Young voters more likely to favor Democrats, Gallup says

A Gallup poll has found that more young voters finds themselves aligning with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

Since 2006, more young voters between the ages of 18 and 29 tend to end up voting Democratic, the poll discovered. Of young voters, 54 percent favor Democrats versus 36 percent with Republicans.

The number was only 47 percent of young voters during the time period of 1993 to 2003 that aligned with the Democrats versus 42 percent who preferred Republican.

Gallup believes that the widening disparity is the result of younger voters being more ethnically diverse, with 45 percent being nonwhite to 54 percent non-Hispanic white. The numbers used to be 29 percent nonwhite to 71 percent.

USA Today reports that the past two presidential election exit polls show younger people prefer Democrats, even as senior citizens swing the other way. In the 2012 election, President Barack Obama got 60 percent of the younger vote, though that is a 6 percent drop from the 2008 election.

Gallup's Jeffrey Jones notes, "The GOP may find itself in an increasingly weak position against the Democrats unless it can broaden its appeal to younger and non-white Americans."