Religious Youth Vote Could Tip Scales in Battleground States

Barack Obama has cultivated a rock star persona and used “change” as a rallying cry, attracting young, secular voters, but it could be the large segment of religiously-oriented youth who make or break the Democratic presidential candidate and his Republican opponent John McCain this election year. Three swing states — Ohio, Missouri and Colorado — could tip the scales if religious youth show up the way they have in recent elections, said John Green, director of the Bliss Institute at University of Akron in Ohio. “These ‘battleground states’ are good reflections of the nation as a whole,” Green told FOXNews.com. “The youth vote — both religious and non-religious — are likely to show the same patterns at the national level. If they [religious youth] can have an impact nationally, they will have an impact in the battleground states.” Evangelical youth accounted for about 20 percent of the overall youth vote in the last ... (link)