GOP alienating young people
Republican Support Collapses Among Youth
from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
A new Democracy Corps/Greenberg Quinlan Rosner survey finds young people "profoundly alienated from the Republican party and its perceived values."
Key finding: "Young people react with hostility to the Republicans on almost every measure and Republicans and younger voters disagree on almost every major issue of the day."
In the presidential race, "both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lead Rudy Giuliani -- the most acceptable of the Republican offerings among youth -- by significant margins. The President’s standing is substantially worse, to the degree that is possible, than we find in the broader electorate. Moreover, the disconnect we see between the Republicans and our nation’s youth runs so deep, that it likely will not only outlive the Bush administration, but potentially haunt the Republicans for many years to come."
Survey results here.
from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
A new Democracy Corps/Greenberg Quinlan Rosner survey finds young people "profoundly alienated from the Republican party and its perceived values."
Key finding: "Young people react with hostility to the Republicans on almost every measure and Republicans and younger voters disagree on almost every major issue of the day."
In the presidential race, "both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lead Rudy Giuliani -- the most acceptable of the Republican offerings among youth -- by significant margins. The President’s standing is substantially worse, to the degree that is possible, than we find in the broader electorate. Moreover, the disconnect we see between the Republicans and our nation’s youth runs so deep, that it likely will not only outlive the Bush administration, but potentially haunt the Republicans for many years to come."
Survey results here.
Labels: Republican Party
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2 Comments:
The “youth” vote needs a reason to show up on election days. They can put a candidate over the top (i..e. Jesse Ventura) but more often than not they don’t show up in significant numbers … just ask John Kerry.
The impact for the Republicans is not so much with the “youth” vote but instead with the Hispanic vote. Bush and his “Compassionate Conservative”-image appealed to those voters who responded to his Family Values themes. But that may be a one-time move as the “illegal” immigration issue throws in play as those voters become a critical part of the electorate.
Iraq is one thing, but compound that with the Republican themes of Privatized Social Security, ignorance of science and the environment and job outsourcing and you have a “perfect storm” for a complete rejection of Rove’s plan for a new dynasty.
Minnesota State – Mankato’s library had a book that I read a couple of years ago that addressed these issues. Readers may find The Emerging Democratic Majority an interesting read. It was published in 2002 by John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, so it was written before Iraq was in its nightmare stage and was considered a “daring” assertion at the time … but now may prove to be right … even without Iraq.
The issue that still drives people is taxes. The Republican fear-mongering that “those Tax and Spend Democrats will raise your taxes and not just the rich” is the equalizer. The issue needs to be expressed in terms of tax fairness. And then the appeal to addressing the Health Care issue. IF the Democrats can do those two things, they have a chance for their own dynasty … but that’s a BIG IF.
Some further thoughts on the “youth” vote.
The question is as youths mature, what ideologies will they retain ?
Case in point, the image of the late 60’s early 70’s was of the radical anti-war students such as Minnesota’s Senior Senator Norm Coleman. City Pages wrote ” “In 1970 Norman Coleman was just another long-haired radical protesting the draft at Hofstra University. But even then he knew how to work a crowd, talk its talk, capitalize on the moment. "I know these conservative kids don't f#@k or get high like we do (purity, you know)," he opined in the student newspaper apropos an upcoming student-senate election … (And to see a picture of Norm in protest-mode, check out wikipedia.) Today, Coleman is RoveRobot marching in lockstep to whatever his masters order.
As youths become parents and then seniors, they viewpoints may change.
Two opinions.
The “gay” issue will be minimized as people age … but never disappear or be totally accepted. Other issues will be based on how they are viewed at those times of your life. For example, concern for education will peak depending upon if you have school age children (and some will support vouchers while others want strong public schools.)
Who will be motivated to vote is more critical. Although the polling may state that youths are aligning with the Democrats on the issues, polls are not votes. The Republicans are active on college campuses. For example, Kevin Diaz wrote in the Strib in 2004, that the “College Republican National Committee, which listed only 409 chapters in 1998, now counts followers on 1,148 campuses. The College Democrats claim members on 903 campuses.” According to Wikipedia, “Today, there are over 200,000 College Republicans on over 1,775 campuses nationwide.” And at Minnesota State – Mankato the College Republicans received the annual Tim Pawlenty Chapter of the Year Award. So, if the Republicans succeed in indoctrinate their ideology and achieve active participation of the youths of today, this may just another “hollow death knoll.”
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