It looks like the Obama campaign’s effort to reach out to young voters through social media and television appearances was worth it. Overall, 19% of votes cast on Tuesday were by young people aged 18 to 29, which was one percentage point higher than 2008, when that group made up 18% of the total vote.
President Obama received 60% of those votes from young Americans, as opposed to former Governor Romney’s 37%.
In key battleground states like Ohio, Nevada, Virginia, and Florida, Obama gained more votes this election than he had in 2008 with young voters. It didn’t work everywhere though. In North Carolina, the president dropped from 74% of the youth vote in 2008 to 67% this year, and in Iowa he dropped from 61% to 56%.
It wasn’t all bad news for Romney either. He earned a higher percentage of the youth vote than the 32% Sen. John McCain won in 2008. The Obama campaign’s social media strength was obvious once again after he was declared the winner and posted this photo that was re-tweeted over 800,000 times, making it the most re-tweeted picture in history—even surpassing previous record holder Justin Bieber.
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