I was looking over the exit polls for the VA and NJ governor races today, and the stark contrast between the youth votes between the two states really struck me.
Turn out of the youth was roughly the same in both states, but what's interesting is the difference in voting. In New Jersey, the youth were strongly Democratic, favoring Corzine 13 points more than did 30-44 year olds. That fits the trends with Obama last year. However, Virginia is very different. Not surprisingly, McDonnel won all age group, but what is surprising is the difference between 18-29 year olds and 30-44 year olds. There is no significant difference. The youth gave Deeds the same percentage of votes as the 30-44 year olds, 44%, and only 2 points less for McDonnel than the 30-44 year-old group.
This is what puzzles me, why would the youth still be very strongly Democratic relative to Gen Xers in NJ, but practically voting identically with them in VA?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/04/nyregion/1104-nj-exit-poll.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/04/us/politics/1104-va-exit-poll.html
