Eye On The Left: Millennials Shifting Right?

Young voters changing minds

A new poll indicates one of President Obama's vaunted voting blocs, millennials, has shifted allegiances. And the evidence comes from a large (2,029 18- to 29-year-olds) poll by the left-leaning Harvard University Institute of Politics, which is located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass. The poll says 51 percent of those who will "definitely be voting" want Republicans in charge, with 47 percent favoring Democrats. While the percentages are close, it does reflect an eight-point change from the last midterm, when 55 percent preferred Democrats and 43 percent Republicans.

Of those who will "definitely be voting," 42 percent approve of the president and 56 percent disapprove.

The poll also shows Hispanic support for the president has dropped significantly. He is now approved by only 49 percent of the group while 46 percent disapprove.

Just sex objects

Cosmopolitan magazine, which does not endorse a single Republican in Tuesday's election, did find a way to encourage single college women to vote -- a party bus to shuttle students to the polls "stocked with snacks, prizes, shirtless male models, and more."

The magazine, which began in 1886 but was transformed in the mid-1960s by chief editor Helen Gurley Brown into a periodical for the sexually liberated woman, explained that it began a recent foray into politics "because we saw how regularly young female voters are derided, condescended to, and insulted."

Somehow, though, offering a party bus with shirtless male models to entice their vote is not condescending or insulting to women.

North Carolina State was recently announced as the winner of the party bus contest and Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan endorsed for reelection in the state.

A recent poll in the Tar Heel State indicated the economy was the top issue for women and 18- to 34-year-olds. The proper amount of baby oil on a male model's chest did not finish anywhere near the top.

Begich's begging

Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, D-Ak., is in a tough election fight with GOP challenger Dan Sullivan, but now the incumbent is having to fight his own ads.

In one, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ak., has requested that her Senate colleague remove her picture. When it was brought up by Sullivan in a debate, Begich explained that she didn't want to be in the ad because she didn't like how she looked, not because the two have policy differences.

"That, to me, if offensive," Murkowski said later. "This is not a situation where you want to make sure you've got a pretty picture on the TV. ... I think it's important that people understand that 'no means no'."

Another of his ads invoked the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, alleging its support for the senator's work to stem the two problems in the state. The problem is, the organization is a nonprofit and does not endorse candidates.

Peggy Brown, the group's executive director, said she "was incredibly surprised to see the flyer. ... We are absolutely nonpartisan and work well with all parties." The use of the name was "very disappointing."

Seeing red In New England

Tuesday's elections may tell a different tale, but New England has a red tinge this fall, and it's not from the leaves.

Just days before the voters make their final decisions, Republicans had the lead in three gubernatorial races and in the New Hampshire U.S. Senate race. Incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage of Maine had a small lead over a Democrat and an independent, and Republican challengers Tom Foley in Connecticut and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts pulled ahead in too-close-to-call races in those states.

In the Senate race, former Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown edged into a tiny lead over incumbent Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. If Brown were to pull off that win, with the GOP almost assured of at least three other pickups, Senate control would almost certainly shift for President Obama's last two years.

Both candidates in the latter race know a little bit about wave elections, Shaheen having lost to John Sununu in 2002 when President George W. Bush was still ascendant and Brown having lost to Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire in 2012 when President Obama was re-elected.

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