80's and the grand era of conservatism tend to be more republican while the younglings have been very democratic since Bill Clinton. In twenety to thirty years into the future the GOP might very well be the youth party while Democrats are the ones who have a strong base with middle-aged people. Of course the Republicans would have to get rid of the right-wing and their extreme ideas for that to happen.

And yes social issues are important, even if they're not the most important ones. I don't vote only based on what politicians think about those questions (if I did I would have been supporting Ron Paul not Obama) but they're still very important. I also know a girl who votes Republican only because she is opposed to gun control, even though she agrees with the Dems on basicly every other issue, so it workes the other way around too.