For young voters, Rosa Parks’ refusal to sit at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955 is schoolbook history.
Even the racially charged 1992 riots in Los Angeles are a distant memory. The United States is far from a blueprint for racial harmony, but for today’s young adults ù all born after segregation was outlawed in the mid-1960s ù race is not the issue it once was. They have grown up with Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan among their highest-profile and wealthiest role models. And in their everyday lives, they are much more likely than their elders to have friends of another race, studies show. Is it any wonder, then, that young adults have been the most willing age group to support a black man for president? Primary exit polls conducted for The Associated Press illustrate the generational shift that has helped Barack Obama secure the Democratic presidential nomination. About 56 percent of Democrats younger than age 30 supported Obama. That number dropped steadily with each age bracket to a low of 30 percent for voters 65 and older.
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