ORANGE CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
With the promise of "hope" and "change" President Barack Obama won the hearts of most young voters in the last election cycle. In return, they helped hand him the White House. Four years later, GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney is hoping Obama's young voters will "change" their minds.
Go back to 2008. CNN reported Obama won 18 to 29 year olds by 66%. You don't have to search too hard to find young people on the president's side.
"I'm probably voting for Obama," said Northwestern College Student Seth Herning
But, 19-year-old Joleen Wilhelm, also a Northwestern student, says Obama is old news on her Christian campus.
"I think things have changed. I see a lot of younger kids on campus who are very conservative. Obviously, not all are Republican, but conservative," said Wilhelm.
Nationally, pollsters at Gallup show Obama still has 52% approval rating among 18 to 29 year olds. But it's slipping, a dip of 3% in the last week. Romney campaign officials say young voters are fed up with the President.
"They're looking around today at an unemployment rate for recent college graduates above 50%. They have record debt, record unemployment," said Romney Spokesperson Shawn McCoy.
In his campaigning, Obama has been cooling those concerns. A few weeks ago, he reminded a group in Waterloo the economy has "no quick fixes."
"We knew that restoring the bargain that made this country great would not be easy. It was going to take more than one year, or one term, even more than one president. But, we knew we had to get started," said Obama.
That's a message wasted on students like Wilhelm who have Mitt on the mind.
"Oh, I am going to be voting for Romney," said Wilhelm.
Romney greets supporters in Orange City, Iowa.
