With Obama capturing an astonishing two-thirds of the youth vote, voters under the age of 30, sometimes called Generation Y, might be more appropriately called the Obama Generation. It’s clear that Obama will shape the political worldview of this generation for decades to come.

Immediately after John McCain announced that Sarah Palin was his choice for vice president, the media breathlessly reported Palin’s ability to bring in the women’s vote. Indeed, Palin herself asserted that she could attract some of those 18 million Hillary Clinton supporters because, presumably, women voters like to vote for women candidates. This often made proposition is demonstrably false and was so from the beginning. As polls after the Republican convention showed, partisanship is a much bigger determinant of how voters feel about Palin than gender and because men tend to identify with the Republican Party more than the Democratic Party, Palin actually has higher ratings among men than she does among women.

Since it became clear that Hillary Clinton would likely bow out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president, the dominant narrative has been the angry white women who are holding back from Barack Obama. Some even suggest that John McCain can make a major play for these disaffected Clinton supporters. The problem with this narrative is that it is mostly wrong, ignoring history and failing to understand Obama's real challenge among women voters.

In the wake of the 2006 elections, advocates for youth engagement trumpeted the increase in turnout among young voters: voters under 30 years of age turned out in higher rates than 2002, making it the second election in a row with increased turnout among the younger voters. Oddly, fewer commented on the fact that Democrats made an incredibly strong showing among these voters, winning 60 percent of their vote.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Vice President Anna Greenberg speaks at an Americans Against Escalation press conference about public opinion towards President Bush's escalation policy in Iraq. 

In one of the more remarkable turns in this election season, rural voters are turning strongly against Republicans in competitive House and Senate races.  Rural voters have been a key component of the Republican base since 1994, winning them with 60 percent of the vote in the last off year election (2002).

Along with taxes and security, immigration represents one of the pillars of Republican attacks on Democratic attacks this year. Regardless of the district or state, an inflammatory attack on Democrats for allegedly supporting amnesty and Social Security benefits for illegal immigrants fill the airways and mailboxes. But the data are not so clear that attacking Democrats on immigration is terribly effective, at least in many races.

To address the issue of women's declining support for the Democratic Party, progressives need to cease thinking of women as a monolithic voting bloc and understand that the differences among them are fundamental and polarizing.

In the last two presidential elections, the Democratic candidate won among women fairly decisively, by 16 points (Bill Clinton) and 11 points (Al Gore), respectively. In contrast, John Kerry won women voters by a mere 3 points, 51 percent to 48 percent. Kerry's trouble with women is clearly rooted in the decline of support among white, blue-collar women for Democratic candidates, a trend that reached its low point to date in this election.

A new generation is coming of age in America and politicians ignore it at their peril. Generation Y, as it's been called, is expected to be as large as the Baby Boom Generation, and when the full group is of voting age, it could have as much political significance.