More Election News

• FL: Crist Would Caucus With Democrats if Elected
• AR-4: Ross Uses Fellow Democrats as Foil in House Bid
• IL: Quinn, Brady Joust Over Ethics, Social Issues
• AK: Write-Ins Flood Senate Race List
• MA: Candidates Focus on Core Constituencies
• MA-4: Bielat's Out-of-State Donations Swell
• NV: "None of the Above" Looms as Possible Factor in Race
• VA-5: Dems Hold the Line With Perriello
• OH: Democratic Town Loosens Its Party Ties
• TX-23: Spotlight on the Hispanic Vote in Rodriguez-Canseco Race
• WV: Obama a Drag on Manchin in Pivotal Race
• ME: Energized Base Tilts Rightward
• LA: Vitter Sex Scandal Gets Spotlight Again in Debate

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Damek Spacek, 22, voted for President Obama in 2008 but isn't sure which candidates he favors in the midterm elections in Connecticut, where he is an independent voter.

Spacek is pursuing a doctoral degree in genetics from Stanford University and is financially independent for the first time in life, so he hasn't had much time to research the competitive, open Senate and governor's races in his home state. He realized during an interview with RealClearPolitics that it was probably too late for him to cast absentee this year.

Asked later why he chose not to affiliate with the Democratic Party, Spacek said, "I want to keep my options open."

Interviews with young voters in college towns and big cities throughout the country revealed that while many picked Obama two years ago and leaned more often to Democratic candidates than Republicans, they did not say reflexively that they were Democrats.

In early October, a trio of young voters camped out near the stage where a reggae band was playing during the 40th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin. They talked to RealClearPolitics about their concerns that Republican Ron Johnson was poised to oust incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold in the Senate race.

Jacob Weigandt, Ellen Jordan and Carly Riepe all said, however, that they were independents, even though they voted for Obama and were supporting Feingold this year.

Two years ago, 68 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 voted for Obama compared to 32 percent of those in the demographic who voted for Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain in the presidential race, according to data from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. In 2006, 60 percent of the age group cast their ballots for Democratic congressional candidates in the midterms.

In 2008, 45 percent of the 18-to-29-year-olds who voted called themselves Democrats, compared to 29 percent who said they were independents or not part of either major party. Twenty-six percent said they were Republicans.

Recent reports on the electorate throughout the country suggest that young voters are not as enthusiastic to vote in this year's midterm elections for Democratic candidates as they were to vote for Obama in 2008. Anecdotal evidence suggests that young voters also may be rethinking how they cast their votes.

A vast majority of the voters RealClearPolitics approached for interviews this month in more than a dozen states where competitive races have unfolded this year said they needed to do more research on the candidates before they could say which side they would choose on Election Day.

Another young Wisconsin voter who spent the same Sunday afternoon earlier this month outside on State Street said he voted for Obama in 2008 but wasn't sure how he'd vote in the Senate race.

"I haven't investigated yet," said James Thompson, 20. "I need to do more investigating before I decide how I'm going to vote. I want to know what's really going on." Thompson said that while he has leaned to Democrats in the past, he is open to supporting Republicans.

In Los Angeles, 26-year-old Trish Leung said she was on the fence about how she'd vote in the California's governor's race between Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown and said she wasn't moved by either candidate.

Leung called herself socially liberal but fiscally conservative and is still trying to decide where she fits politically, like a lot of young voters interviewed for this and other stories this month.

Spacek, the Connecticut voter, fits into that group.

"My fiscally conservative views are definitely a new thing for me," he said, noting that his newfound financial independence has reshaped his opinions.

"Part of that could be a result of the current economic climate," Spacek said. "Socially, without a doubt, I'm pro-choice. I'm a social Democrat. It's just hard, given the current economic climate, to stomach higher taxes."

He said he would be open to voting for Republican candidates in the future so long as they're not dyed-in-the-wool social conservatives.

Over dinner in a Stanford cafeteria, Katie Sharp, 25, and another Ph.D. genetics candidate jumped in to interrupt Spacek.

"But Democrats will help you," she said. "Republicans won't do anything to help you -- you're not rich enough."

Sharp, who is originally from New Mexico, registered to vote in California two months ago and has already voted by mail for Brown in the governor's race and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in her re-election race against Republican challenger Carly Fiorina. She said she votes consistently for Democrats.

Asked how she thought Democrats have performed in the last two years, Sharp said she thought Obama had accomplished a lot but that the Democrats weren't able to get more things through because they were too concerned with getting Republicans on board.

"If they didn't go that route, they could have passed health care a lot quicker," she surmised. "They need to focus on the big picture more than the itty bitty details."

Asked if she was aware of the passage of credit card reform, Sharp said she was and noted that she had gotten a letter from her credit card company at the time. She gleaned just a little information from watching the news.

"I remember I thought it was mostly good, but I don't remember the details," she said.

"I think the Democrats are shy about talking about anything financial because it reminds voters of the recession, and even though that's really not their fault, they're getting blamed for it," Sharp said, adding, "There hasn't been too much P.R."

Like Sharp, Anna Krawisz, 25, is a registered Democrat in California who plans to vote for Democrats down the ticket but said that she would do so with less enthusiasm than she had in 2008.

Krawisz is a medical school student originally from Marshall, Wisconsin, where her father is the president of the local Democratic Party. She finds that in California, people aren't talking about the election.

"Here no one wants to offend anyone. I feel like people stick to generally benign topics," Krawisz said, adding, "I think people are disappointed by Obama's lack of movement on issues in general."

On Wednesday, Obama taped an appearance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show With John Stewart, in an overt attempt to reach out to young voters in the final week of the election.

In his first-ever interview with a sitting president, Stewart adopted a mostly serious tone as he seemed to speak for his young, progressive audience in questioning Obama about the extent to which he had delivered on his grandiose ambitions on the campaign trail.

Obama took umbrage with Stewart's characterization that the legislation he has pushed has felt "timid."

"Jon, I love your show, but this is something where I have a profound disagreement with you," Obama said, "This notion that health care was timid."

Obama repeated his call for patience from the American public as part of his argument that he has been making across the country on the campaign trail.

"When we promised change you can believe in, it wasn't in 18 months. It was change we were going to have to work on," Obama said before a live audience of mostly younger voters. "It's a work in progress - it's just not going to happen overnight."