Zogby says that Romney is the only member of the GOP primary field to score this high among 18-29 year olds. When libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was included in another question, support dropped for Romney, down to 38 percent, while Obama’s rose 1 point to 50 percent. Johnson received 5 percent. Removing Johnson from the question previously resulted in a boost for Obama, but this time the amount of support for Romney increased, as did the number of those who are undecided.

{mosads}Zogby hypothesizes that the rise in youth support for Romney could be due to more libertarian-leaning youth, concern over the economy and debt, and Romney picking Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate.

The overall poll had Romney and President Obama tied at 46 percent each.

The poll, consisting of 18 questions, was conducted among 1,117 likely voters via pre-recorded phone interviews and supplemented by online surveys for difficult-to-reach groups.