Study: Parties need to focus on winning voter allegiance at young age

The study found that voters with birthdays in September 2001 were more likely to register as Republicans than voters born in August 2001 by about 2 percentage points, and that the 2 percent difference continued into the 2008 election cycle.

“Our research shows that party strategists should focus on winning over voters when they are young,” said lead researcher Sharun Mukand from the University of Warwick. “However our findings have important implications for the political arena and for public policies. Policies may persist simply because support for a party endures. In particular, if voters are unwilling to shift political allegiance in response to new, politically relevant information, then policies out of tune with changing times may live on.”

According to the researchers, this is not the only time in the last ten years an event created a visible political shift among young voters. The most recent such event was the election of Barack Obama.