On the political left, raising the youth vote is one of the most common goals. Simply put, liberals have a big baby problem: They're not having enough of them, they haven't for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections.

I don't think this is anything to worry about if you are a liberal. If everyone voted like their parent's did, everyone would be conservatives. I have a history of voting Democrat and my parents do as well. The difference between us is that I am much more of a liberal than they are. If I would have to characterize my parent's political views, I would say they are conservative Democrats. I, as you well know, am a liberal Democrat. I'm not worried about this poll at all. We liberals are very strong, and I believe that in the future we will continue to gain members, gain support, and therefore gain power.