Polls show youth leaning to Bush

Jacksonville Times-Union ^ | 7-28-04 | Matt Towery

[veronica]

As the Democrats bask in the media limelight this week at the party's national convention, it's probably a good time to revisit a topic I recently took a light jab at in this column space. Polls in a number of states and in the nation as a whole show that a surprisingly disproportionate amount of President Bush's support for re-election is coming from younger voters -- an often fickle voting bloc.

[qam1]

(In Florida) Bush leads Kerry in the 18-34 age group 50 percent to 43 percent; 60 percent to 32 percent in the 35-44 age group;

WOW!!

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.  

[suzyq5558]

My 23 yr old daughter who is not a political junkie in way shape or form is voting for Bush/Cheny because as she puts it she sees through the BS of the left and she has FICA taxes and property taxes ect... really woke her up to reality!
her fiance is voting GW also he said he will never vote dem after working secret service detail during the reign of fools known as clinton & co. he told me they were treated awfull.
also my niece and her hubby are first time voters and they love President Bush for the tax cuts.
This is driving my communist inlaws out of thier minds hehe they will say something so nasty about the President only to get smacked down by the grandkids and my whole side of the family!!! GO BUSH ~!

[no dems]

If its morals and ethics, then I'll eat my hat, because the youth "majority" certainly doesn't appear to embrace that concept on a whole. You might be surprised. The ones who WILL vote are more likely to be good, moral citizens. The gangs, crackheads, and the lazy, unemployed, losers will barely be getting out of bed before the polls close.

[JenB]

I have been talking with a number of 18 to 26 year olds recently

I am one of those people - 21 years old, conservative, and going to vote if I have to crawl over broken glass to do it. It's very nice to have a thread that isn't bashing all young people as slackers/morons/Democrats, for once.

I'm interested in seeing a poll in about five years on the proportion of formerly homeschooled young voters to the general young population. Maybe we're only a small fraction of the population, but I'd bet we'll vote at a much higher rate than the average government school graduate.

[AFPhys]

My oldest daughter got a job.

Then she got her paycheck.

She was very impressed by how much of her earnings she got.

She was NOT favorably impressed.

Another vote for lower taxes.
.

[Long Cut]

PING!

Some good news, here. The trends you spoke of are bearing fruit.

However, both the conservative movement and the Republicam party might look a lot different if the current crop of young people someday control its direction.

[Paleo Conservative]

Its annoyed me my entire life, and I'm one of 'em.

It annoys me that people like me who were born in the early sixties are lumped in with Baby Boomers.

[adaven]

One of my most favorite memories:

My neighbor's son got his first job working for a mobile car wash/auto detailing company. He worked his butt off. I clearly remember him walking up to the garage, with his payroll check in hand, saying: "Dad, what the f*** is FICA?!"

[thulldud]

If you were 1965 or before, you're a boomer. Tough tacos.

[Poohbah]

I have to say this surprises me quite a bit. There is no denying that the younger generation has been very brainwashed into the "entitlement" way of thinking and a republican is not an "entitlement" thinker. 9/11 may have had a big impact, but in what way that would make them go to the right?

Yes. Consider the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs: keeping oneself from getting beheaded by an Islamist whackjob is of higher priority than getting a bigger Pell Grant.

The Whitehouse has a lot of that generation going to war (I believe for good reason), but facing the draft can't be winning a lot of votes with the youth.

What draft are you talking about?

[rwfromkansas]

I see a lot of polls showing young voters supporting Kerry rather than Bush.

However, interesting article.

And this poll was from last week:

"Bush leads Kerry in the 18-34 age group 50 percent to 43 percent..."

[rwfromkansas]

There was a thread on here not too long ago that actually the youth are the most pro-life of all groups, more likely to stay married and even want marriage than their older counterparts etc. Teen pregnancy and sex has dropped to record low levels. Drug use is down.

The only kink is more support for gay marriage, but even a rabid social con like myself (and edge of the Gen X/Gen Y group) is sympathetic on the issue. But, I still can't support allowing them to marry because of the implications it would have I believe. If I were voting based on only whether I think they should have the right to marry the one they love (even in a corrupted love), I would be pro-gay marriage like many youth. But, I am against it for the bigger picture.

[Yardstick]

If I were voting based on only whether I think they should have the right to marry the one they love (even in a corrupted love), I would be pro-gay marriage like many youth. But, I am against it for the bigger picture.

I think their agreement with the concept of gay marriage is more libertarian than anti-traditionalist, which is good. I myself have been divided on gay marriage because I have some sympathy for the libertarian argument for it. As the younger generation gains more experience in the world and comes to understand the importance of marriage better, they'll probably shift towards the conservative anti-gay-marriage (which is really pro-marriage) position.

[rwfromkansas]

This is in Florida.

However, the author claims other polls are showing Bush support elsewhere in teh country among youth.

I have seen Kerry support myself in polls (maybe I am missing these polls though). However, the Kerry advantage among the youth in these polls is remarkably small.

[rwfromkansas]

I agree. Since the youth is remarkably conservative on other issues, it is a libertarian attitude, not a liberal one.

[rwfromkansas]

I wonder if home schooling families have more kids?

I get that feeling, but don't have any data except that one homeschooling family in my church as 13 kids.

YES....13.

[Yardstick]

Since the youth is remarkably conservative on other issues, it is a libertarian attitude, not a liberal one.

'zackly. The kids are alright. Now if they'll just pull their pants up.

[sc2_ct]

Children end up having much the same political views as their parents (at least in the fundamentals) over 90% of the time. Something like 70% of abortions are performed by Liberals. Most homosexuals are Liberals. Most women who want one/no children and think their job is more important than a family are Liberal. The liberals are pretty much running a eurgenics program on themselves. The only place they're getting new voters is from immigration (legal or non). If we actually tightened down our borders and deported the illegals, you'd see their numbers consistantly fall while right-wing numbers rose, simply based on these factors.

I don't have any of the official figures on me right now since I'm not on my computer

[JenB]

I'd say more than half the homeschool families I've known have five or more kids. My family has seven...

[ambrose]

./