Is the youth vote trending liberal or conservative? According to an op-ed in the Detroit News, the Democrats are losing ground to the Republicans. What do you think?
posted by Hans Riemer at 3:46 PM
Thursday, May 26, 2005
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13 Comments:
I don't think they're trending either. Perhaps they're just waking up and getting common sense- common sense that it is better to vote on policy than ideology. Those who are under 30 are just entering the workforce, and their pocketbooks are becoming an important issue. For instance, they see Social Security taxes- 12.4%- charged to each and every paycheck they receive. While the President has offered a plan that gives them a chance to invest (great for those who have low incomes and otherwise would not be able to invest), and a plan that solves 70% of the financing gap, Democrats have offered nothing.
Common sense dictates that you vote for the guy who presents a good plan. The Democrats have not presented a solution, except for one guy who wants to increase taxes. In all seriousness, why should anyone in the youth vote want to vote for somebody who does that? We already pay enough in taxes and get too little out of it, and young people realize that. That's why an overwhelming amount of them want these giant social programs to be reformed.
I made the switch from Democrat to Republican the moment the Social Security debate started. Why? Because I want somebody to present a solution to this problem that does the following:
- Does not increase taxes
- Solves the problem permanently, or sets the stage for it, instead of just "patching the hole" again
- Offering opportunity, as in the chance to invest and grow your finances
One guy offered that. The other side has yet to offer anything. This is just one policy in which such a situation exists, but we can rifle off many others. The youth, especially as they get older (perhaps into their mid to late 20s), realize that being blindly partisan is pointless, and that going by the issues is the right thing to do.
And if that's the case, expect a GOP trend to continue, because the left has offered little to date right now in terms of plans to solve future problems. Especially when it comes to our pocketbooks.
Some people can't see life beyond social security. I was always annoyed by single issue voters, and social security is no exception.
I do think young people are becoming more independent and being more focussed on policy than politics is a good thing.
Most of my friends don't even want to declare a political party when they register to vote because they don't like either party. Their decision (and mine) is really coming down to the individual candidate, no their party affiliation.
Some people can't see life beyond social security. I was always annoyed by single issue voters, and social security is no exception.
Social Security was brought up as an example of what would cause people to re-evaluate who they vote for. There's many other issues that are very similar- taxes, social spending, Medicare, etc- but Social Security is the most current example, so I brought it up.
I'm not a single-issue voter. And I doubt many people under 30 are, and that's why you're seeing the trend shifting towards the GOP. People are weighing what issues are more important than others, and voting accordingly.
This is why I'm convinced, if there never was a war in Iraq, the President might have gotten a good 55-60% of the youth vote.
Couldn't agree more. When only one side is interested in allowing Americans under 30 the choice to invest some of our payroll taxes in a VOLUNTARY personal retirement account, and the other only wants to obstruct and raise taxes, then the choice is obvious.
Also, Americans under 30 remain faaar more skeptical about abortion than other Americans, so that probably has something to do with it.
You say "I'm not a single-issue voter." and yet you say "I made the switch from Democrat to Republican the moment the Social Security debate started."
I guess I don't really believe your claim to be a swinging youth voter who prefers independence. You seem much more like a partisan who is wacking away at this social security thing for partisan gain.
This is probably why a lot of us get turned off by partisans on either side and en up being independent.
I think both parties are going to have a hard time as over time young and old alike end up being more independent. Caught between a party they are not sure what they stand for and a party that will lie about anything to get what it stands for.
"I'm not a single-issue voter. And I doubt many people under 30 are, and that's why you're seeing the trend shifting towards the GOP."
I disagree, I bet if you were to poll those under 30 who supported Kerry last election would claim their number one reason why they voted democrat was one of the following 'single' issues:
1) Iraq
2) Hatred for Bush
3) Phony Draft
Many young Americans vote based on a single issue.
As for the youth of America trending towards a more conservative base, I feel that while young republicans will continue to make headway we will never see Republicans become the majority of young voters. The reason for this stems directly from pop culture. I find it interesting that as more young Americans got out to vote the gap between liberal and conservative closed.
Perhaps Rock the Vote should employ a few right thinking bloggers to bring more truth to their non-partisan mission.
You say "I'm not a single-issue voter." and yet you say "I made the switch from Democrat to Republican the moment the Social Security debate started."
I guess I don't really believe your claim to be a swinging youth voter who prefers independence. You seem much more like a partisan who is wacking away at this social security thing for partisan gain.
You made an assumption based off of what I said, an assumption that was faulty. I said I changed my party affiliation the moment the Social Security issue came up. Now, what the hell does that exactly have to do with being a single issue voter? I didn't even MENTION why I voted for who I voted for. There were a number of issues, all of which are just as similar to Social Security- one side presents ideas and plans, the other just obstructs and presents nothing of its own. It just so happens that there is a clear cut difference between the parties at this point, so my decision is easy.
It's hardly a "one issue" vote. I'm going to revert back to my original statement that people under 30, especially once they get past college, start thinking about issues instead of blind partisanship. The moment they get a job and start getting a paycheck, that trend gets even stronger. If there wasn't an Iraq war, you would have seen almost a 60-40 Bush lead with the youth vote, because groups like Rock the Vote wouldn't have been able to fear monger about a "draft." By the way, where exactly is that draft? I just found this nifty little page:
http://www.conservativepunk.com/bunkvoter.asp
One more thing, regarding this statement:
You seem much more like a partisan who is wacking away at this social security thing for partisan gain.
With all due respect, I don't belong to the party that specifically is not bringing up a plan so it can demagogue the President's plan and scare the public into opposing reform and gaining political points for itself:
http://www.socialsecurity.org/pubs/articles/debunker-050526.html
I've met people that think or thought they are/were democrats, but when I talk to them about certain issues they almost always seem to take the side you'd expect a republican or libertarian to take. I think they are fooled by the name. I guess they think that the democratic party strives for democracy.
Anyone ever try to bring a law suit against (fraud maybe) the democratic party for that? Just wondering.
I do remember meeting one "true democrat". Wow. This person was out there. I really wanted to understand why this person believes the things that she believes. In response to my at initial gentle probing all I got was various slogans such as "Diversity", "the glass ceiling", "reverse discrimination", and the like. This person thought it was okay to punish people for the moral (not legal) sins of their ancestory or presumed ancestory. Even when I stepped up my line of questioning, she barely ever deviated from the slogans as response to unrelated questions. It was really strange.
tangent from my previous post.
I really don't like the phrase "reverse discrimination". When it is used it means, when a member of the majority is somehow harmed due to discrimination. The sum of the words implies that it is the opposite of discrimination. Just to remind everyone the opposite of discrimination is "non-discrimination" or perhaps the word "indifference".
Another reminder because I want my freakin' words back people. Discrimination in most instances is good. A subset of discrimination which I refer to as non-merit based discrimination is bad (immoral). Discrimination is simply making a distinction. Imagine buying a car with out discriminating between the choices... that would just be silly.
I'm not surprised to see that young people are voting for Republicans. Republicans have been working on bringing in young voters, and actually getting them to the polls (the only thing that matters at the end of the day.)
Dean's comment in this op-ed is typical of Democrats and exactly the reason they continue to find themselves in the minority. They make too many assumptions. They ASSUME they have the female, youth and minority votes, but they need to wake up and see that this isn't necessarily the case. They've been assuming for decades while the Republicans have actually been building a platform to attract young voters and then getting those young people to actually vote.
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