Millennial voters, who overwhelmingly backed President Barack Obama's two presidential bids, have lost enthusiasm for the president, giving him his lowest job approval rating since he took office, a new poll has found.
According to a Gallup Poll conducted daily from 2009 through November 2014, white 18- to 29-year-olds give Obama a 34 percent job approval rating, just 3 points above older whites, and the narrowest gap between the two demographics since Obama began his presidency.
In 2009, the president's approval rating among young whites stood at 58 percent and 9 points higher than whites age 30 and older.
"These data underscore the gradual erosion of the disproportionately strong support Obama received from young white voters as he took office in 2009 and ran for re-election in 2012," Gallup said.
"From a broader perspective, there is relatively little difference today in Obama's job approval ratings among whites in any of the four major age groups."
Obama, however, maintains a much higher approval rate among non-white millennials, though his support is down among those in that category as well.
Obama's approval rating is 80 percent among young blacks; 68 percent among young Asians; and 55 percent among Hispanic 18- to 29-year-olds.
"These findings demonstrate the general importance of race and ethnicity when one talks about Obama's job approval ratings by age. Obama continues to enjoy higher approval ratings among all 18- to 29-year-olds — regardless of race or ethnicity — than he does among the general population, but this is largely attributable to younger age groups in the U.S. being disproportionately composed of nonwhites," Gallup said.
"Obama's continuing loss of support among younger white voters highlights one of the potential challenges ahead for Democratic candidates in 2016."
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