Posted on 05/06/2012 10:31:11 AM PDT by kristinn
It's no surprise President Barack Obama officially kicked off his re-election campaign on two college campuses on Saturday. You're supposed to apply pressure at the site of bleeding. And the president's support among young voters is bleeding away.
Though their elders vote at higher rates, the Millennial generation, aged 18 to 29, represented almost one in six votes in the 2008 presidential election. And they voted for Obama over Senator John McCain by a two-to-one margin.
While others in the media are focused on the upward trend in the president's approval ratings over the last four months in this age group, as shown in the latest Survey of Young Americans' Attitudes toward Politics and Public Service from Harvard University's Institute of Politics, there are troubling signs for the campaigns and the country embedded more deeply in the numbers.
SNIP
In terms of policies and priorities, the group appears more right-of-center than imagined. Almost four in ten believe cutting taxes is key to growth. Just 19 percent think government spending is the answer. And those who believe health insurance is a right dropped from 61 percent in 2008 to 43 percent in 2012.
The top ten issues ranked in importance for this cohort were: creating jobs, reducing the deficit, lowering the tax burden for all, becoming energy independent, ensuring affordable access to health care, creating a world-class education system, addressing Social Security, preventing the spread of terrorism, protecting individual liberties from government, and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Combating the impacts of climate change fell near the bottom of the list.
Surprisingly, little support is expressed by 18-to-24 year olds for the Occupy Wall Street protests, at 19 percent. (A plurality of 42 percent are unsure.)
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
This explains the thousands of empty seats at Ohio State for Obama's reelect kickoff.
Axelrod's strategy of focusing on college loan interest rates is a diversion from the uncertain future of new college grads. Most folks understand you have to have a job to be able to repay a loan at any interest rate.
College kids like Ron Paul. He promises them legal marijuana.
How do you pick a winner out of 2 losers?
Imagine how internally stressed barry must be KNOWING he’s a fraud and could possibly be outed as such?
You know it’s in his head, sitting next to Sarah.
Better the little snots stay home and sleep like they normally do. We can see how mucked up things got when they did turn out.
Personally, I’d like to see “the young” who don’t pay taxes stay away from the voting booth. They aren’t old enough to make such an important decision as to who runs America and the government. These days, those who spend time on a college campus should not vote. Most of them are confused and have been brainwashed and indoctrinated by Marxists/communists. They should be required to grow up before they are allowed to vote.
Campers chased by a bear need only outrun the other campers.
Likewise, Romney need not win their votes, he need only get more votes than the Obama.
To wit: I don’t necessarily want these students to vote for Romney, I only want them to not vote for the Obama.
Until Bishop Willard offers more than being merely a Caucasian Obama, he will just attract flies.
That pesky constitution getting in the way again? Huh? I like the constitution the way it is worts and all. I think your desire to change the constitution may just happen, but you may not like the results. You and Obama seem to be in agreement that the constitution needs to be changed.....SCARY!!!
well hell i’m not running to romney either. looks like another voting against instead of voting for election.
Eventually we are going to have to reconsider the concept of universal suffrage. I realize we are nowhere near ready for such a debate - perhaps not in our lifetimes. At some point societies are going to have to figure out a way to prevent dependent people, who produce little to nothing, from trotting off to the polls to vote themselves more freebies. If modern nations have collectively decided government is responsible for providing a social safety net, the only way to prevent that from spinning out of control is to ensure that those paying the taxes determine just how much government charity they wish to provide. The left would fight this tooth and nail though because it is through these dependent voters that they gain and retain power, so this type of system will only grow out of a massive societal collapse.
Well said. And that’s the way I feel about it. Another reply to my post by another “freeper” on this thread is just ignorant and FOS. It’s not about the Constitution. It’s about voter fraud and freeloaders voting themselves “free stuff”.
After the ‘08 election, high schoolers thought things were going to be great with all the free pot they were going to get.
Now, the sentiment may be, I won’t vote so it is not my fault.
You realize we have amended the constitution many times right? Sometimes it's worked out well, other times not so.
No constitution is perfect. Ours certainly isn't. The founding fathers were not Gods. We have a decent, but far from perfect system. If the founding fathers could have peered into the future and seen where we are today, I am quite sure they'd have written some (perhaps many) things differently.
Empty seats for an empty suit spouting empty rhetoric. Appropriate.
They're trying to re-create the 60's success they had with kids. Don't think it's going to work.
Hannity shouted down a college-aged anarchist the other day on his show pretty effectively. Back in the day the kid could perhaps have been a cult figure.
Looks like there is an opening for Gary Johnson and the Libertarians. If they aren’t crazy about either Obama or Romney, maybe they’ll go for a party that’s for pot and for abortion.
“Better the little snots stay home and sleep like they normally do”
Exactly. These young brainless morons ruined the country for the past 4 years. My business partner and I try our best to weed out the liberals for the past 3 hiring sessions as we do not want any part of them. Let them eat their hopeychangey cake and choke on it..
There is only One power who can affect the future of the world, and I think He is finished with this corrupt and wayward world. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe there enough of us to manifest Him among His beloved people who have strayed too far far from Him. If we pray without ceasing; if we allow His love to issue forth through each of us who love Him; and if miracles still happen in these darkest of days ; if the lost ones will repent and turn from their wicked ways, perhaps then our Glorious God will choose to give us one more chance.
More opportunity for my kids then ;) (all three are working right now. And they will vote, but not for Obama)
Better the little snots stay home and sleep like they normally do”
Exactly. These young brainless morons ruined the country for the past 4 years. My business partner and I try our best to weed out the liberals for the past 3 hiring sessions as we do not want any part of them. Let them eat their hopeychangey cake and choke on it..
**
Exactly. Good for you and your business partner. Keep weeding.
The young people I know and TRY to discuss politics with are so hopelessly uninformed and knowledgeable about this country’s history — that they truly and really should NOT vote.
I don’t think most do anyway ...where are all these Paulbots? It seems like they’re not even turning out for him as he’s not getting any votes. For all their loudmouthed bluster, they haven’t been able to effect any sort of shift as far as Paul is concerned.
In terms of policies and priorities, the group appears more right-of-center than imagined. Almost four in ten believe cutting taxes is key to growth. Just 19 percent think government spending is the answer. And those who believe health insurance is a right dropped from 61 percent in 2008 to 43 percent in 2012.
The top ten issues ranked in importance for this cohort were: creating jobs, reducing the deficit, lowering the tax burden for all, becoming energy independent, ensuring affordable access to health care, creating a world-class education system, addressing Social Security, preventing the spread of terrorism, protecting individual liberties from government, and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Combating the impacts of climate change fell near the bottom of the list.
Surprisingly, little support is expressed by 18-to-24 year olds for the Occupy Wall Street protests, at 19 percent. (A plurality of 42 percent are unsure.)
We try our best to be ‘subtle’ in our interviews (wink). Obviously, we never ask “who did you vote for?” or they’ll catch on..
Then again, we had the occasional Obama sticker at the back of the car’ candidates (our office is right above the parking lot) and we send one of our managers to do the interviews so not to waste our time.
If Romney chooses a veep running mate who is young and appealing to the youths, such as Paul Ryan or Rubio, that might increase his percentages some.
Back in the Sixties we were all given the mantra, "old enough to fight, but not old enough to vote?" It seemed to make sense, until you realized that being old enough to hold a gun and shoot when ordered doesn't entail the maturity to decide what should be shot.
But in those days maturity itself was under attack.
I'd like to see that pesky constitution returned to more of its original form, mainly by repealing every amendment that includes the clause "Congress shall have power", etc.
Congress had plenty of power to start with.
I suspect that a lot of the first time voters from 2008 are going to stay home this time around.
They may still like Obama on a personal and “coolness” level, but they’re not totally stupid. They can look around and see that things are going totally to crap.
Even the wastrels have to realize that there’s not going to be much in the way of good times in the future if we don’t get a President who can find his ass if he uses both hands.
They’ll tell all their friends they plan to vote for him, but on election day they’ll be too busy — mostly planning on ways to score with the heartbroken Lib chicks after Obama concedes.
The young being leftists is new, it started in 1992.
Nixon won 52% of the 18 to 29 year old vote in 1972.
In 1968 the Democrats won 47% of the (21) to 29 year old vote, in 1972, they won 46% of the 18 to 29 age group, in 1976, after Watergate, and with the weak, moderate (and under suspicion) Ford, against what appeared to be a social conservative Democrat with a strong military back ground, the Democrats picked up 51% of the 18 to 29 year old vote.
In 1980 Democrats got 44% of that age group, 1984-40%, 1988-47%.
May Zer0’s inner tube be pinched between his rim and his bead.
Thanks for posting. The article does a lot to clarify the ‘08 ‘youth vote’ in my mind.
Frankly, if half the kids stay home, they’ll do almost as much a service to Romney as they would voting for him. And if this is reflected in other demographics (unions, minorities, etc.), at the very least, Obama has a fight on his hand.
You may like the New York Times quote, mentioned here.
**While “old enough to fight, old enough to vote” was one of the catch-phrases of the 1960s, the sentiment behind it had been expressed decades earlier during both World War II and the Korean War. But for many years there was opposition to lowering the voting age, including from The New York Times, which repeatedly argued against it. “The requirements for a good soldier and for a good voter are not the same,” said a 1967 Times editorial. “For the soldier, youthful enthusiasm and physical endurance are of primary importance; for the voter, maturity of judgment far outweighs other qualifications.”
18 to 29 also has some of the most rabid conservatives you’ll ever meet. Don’t be so quick to dismiss someone in that age group.
If they stay home, he's screwed.
Old enough to serve as a U.S. Representative, but not old enough to vote?
;)
You need to reread post 28, the youth vote did not become democrat until 1992.
“The young people I know and TRY to discuss politics with are so hopelessly uninformed and knowledgeable about this country’s history — that they truly and really should NOT vote.”
I agree. The majority of them have sadly been brainwashed by cultural marxism and have never really been exposed to conservative ideas and how it’s in their best interest to vote conservative. Perhaps they’ll realize it once they hit their 50s and are still paying off Maobama’s stimulus package of 2009.
I’m beginning to think the only folks who should be allowed to vote are those paying taxes. Of course the Dems would fight this idea tooth and nail. The majority of their voter base would disappear.
I’d support that.
I would also support a requirement that the franchise be restricted to net taxpayers. That means that in order to vote you have to pay more in taxes than you receive in public support.
Of course, that would virtually wipe out the Democrat Party voter base. Not that I consider that to be a bad thing.
Legal marijuana is actually a good idea. Think of the tax revenues and economic stimulus. But it’s not worth a Ron Paul to get it.
I agree with raising the franchise age (30 is OK...40 is even better) and restricting the franchise to net taxpayers, but specifically net property tax payers. This comports most closely with original intent and does not further entrench the income tax. One exception: the franchise should be awarded at the honorable completion of volunteer military service regardless of taxpayer status.
I realize that these are fighting words in today's Amerika. Don't much care, either.
Not any more. Even 98.6 is optional these days.
(Thanks for the reference, though!)
Instead of their liberal opinion(s) only leading to one vote ... their own ... their misguidedness was able to be leveraged to indoctrinate the generations that followed.
There is definitely truth to that, but those children of the 60s and 70s gave us something that we did not have in 1970, an alternative to the left’s absolute control of the media.
Today we have talk radio, conservative book publishing, Fox, magazines, counter science to the left on everything from sex to climate, effective pro-life groups, mass (and effective) conservative movements like the tea party and so on, we often control the Congress, Senate, and Supreme Court, in 1970 all the young had for information, was the left’s view, and the left controlled everything.
In the 1960s and 1970s the left was all-powerful and passed legislation without challenge, bold, sweeping, nation destroying, legislation that would be impossible today, like the immigration law that did this to us.
This health care thing is a throw back to that “greatest generation” type legislation, but while it is a rare 60s type victory for the left, it is far from over or decided.
This crap needs to stop. All of you bashing my generation must have either been extremely informed when you were in your 20s or miraculously skipped that age.
One could easily make the argument that the PARENTS of this current generation deserve equal or greater ire for the state of things!
I’m a very well-informed 27 year-old but I can tell you there are TONS of ignorant people and they span all generations.
Let’s not forget what generation is RUNNING this country!
>”The 18 to 29 year old demographic are the most ignorant and shallow, with the poorest judgment. It would be good for America if the voting age was raised to 30.”
Yeah... I guess we shouldn’t let those STUPID 18-year-old troops vote either.
Remember this generation? They are in charge of the country right now...
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