With efforts to reach young voters that include everything from concerts by John Legend, Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen to a just-unveiled iPhone application and hundreds of Facebook student groups, the presidential campaign of Democratic Senator Barack Obama has been going after the demographic hard.

According to the results of a new poll conducted by USA Today, in conjunction with Gallup and MTV, those efforts appear to be making a difference, giving Obama a 2-1 lead over Republican rival Senator John McCain among this group, representing the biggest gap between two candidates ever seen in this demographic since exit polling began in 1976. Compare the 61 percent of respondents who said they would support Obama if the election were held today to the 32 percent who said they would cast a ballot for McCain, and the results of the telephone survey — conducted from September 18-28 on a group of 900 18-to-29-year-olds — appear to show that Obama has a decisive lead among the demographic.

According to the poll results, the majority of the respondents (64 percent) said they have put "quite a lot" of thought into the election, with 75 percent reporting that they are registered to vote. Nearly all of those respondents (73 percent) said they intended to vote, 30 percent for the first time. Like most of America, young voters said they were most concerned about the economy (28 percent), followed by the war in Iraq (12 percent) and the cost of health care and health insurance (6 percent). The majority of those surveyed (58 percent) said they thought Obama would do a better job of handling whichever issue they deemed most critical, compared with just 27 percent for McCain.

The majority of respondents (60 percent) identified themselves as Democrats or Democratic leaning, versus 31 percent who identified as Republican and 6 percent independent.

Nearly half of those questioned (44 percent) agreed with something Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden said in Thursday's debate: that this is the single most important election in the last 50 years. In what appears to be a generational divide between the 72-year-old McCain and 47-year-old Obama, 71 percent of those polled said they thought the Illinois senator understands the problems of young people better than his rival, who came in at just 12 percent.

That being said, 59 percent said they did not think McCain — who would be the oldest person ever elected to a first term as president if he wins — is too old to be president, but 55 percent perceived his presidency to be the equivalent of another four years of the Bush administration.

Despite Obama's apparent lead among those surveyed, the poll results show that 24 percent of young voters have not yet made up their minds about whom they're voting for, with 53 percent saying they're definitely backing Obama and 23 percent planning to vote for McCain. Based on projections that the 18-29 voting block contains around 40 million voters, the results leave about 10 million undecideds in this demographic, a potentially game-changing group of swing voters that could help tip the election either way. The steadily increasing turnout among young voters in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 primaries indicates to many analysts that the demographic should be out in force on November 4, despite their reputation as unreliable voters, according to USA Today.

While Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the youngest person on either ticket at 44, has gotten high marks among her base for likability, youth voters did not appear swayed by her telegenic personality, rating her last among the four candidates (35 percent) in favorability. While McCain garnered a 43 percent favorable rating among respondents, tying him with Biden, Obama was at 71 percent.

On the question of whether the VP picks are qualified to become president in the case of an emergency, only 32 percent rated Palin as ready to take over, while 59 percent said they were comfortable with Biden rising to the top job. In a year when history will be made no matter who wins the election, 79 percent of respondents said they thought a win for Obama would be a significant advancement for racial equality in the U.S., while 67 percent said a McCain win with Palin as the first female VP would be considered a significant advancement in gender equality.

But perhaps the most important question — "Which candidate would you rather have a beer with?" fell squarely into Obama's court, with 52 percent saying they'd prefer to down some suds with the Democrat, versus only 27 for McCain, with similar numbers for the question of whom respondents would rather have as a teacher. However, 43 percent said they'd rather read McCain's private diary compared to 39 percent who wanted a look at Obama's private thoughts. And, despite his years of experience and wisdom, only 36 percent said they'd turn to McCain for advice, with Obama ringing up 51 percent of the votes in that category.

Respondents were nearly split down the middle over who would do a better job of providing benefits for returning veterans (46 to 41, in favor of McCain), with those numbers reversed on the question of who would take better care of the troops currently in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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