Sunday, December 8, 2013

So, Will Young Voters Turn to the Republicans in 2014-2016?

My first inclination is of course to answer, no (especially if the Republicans continue to hold hard-line positions on issues such as abortion, gay-rights, gun-control, etc.) but, now, I'm not so certain. I guess that it all depends on whether or not any of those dire predictions (50-100 million people getting bounced off of their employee health plans and into either Medicaid or possibly one of those equally crappy "bronze" plans) come true. I mean, yeah, I could potentially see the young folks of American revolting if Obamacare ends up screwing them. Now, whether they vote for the Republicans or simply stay home is obviously another story.

7 comments:

dmarks said...

The hard-line positions of the Democrats on abortion are likely a similar turn-off (wasting taxpayer money to encourage abortions, extreme policies a la Russ Feingold in favor of late term, or even for "abortions" applied to born US citizens).

This poll and study shows the mix of views 18-24 year olds had just 3 years ago.... definitely out of step with the agenda of the abortion industry, while definitely not "Right to Life" material either.

You are right on the gay rights issue, but on this, the Republicans are only a few years behind the Democrats. Remember, Obama campaigned on banning gay marriage, and fought to keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" well into his administration.

BB-Idaho said...

That is a discouraged demographic, perhaps jaundiced by the failure of the current politics to notice them.

Les Carpenter said...

It is time. Time for the young, intelligent, informed, educated, industrious, and considerate young electorate to make their voices heard. Time to stand up and shout VERY LOUDLY at the POLLS...LIBERTARIAN, LIBERTARIAN, LIBERTARIAN!!!

I'm not ho;ding my breath. Obama has star power. Not many Libertarians do.

BB-Idaho said...

RN is on to something: there is a libertarian bent to many young
people. We note the Ron Paul groupies, for example. The kids
don't trust big government, big
business or big military and they
grapple with an economy that seems to have no place for them.
Far too many still live at home
working at job levels below their qualifications; a disgruntled lot,
an important demographic looking
for solutions. Trickle down didn't trickle their direction,
they would hate being on the dole,
they distrust the elderly and who
can blame them?

dmarks said...

Is it fair to say that Ron Paul is too old to have this star power we are talking of?

(And his son Rand is too tainted, IMHO, by the corruption of partisan politics and business-as-usual)

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I'd be curious to know if BB has ever referred to Obama supporters as "groupies".

BB-Idaho said...

I haven't, Will. I guess it is a perception: if you 'google' Ron Paul groupies, there are over 5 million sites. Obama groupies
only warrants 435,000. Paul definitely attracted young people; in Iowa, for example,
he attracted 50% of voters under 25, but only 20% of Tea Partiers.
Since Obama pulled 67% of the young vote, I guess they could be groupies as well?