GOP Faces 'Looming Disaster Among Young Voters'By Matt PurpleCNSNews.com Correspondent
August 02, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Many political strategists see a bleak future for the GOP in upcoming elections, citing the unpopular Iraq war and the divide over the immigration issue, among other factors. And some conservatives, speaking at the Young America's Foundation's National Conservative Student Conference on Tuesday, say the GOP's dour political horizon is most prevalent among the youth vote.
A recent Democracy Corps study showed that only 35 percent of young likely voters approve of the Republican Party, while 46 percent disapprove. In contrast, the Democratic Party was held in favor 50 to 30 percent.
Young voters also favored Democrats over Republicans on nearly every issue, including the environment (63 to 25 percent), Iraq (60 to 27 percent), taxes (50 to 37 percent) and guns (44 to 40 percent).
"The looming disaster Republicans face among younger voters represents a setback that could haunt them for many generations to come," the study concluded.
The report, "Youth Survey: Republicans Collapse Among Young Americans," incorporated the opinions of 1,017 people between 18 and 29 years of age.
The youth vote's apparent indifference to Republicans was clear in recent elections. In 2004, youth turnout spiked: 56 percent of them backed John Kerry. In 2006, 60 percent of youth voted for Democrats.
"Our generation is at risk of being lost forever," said Charlie Smith, chairman of the College Republican National Committee, at the conference. "After years of scandalous behavior in our nation's capital and suffering under what the liberal media has termed an 'unwinnable' war led by Republicans, our generation has moved away from the center-right and towards the liberal-left."
Richard Brake of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute also took a pessimistic view. He said that the challenges young conservatives face on college campuses today are enormous and include a "culture of decadence" and a liberal "institutional bias" at many of the universities.
"The lunatic fringe left still dominates academia, indoctrinates students and blackballs conservative PhDs," he said.
But Brake also faulted young right-wingers for failing to read classic conservative authors and understanding their philosophical roots.
Despite problems, Smith said he was confident the trend could be reversed. He emphasized that the problem was not conservative principles but the behavior and mixed messages of Republican officials. He also recommended that Republicans play more aggressive politics.
"When we are attacked by the liberal media, we must respond with force," he said. "Too often we've been caught stumbling for an answer as a party, allowing us to be labeled by our opponents. It's time to start attacking and fighting for our own future."
What happened to the 'South Park Conservatives?'
But not everyone believes that a "culture of decadence" and a lack of political offense are at the core of the Republicans' youth problems.
"The Bush administration's and the current Republican Party's big government conservatism runs against the instincts of many young people, who tend to be more libertarian in their views," Brian Anderson of the Manhattan Institute told Cybercast News Service.
In 2005, Anderson's book, "South Park Conservatives," was published. It identified a resurgence of conservatism on college campuses. But these young conservatives were a far cry from William F. Buckley, Jr. They tended to be culturally hip, anti-authority and influenced strongly by Comedy Central's South Park, a satirical animated show known for both its profanity and its vitriolic portrayal of liberals.
Anderson quoted one college student as saying, "The label is really about rejecting the image of conservatives as uptight squares -- crusty old men or nerdy kids in blue blazers. We might have long hair, smoke cigarettes, get drunk on weekends, have sex before marriage, watch R-rated movies, cuss like sailors -- and also happen to be conservative, or at least libertarian."
The modern Republican Party is not always a comfortable home for such conservatives, said Anderson. "I think using the FBI to go after pornography -- things like that are just irrelevant to younger people," he said. "The tenor of the Bush administration, for all its achievements, has been set by evangelical Christians and social conservatives primarily. And that has made some younger people uncomfortable."
Anderson also faulted conservatives for not adapting to the Internet -- a medium popular among young people -- as well as have liberals.
"One of the things that's happened is the emergence of a left-wing blogosphere," he said. "This is the liberal mainstream, and it's become a political factor. There's no doubt about it."
But Anderson also cautioned against thinking that the Republican Party's problems are limited exclusively to the youth vote. He said that issues like Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and political corruption had caused the public in general to sour on Republicans.
"It's been a very bad second term [for Bush], from Katrina to Harriet Miers. And that's bound to filter down to young people too," he said. "People are exhausted with Republicans right now, and I think you're seeing that."
