After reviewing new data, Electionate believes that Obama could gain votes:
Compared to 2008, Obama’s weakest voting group is actually young white voters. According to Gallup, Romney actually leads Obama by 3% (43-46) among 18-29 year old whites, a huge reversal from Obama’s 54-44% edge four years ago. In this light, Obama’s decision to embrace gay marriage becomes more strategic. While I doubted whether there were many voters who Obama could sway with support for gay marriage, these numbers suggest that I was wrong. By all accounts, gay marriage is more popular among 18-29 year old whites than any other age group, and certainly more than 44% of young whites are in favor. If Obama’s support for gay marriage can persuade socially progressive Obama 08? supporters to return to the Obama camp, there’s actually much more room for Obama to gain from gay marriage than one might initially suspect.
Silver takes a close look at the Democratic base's views. The Dish rounded up more commentary on electoral consquences yesterday.
The Dish 