Furthermore, among the millennials interviewed, there was a “palpable sense of underemployment” according to Luke Frans of Resurgent Republic. Although these young voters still like Obama personally, they now hold him responsible for his policies. Discussions of “hope” and “change” only elicited cynicism from them. A young North Carolinian surveyed said that President Obama “promised the moon and could not even deliver the upper atmosphere,” while another voter from Raleigh complained that “we expected a lot more.”

Resurgent Republic is not the only group to have discovered this trend among younger voters. Generation Opportunity, a new, non-partisan organization that seeks to organize millennials on economic issues, has also found rising dissatisfaction over Obama’s handling of the economy from previously ardent supporters. Its polling of young Americans across the country shows that 54 percent believe America is heading in the wrong direction. According to Paul Conway, the president of Generation Opportunity, the “number one overwhelming issue [for them], which folks deal with everyday, is the lack of jobs in America.” Generation Opportunity has found that the current economy has forced 77 percent of millennials to put their lives on hold. Many are delaying buying a home, saving for retirement, paying off debt, returning to school, or starting a family…

Independent millennials that are leaning Republican are focused solely on the economy and are not being drawn to the Republican party by social issues.