Could renters be the ones to call this upcoming presidential election? If history repeats itself, they most certainly will. Four years ago, Apartments.com visitors were surveyed on the 2008 presidential election and more than half said they were voting for then-candidate Barack Obama. As the countdown to the 2012 presidential election winds down, we reveal the results of a similar survey where nearly 70% of respondents say they are backing a President Barack Obama re-election over Governor Mitt Romney.

When comparing the two surveys, we noticed some interesting trends in how the attitudes among renters about certain aspects of the election and how their political activity fared from 2008 to 2012.  For example, the number of survey respondents who said they are registered to vote fell 10% from 2008 to 2012, and more than 40% described themselves as very politically active back in 2008 in contrast to the 22% who consider themselves that way today.

In addition to the serious stuff, we wanted to have some fun with our respondents by asking them about some hypothetical situations involving the candidates, in the context of living in an apartment community. As a result, we discovered that three quarter of renters would prefer to fold President Obama’s laundry over Governor Mitt Romney’s if left in the dryer, and would rather have Obama as their landlord.

Only time will tell—less than four weeks—if the apartment hunters who took our survey will predict the 2012 presidential election once again, but in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the results of our survey.  To make it more fun, we also included an obligatory infograph.