Not that we didn’t know that the GOP has a youth issue, but this map from NextGenGOP really put things in perspective.
The recent “Rebuild the Party” platform focused a good deal on social network platforms and overall usage of the internet, but what other things could the GOP do to reach out to the 18-29 age range?
And before some of you say “run away from social issues” may I remind you that Ron Paul who is pro-life and has described himself as “an unshakable foe of abortion.“, had a rather large youth following supporting him.
Now that we got that out of the way, discuss!
I would argue that the same-sex marriage issue needs to change to be more along the libertarian lines of just flat getting government out of the marriage business. No say so, no preferential treatment, restore it to a religious institution not a government one.
Abortion is all about deciding at what point an unborn child becomes a person protected under the law. Opinions vary from fertilization, 12 weeks (post-quickening), as long as it’s hidden away in the dark where no one can see the murder on up to 2 years post-birth (seriously, I believe one Democrat politician suggested such). Even Libertarians are split on this one. I think this issue eats up way too much of the dialogue. And when 20% of women have had an abortion, publicly calling them all or insinuating they are murderers is a sure way to not get their vote.
95% of the country opposes this bailout crap. People’s opinions are split on taxes being too high or too low or too preferential to one group or another. A better argument needs to be made as to why it is important taxes be kept low for everybody.
Real solutions to the cost of health care would go a long way too. Eliminating the AMA stranglehold, reducing FDA red tape, cutting taxes and making healthcare expenditures tax-free (not just over 7.5% of AGI) would be good policies.
Ron Paul’s message packaged in someone who is better at articulating it and understands how to market it better is actually a pretty good platform.
And before some of you say “run away from social issues” may I remind you that Ron Paul who is pro-life and has described himself as “an unshakable foe of abortion.“, had a rather large youth following supporting him.
Barry Goldwater had a large following among college students, too.
There’s nothing magical about what Obama is saying. What Obama, Paul, and Goldwater have in common is that they speak frankly, even when it’s obvious that you disagree with what they have to say, and they work hard. All three of them had magnificent field organizations.
Politics is a sales job. We don’t need to go into ideology. We need to provide solutions based on that ideology. Provide answers. Or at least statements that sound like answers. And candidates MUST have the political and ideological underpinnings down pat and support them. If they don’t know or don’t believe in them, they will sound false. All sales are based on emotions. Logic just confuses most people. Provide a reason for voters to feel good about their decisions and THEY will rationalize it.
Politics is a sales job. We don’t need to go into ideology. We need to provide solutions based on that ideology.
To a degree, I can agree with that statement. But part of the sales job that has to be undertaken is teaching the ideology and converting people to that ideology. If you only sell the solutions, you eventually become a populist movement and forget what ideas got you where you are. This was one of the major failings of the ‘94 Republican Revolution. You can end up with candidates who have the “right positions” on a handful of issues, but do not think the right way so when a different issue comes up they come up with non-conservative positions.
Also remember that people generally become more conservative as they grow older. This map really doesn’t surprise me very much. But it would surprise me if in 20 years the 38-59 year old demographic is still voting as much to the left.
Actually, Nathan, I don’t think that position is supported… that people become more conservative as they get older…. And certainly they don’t have a greater propensity to vote Republican as people get older. Rather, people tend to stick with the party of their youth, and party of youth correlates strongly with the success of the president in office at the time of their youth. People coming of age in the era of Nixon became democrats… of age in the era of Carter became more Republican… of age in the era of Reagan, more Republican…. As youth today go Democrat in Reaction to the Bush administration, there is a good chance they will remain so, especially if Obama is assessed as an inspiring president….
Also remember that people generally become more conservative as they grow older.
It’s more like people tend to stay conservative as they grow older.
And even that’s not completely true; as people get sick or disabled, there’s a tendency to vote for more government services.
The easiest place to gin up support for conservative politics is among the young, because they don’t like anyone – government included – telling them what to do.
The momentum behind Goldwater’s nomination in 1964 came from college campuses, where “Conscience of A Conservative” was selling well and being passed around a lot.
Goldwater had a better field operation than any presidential candidate until Obama came along, and it all grew out Bill Buckley’s “Young Americans for Freedom”, which set up chapters on college campuses.
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