Youth vote critical to Obama in Michigan

DETROIT, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- With the presidential race neck-and-neck in Michigan political groups are working to register college students to vote in November.

The Detroit News reported Monday that in the Wolverine State, Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by just 1 percentage point.

Pollster Bernie Porn said young voters are a key voting bloc this year.

"Obama has to rely more on the big turnout of the young voters," Porn said. "If they don't turn out, given the high proportion of vote that Obama is getting from them, he's probably going to lose."

The newspaper reported that Obama is expected to receive more than the 55 percent of Michigan's votes from 18- to 29-year-olds that Democratic nominee John Kerry got in 2004.

"The most important issue is getting your voters to the poll. That's why you see the Obama campaign making sure that people who would vote for him are registering and preparing to vote. It's not so much about changing minds," Michigan State University election expert Mark Kornbluh.