Newspaper giant USA Today and cable network MTV ran a political survey of young people, 78 percent of whom were contacted on their mobile phone, which found that most respondents plan to vote for Barack Obama.

The poll surveyed youth voters ages 18-29 and is available on USAToday.com, MTVNews.com and ChooseorLose.com. The survey found that 61 percent of respondents plan to vote for Obama, compared to just 32 percent for John McCain.

"MTV is an expert when it comes to youth, and has been heralding youth voter issues since our Choose or Lose campaign began in 1992," said Ian Rowe, senior vice president of public affairs and strategic partnerships for MTV, New York.

"By teaming up with USA Today, the number-one sold newspaper in the country and an expert in political coverage, we had the opportunity to collaborate to develop a poll that hit on the key touch-points for young voters this election season," he said.

MTV has reported the poll results on-air and USA Today ran a cover story by Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page (see story).

The poll found that 75 percent of young people are registered to vote.

Among youth voters Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama has a two-to-one lead over Republican candidate Senator John McCain.

Sixty one percent of respondents state they'd vote for Obama versus 32 percent who would vote for McCain -- an overwhelming edge and the biggest generational gap between two candidates ever seen since exit polling began in 1976.

Increasing turnout among young voters in 2004, 2006 and in the 2008 primaries indicates to many analysts that young people will be out in force in November, despite the perception that this demographic consists of unreliable voters.

Their strongly Democratic partisan bent could be good news for Democrats for years to come, given that political attitudes in past elections have shaped partisanship through voters' lifetimes.

Regardless of which side of the aisle young voters fall on, 82 percent agree that this election is among the most critical in recent history.

"Aside from knowing which side of the fence young voters fall, we also wanted to discover more about young voter's primary concerns, which candidates they trust more, and even who they relate to more," Mr. Rowe said.

"And, we wanted to make a deliberate effort to materially include cell phones in the survey methodology, given that so much of our target demographic of 18-30-year-olds primarily use cell phones," he said.

The USA Today/MTV/Gallup poll finds that young voters see Obama as much more likely to understand their lives and share their priorities.

He's also the one they'd rather sit down and have a beer with, have as their teacher or report to as their boss.

While McCain does not fare as well with this group of young voters, Sarah Palin does even worse with only 32 percent of those surveyed believing she is qualified to be president.

Yet, interestingly, McCain is the object of curiosity among this group, with more respondents noting that they'd prefer to read his private diary over Obama's.

The economy and the war in Iraq lead as the most important issues concerning young voters, with one in four respondents citing the economy as their biggest concern.

On the war in Iraq, most young people want to see a removal of troops, either immediately or within a set time-table.

The survey found that the war is a very personal issue for many respondents, with 74 percent stating that they personally know someone who is currently serving or has served in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

The poll, conducted between September 17th and the 22nd, surveyed 903 respondents between the ages of 18 and 29.

Respondents were reached on both landlines and mobile phones, although the large majority were reached on their handset.

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed are male, 49 percent female.

The sample is weighted by demographic information to ensure representation of 18-29 year olds nationwide.

Results are at the 95 percent confidence level, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

It is puzzling that the Republicans haven't embraced mobile as thoroughly as the Democrats have in what is likely to be the most historic presidential election in a generation (see story).

Mobile is one of the key factors affecting Americans' perceptions of the political landscape today (see story).

In a separate survey conducted exclusively via mobile phones, 71 percent of PredictoMobile subscribers say that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.

Obama received 1,718 of 2,403 total votes.

The new SMS-based survey shows an increase of 29 percent over the election prediction from a week before, which showed Obama with a lead of 55 percent out of 4,700 surveyed.

Marketing experts have sourced Predicto for its ability to reflect the votes of those "under the radar," the under-30 demographic.

This age group is the most mobile-savvy and most likely to use their mobile phone exclusively. Many don't have landlines.

Addressing this segment of the market head on, PredictoMobile's Predicto.com reaches thousands of Americans every day through mobile marketing and SMS texting by asking them to predict the right answer to a wide range of questions.

When subscribers of Predicto were asked, "Will Congress approve the $700 billion bailout plan for financial firms by 10/5?", 70 percent of 1,175 respondents said "yes."

PredictoMobile claims to be one of the 800 most visited Web sites with more than 1.8 million visitors per month.

When surveyed prior to the first presidential debate, 70 percent of 5,572 respondents selected Obama.

USA Today claims to be the nation's top-selling newspaper.

It is published via satellite at 34 locations in the U.S. and at four sites abroad.

With a total average daily circulation of 2.3 million, USA Today is available worldwide.

USA Today is published by Gannett Co. Inc.

The USA Today brand includes USA Today Mobile, offering up-to-the minute news and information on a variety of mobile platforms and devices.

Other properties include USAToday.com, a news and information Web site that is updated 24 hours per day; USA Today Sports Weekly, a magazine for enthusiasts of college and professional football and baseball; and USA Today Live, the television arm of the USA Today brand that brings the spirit and quality of the newspaper to television.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Aniston, will i. am, Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker and a litany of other stars have created public service announcements to encourage American youth to register to vote. The clips have been posted on YouTube and MTV's Web site.

"Choose or Lose '08" is MTV's campaign to engage, inform and empower young voters on the political issues that matter to them most.

First launched in 1992, the campaign has helped fuel several of the largest youth voter turnouts in U.S. history, including in 2004, when it helped inspire nearly 22 million 18-30 year olds to register and vote.

All "Choose or Lose" content -- plus more information on the candidates, issues, registering to vote and a spirited debate -- can be found at http://www.chooseorlose.com.

MTV dubs itself the dynamic, vibrant experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture.

On-air, MTV has been the number-one-rated 24-hour ad-supported cable network P12-24 for 16 straight years.

Online, MTV.com scored double-digit growth in 2007 and MTV launched 15 online communities and eight new virtual worlds.

On the go, MTV Mobile claims to be the number-one music brand in the wireless space, delivering 90 percent more streams than in 2006.

And MTV's sibling networks MTV2, mtvU and MTV Tr3s each deliver customized content, serving music fans, college students and young American Latinos.

MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, a creator of programming and content across all media platforms.

MTV regularly serves mobile advertising, including video, SMS text and WAP display ads and sponsored microsites.

For example, in September, MTV Networks announced that it would begin running advertising against its programming on the video services of wireless carriers, starting with a campaign for the U.S. Air Force.

The pre-roll ads run across MTV's video-on-demand content on Sprint and Alltel promoting custom episodes of MTV's made-for-mobile series "The How-To Show," sponsored by the Air Force.

"Instead of clips in which the musicians, celebrities and athletes reveal their tricks of the trade, the sponsored episodes showcase Air Force-related skills," said Michael Scogin, vice president of MTV Wireless, New York. "MTV distributes programming via the data services of all the major carriers as well through mobile media providers such as MobiTV.

"Verizon Wireless' V Cast video service, for instance, touts full episodes and exclusive clips from MTV shows including 'The Hills,' 'Real World,' and 'America's Best Dance Crew,'" he said.