Posted on 08/17/2012 7:59:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Obama, now more than ever, can’t sit comfortably. Mitt Romney now holds 40% of the youth vote in America — a cause for alarm for the Democratic incumbent, and a milestone for his Republican opponent. What accounts for this sudden shift, and how can Obama recapture his former popularity?
John Zogby of JZ Analytics reports that more citizens between the ages of 18-29 are favoring the conservative podium. He proclaims that these “CENGAS” (“college-educated, not going anywhere” folks) are noteworthy voters in the 2012 Election. The frustration of 1.5 million unemployed B.A. graduates is rising, pushing them away from Obama and towards Romney.
Four years ago, the situation was reversed. Obama’s 2008 campaign will be remembered not just because of his skin color, but also because of his massive appeal to young adults. The Hope posters, the “Change We Can Believe In” slogan, the endorsements by Hollywood icons like will.i.am — all contributed to Obama’s tenacity. More than half of Americans under 29 (66%) picked Obama over John McCain. But it’s been four years. Obama's historic campaign is becoming just that: history.
Obama’s biggest problem is our generation's disillusionment. When Shepard Fairey designed the Obama posters, he, like thousands of young adults, thought that change would come. Come quickly, that is. The previous eight years under George W. Bush’s botched financial oversight, however, squandered any possibility of rapid economic improvement. “This was not your normal recession,” Obama declared in June. “Throughout history, it has typically taken countries up to 10 years to recover from financial crises of this magnitude.” After the release of his documentary The Road We’ve Traveled, he added: “We are not going to get where we need to be if we go back to the policies that helped to create this mess.”
But even if what Obama says is true, young adults are aggravated. If teenagers are impatient, then unemployed college graduates are even more so. They see Obama as playing the blame game — at least when in terms of the economic quandary. Sure, his administration ended Osama Bin Laden, spoke up for gay rights, and won him favor abroad, but who cares? The average American college graduate still expects a job.
Indeed, Robyn Meredith, author of The Elephant and the Dragon, argues that our standards are unrealistically high. “Westerners [find] they can no longer expect to be paid ten times more than those in the developing world for the same work,” she writes. “College graduates in India are happy to land a job answering 800-number customer service calls to listen to Americans complain.”
Still, if post-college unemployment is turning young voters towards Romney, how can Obama win them back?
For now, it's time for him to stop blaming Bush's policies. That excuse is almost 48 months old. He should be truthful:focus on the Obama plan, publicize it and stick to it. Come debate time, he should emphasize things outside of the economy; it's Obama’s track on social issues that will paint him as the hero. The public’s opinion of Romney’s foreign policy is limited to his Olympics gaffe with David Cameron. It’s been said that Romneycare isn’t that radically different from Obamacare, and with the first female debate moderator in 20 years, Romney’s record on feminist issues is also up for grabs. The debates are Obama’s chance to win back the youth vote.
But for those two months before official debates begin, Obama is being a lame duck. Whilst he scrambles to better endorse the Democratic platform, more and more young people are looking to Romney and wondering, "Who is John Galt?"
It’s THEIR future. If they continue to vote for the Kenyan, they’ll have to pay the fiddler some time down the road. They need to start using their heads when it comes to politics. You can’t be stupid ALL of your life. There comes a time when you have to grow up and face reality.
My kids all make fun of BHO....just like I did Jimmy Carter growing up! : )
The Messiah has done it to himself. He has jacked up welfare and unemployment payments while simultaneously making decent job prospects mostly non-existent.
A new grad goes into the job market. Like the idiot touting phone mktg jobs indicates, low wage jobs are probably available BUT unemployment is also available and it pays more money!
Ergo, higher unemployment. Congrats Messiah, at least one of your plans worked.
Obama Youth Vote 2012: Surprising Poll Finds 40 Percent of Young People Flock to Romney
DUH! They want jobs.
They know Romney can create jobs and they know Obama can not create jobs. This is a no brainer........
There is no plan except those that worked on a chalk board in liberal academia once for an hour or so with naive undergrads.
Real world trumps fantasy world. Go figure.
The youth have woken up to the fraud of Obama but the election will still be close I think.
Meaning that the Kenyan now holds 60% of the youth vote in America.
And 92% of the negro vote. And 100% of the dead vote.
Ok, Romney has 40% of the kids. McCain got 34%. Are we really getting excited about this shift?
Or am I missing something.
No. His biggest problem is he's not qualified to be an American, let alone President. The disillusionment is a result, not a cause.
You nailed it.
This man is unAmerican and hates, yes hates, every American. He even hates (uses) the black Americans and they don't even know it yet.
Reagan got a surprisingly large chunk of the “youth vote” too.
A good sign, no doubt about it.
I wonder how many grads are now in debt up to their eyeballs, falling behind on college loans and losing their credit?
If there were still such a thing as an investigative reporter out there - it's a story that needs digging into.
the young Paul Ryan will bring in lots more youth
Six percent of millions of people is a (to quote Clueless Joe) “Big F***ing deal” and what’s more, it’s probably higher than that. Youth unemployment is between 15 and 50%, depending on the demographic. If you haven’t had a decent job since Mr. Obama came to power, are you really inclined to vote for him? Especially if you have collection agencies breathing down your neck for that student loan money?
If you have a son or daughter, other relatives, friend’s kids or neighbor like that, have them shoot me a resume and I’ll see what I can do. I’ve found jobs for tens of thousands of people and we’ll work out something reasonable for my time/effort.
after ryans RNC speech, we can expect the youth vote to rise closer to 60%.
My son constantly comes home with jokes his classmates are telling about obama. It's both amusing and sad. They seem to be the same way we felt growing up with Carter.
My son constantly comes home with jokes his classmates are telling about obama. It’s both amusing and sad.
Well that’s cuz they’re racist!
Just kidding, but you know that’s what Obama’s “True Believers” would say.
Yep - the youth are smart enough to know that, flaws and all, it is in their best interest to elect Romney.
You may be missing something, These polls often over sample Ds +9 so Roomney may even have more of the youth vote locked down. I’m a millennial and it disgusted me how my generation put this ass into power I knew the results of his policies would make us miserable, but I guess when you got a cool guy running everything changes.
Roomney=Romney
History does repeat itself!!
LOL!
The beauty of it is my son is moreno with obvious Latino heritage. He's darker than obama after 10 minutes in the sun. Gives him some immunity to the "RAAASSSSSISSSSSS!" accusations.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.