Republicans’ problems with young voters go far deeper than Trump

[Yoko.52]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...s-with-young-voters-go-far-deeper-than-trump/

For years there has been a demographic apocalypse coming for the Republican Party, and it looks set to arrive in 2020. The GOP has been losing the youngest voters by double digits in elections since 2004. Not only do these voters make up about a 20-year-long bloc of Democratic leaners and stalwarts, they are now aging into higher turnout rates and political power. Meanwhile, Trumpism and Republicans’ unwillingness to confront it continue to alienate decisive majorities of incoming 18-year-olds. If Republicans don’t turn this trend around soon, they will struggle to be competitive.


Yet most Republicans are in denial about the scale of the problem, as well as its solution. They dismiss young voters’ ideological leanings as a byproduct of social media or liberal college educations and assert that better messaging or, as the most prominent young conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote, “condemning bad behavior” from President Trump would win them back.

But that analysis ignores that the Republican problems stretch to basically all voters under 45. Decades of data unequivocally reveal that these voters do not share Republican preferences or principles on major issues and would not be won over by anyone “advocating conservative policies.” They aren’t being driven left by their college professors, but rather by the Republican Party’s spectacular record of policy failure in the 21st century, and getting rid of Trump won’t be nearly enough to win them back. .......

 

[Albion]

For years there has been a demographic apocalypse coming for the Republican Party, and it looks set to arrive in 2020. The GOP has been losing the youngest voters by double digits in elections since 2004.

Not only do these voters make up about a 20-year-long bloc of Democratic leaners and stalwarts, they are now aging into higher turnout rates and political power. Meanwhile, Trumpism and Republicans’ unwillingness to confront it continue to alienate decisive majorities of incoming 18-year-olds.

The development appears to be correct, but the leap you made here in speculating on the reasons for it is something else. The reason this has been coming on--and you worked hard to show that it's a trend and not just something peculiar to the 2020 elections--is because of the extremist indoctrination that the great majority of the young have gotten in the public schools year after year.

All anyone has to do is talk to some of these people in order to realize that they have little knowledge of American history, civics, or anything that would prepare them to vote intelligently.

No wonder that liberals are now recommending that 16 year olds be allowed to vote. You can be sure that this idea would not be heard if there was any chance that those students wouldn't vote the way they were instructed to vote by their NEA-programmed teachers.

 

[Yoko.52]

The development appears to be correct, but the leap you made here in speculating on the reasons for it is something else. The reason this has been coming on--and you worked hard to show that it's a trend and not just something peculiar to the 2020 elections--is because of the extremist indoctrination that the great majority of the young have gotten in the public schools year after year.

All anyone has to do is talk to some of these people in order to realize that they have little knowledge of American history, civics, or anything that would uprepare them to vote intelligently.

No wonder that liberals are now recommending that 16 year olds be allowed to vote. You can be sure that this idea would not be heard if there was any chance that those students wouldn't vote the way they were instructed to vote by their NEA-programmed teachers.

You know liberals are not wrong about all of it and the fact is the most successful countries in the world today the ones with the best jobs, medical care, education, even criminal rehabilitation which by the way works are liberal ones. You know I know a guy at church who lived in Newtown he was 16 when elementary children were killed, his best friend lost a sibling. And do you know what he and other students at his school saw. He saw the right in terror of losing there precious guns so they started saying it was hoax. More shootings happened and again they saw republicans more concerned with there guns than the children. Now there plenty of countries you can own a gun and they have strict gun laws and it works. I have heard for years republicans swear strict gun laws are bad and yet countries that have that have less violent crime. Republicans or to be specific old white people do not pay attention to youth and now its gonna bite them in the but. I have heard several republican politicians say there worried that if Biden won there would not be another republican president for a long time. And sadly that is a risk.

 

[Albion]

You know liberals are not wrong about all of it and the fact is the most successful countries in the world today the ones with the best jobs, medical care, education, even criminal rehabilitation which by the way works are liberal ones.

Well certainly it's possible to laud some of the policies of one political faction and criticize others. And that goes for both Republicans and Democrats.

But when we take up the issue you raised here, we're talking about WHY the young as a group have trended towards the Democrats in recent years...and I assure you that it's not because they think Social Security is a good idea.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

We can't allow the 2nd Amendment to be infringed, even by seemingly 'reasonable' laws. Look what the radicals have done to the 1st Amendment:

"You are free to express your opinion...and we are free to fire you for it."

It's an easy jump to firing anyone who owns a firearm.

 

[Yoko.52]

We can't allow the 2nd Amendment to be infringed, even by seemingly 'reasonable' laws. Look what the liberals have done to the 1st Amendment:

"You are free to express your opinion...and we are free to fire you for it."

It's an easy jump to firing anyone who owns a firearm.

That law was made at time when having a gun was a necessity. It was also mean for militia. And right there what you said is why young people are leaning to democrat. The right are so scared they will lose there guns that they will call the death of elementary school children a hoax. We live in a country where a mentally disturbed young man can legally buy a gun and shoot up a school. The right would rather have dead chidden than common sense gun laws. And there are plenty of countries were you can own a gun and they have common sense gun laws.

 

[Albion]

That law was made at time when having a gun was a necessity.

The sequence of events as presented is still as described. Call it the slippery slope or "one thing leads to another" or something else, and it still means that, if a toehold is gotten, an expansion or extension of the move will follow. The proponents won't admit that, of course, but it happens constantly.

 

[Erik Nelson]

The right are so scared they will lose there guns that they will call the death of elementary school children a hoax.

law abiding citizens cannot be "smeared" with the crimes of others

the 100M registered gun owners who were at the range at the time, with ear plugs in and goggles on, are only afraid that they will somehow be construed as the "whipping boy fall guys" for other people's misdeeds

crazy commits a crime, crazy goes to jail, end of story

no "extension of guilt" -- should all mentally disturbed be punished for one's actions? No? So then why all gun owners?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

That law was made at time when having a gun was a necessity. It was also mean for militia. And right there what you said is why young people are leaning to democrat. The right are so scared they will lose there guns that they will call the death of elementary school children a hoax. We live in a country where a mentally disturbed young man can legally buy a gun and shoot up a school. The right would rather have dead chidden than common sense gun laws. And there are plenty of countries were you can own a gun and they have common sense gun laws.

The militia is a civilian defense force comprised of able-bodied men whose weapons are to be kept in their homes. Switzerland has such a force. Crime in America is a reflection of our character and to a lesser extent our mental state.

We don't punish the many for the sins of the few. Those who believe we should are tyrants.

The young man that killed those children in Newtown was a product of a seriously dysfunctional family. We need to make dysfunctional families illegal, not infringe the rights of law abiding gun owners.

While the citizens care deeply about deaths involving guns our leaders don't seem to care. If they did they would pass laws to deal with the biggest problem; street gangs.

Ironically, at one time the British government ordered its citizens to arm themselves with firearms as the British army was unable to control the crime and violence that resulted from severely restricting citizens rights to own firearms. The same thing would likely happen here under such restrictions.

 

[Erik Nelson]

Dems also have problems with "really stupid" young voters making "really bad decisions":

Voters Ages 18-24 Must Watch This

 

[Ringo84]

Let me give you an example with myself. I'm not saying I'm necessarily that representative of my generation, but I'm almost 37. I was born near the end of Saint Ronnie's first term, which was full of "ketchup is a vegetable", union busting and giveaways to the rich.

I didn't start following politics until roughly around the time of 9/11, when I was 17. My first introduction to the world of politics was watching the GOP "not letting a crisis go to waste" with the Patriot Act, Total Information Awareness, "you're either with us or with the terr'ists", and torture redefined as """""""enhanced interrogation""""""".

I was sure it couldn't get worse than that, but then birtherism and "we'll make Obama a one-term president" came along. Then Trump came along a few years later.

The GOP of the '80s, when people my age were babies, left us messes in the form of climate change, distrust in government and cutting government to the marrow that we're still dealing with today. For our trouble, we've been given twin crises in the form of the Great Recession and now covid-19. Now granted, my generation has probably not been as proactive as we could have been in the aughts about certain things, but we have consistently been blamed for "killing industries" and things that were done by previous generations long before we ever had a scrap of power.

So yeah....all this to say that generally speaking, people under 40 don't like or trust the GOP and have very good reasons not to. I'm saying all of this to give you the perspective of one of those eeeevil, industry-killing Millennials that was supposedly given "participation trophies".

Dems also have problems with "really stupid" young voters making "really bad decisions":

That's the spirit! I'm sure young people will flock to the GOP now that they've been called "stupid" (or accused of making "stupid decisions").
Ringo

 

[Erik Nelson]

That's the spirit! I'm sure young people will flock to the GOP now that they've been called "stupid" (or accused of making "stupid decisions").

Is it smart to support those who think that of you?

 

[Albion]

That law was made at time when having a gun was a necessity.

I'm left to wonder if it is your opinion that freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and all the other guarantees in the Constitution that limit the powers of government and safeguard the rights of the individual...are similarly outdated and, therefore, not meaningful anymore?

They were all enumerated at the same time, you know, except for the Bill of Rights. Maybe the same thinking is applicable to it too.

 

[Ringo84]

Is it smart to support those who think that of you?

No, which is why young people generally don't support the GOP.
Ringo

 

[Erik Nelson]

No, which is why young people generally don't support the GOP.
Ringo

Morgan Zegers is 23 and has a sweeping historical perspective

 

[Ringo84]

Hence why I said 'generally'. There are broken young people who aren't able to see what's clearly in front of their faces too.
Ringo