New Voters Back Obama —if They Turn Out

Poll finds newly registered not motivated

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 1, 2008 5:49 AM CDT

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New Voters Back Obama —if They Turn Out — Barack Obama at a rally in Nevada. A new poll show he's favored by first time voters but it will be a challenge to get them to the polls. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Newly registered voters could be a potent force in the presidential election, and heavily favor Barack Obama over John McCain, 61% to 30%, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal/MySpace poll finds. But getting them to vote may be a challenge, reports the Wall Street Journal. Most are young adults, and just 49% say they are very interested in the election, compared to 70% voters of all age groups.

Some 54% of the new voters said they definitely planned to vote Nov. 4. "Obama's still got a significant challenge to get these people to the polls," said a Republican pollster who helped conduct the survey. "The more these voters are actually voting, the more challenging this election is for McCain."
(More new voters stories.)

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