Posted on 09/04/2013 6:29:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The media claimed that conservatives must become more moderate or face permanent irrelevancy after the supposedly solid liberal millennial generation of 18-29 year olds that overwhelmingly supported reelection of Barack Obama.
These dire warnings reminded me of the media geniuses who proclaimed after Jimmy Carter's presidential victory in 1976 that the 18-29 year olds of the Baby Boomer generation would always vote as a liberal bloc. Four years later, Baby Boomers abandoned liberalism and began reliably voting as Ronald Reagan conservatives for the next three decades. As Millennial support of President Obama has plummeted this year, it is liberalism that may again be facing decades of irrelevancy.
On Election Day in 2008, 37.4% of incoming freshman women and 30.5% men identified themselves as liberals or leftists, the most in 35 years. This corresponded four years later to 33% of Millennials describing themselves on Election Day 2012 as liberals. Given that Barack Obama lost a majority of the over 29 year old vote by 50% to 48%, it was his 61% to 36% support among 18-29 year olds that swung the election in his favor.
The media proclaimed that Obama's reelection was proof the Millennials would power liberalism to dominate American politics for the many decades.
Support for Obama has fallen by 9% since Election Day, but it is the 15% collapse in support by Millennials that is driving Obama's fall. Furthermore, first-year college students self-identifying as liberals has also dropped by five points to 26.4% for men and 32.4% for women. The media failed to understand that after the 18-29 year olds of the Baby Boomer generation swept Jimmy Carter into the White House in 1976, initial liberal views of youth do not necessarily lock a generation into a lifetime of liberal voting.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
There’s nothing wrong with optimism, but rose colored glasses can distort your view. Of my 3 boys, two were always pretty conservative, and the third is a tad less so. They all laugh at how oppressively liberal the campuses were and how brain-washed a large portion of the students were.
They are starved for logic and truth and they loathe hypocrisy and know it when they see it, as has always been so among young people.
Sounds like Rush. No they are not.
They are discouraged with Obama, they havent suddenly become conservatives. Its their faith in the cool smart, hip black young POTUS who they related to, that they are losing.
I haven’t seen any evidence of this, but it would be nice, if true.
If you are 18 and you aren’t a liberal, there is something wrong with your heart.
If you are 22 and you are still a liberal, there is something wrong with your head.
I forget who said that, or something similar.
Could it be that the act of completing college, getting jobs, and beginning to pay taxes has anything to do with the change of thought?
A conservative is a liberal who got mugged. In this context, liberal college grads will see the light after they see themselves passed over for jobs and promotions in favor of “affirmative action” candidates.
When Liberalism causes your unemployment, you become disillusioned.
But welfare and pot are a good enough substitute for many.
I know the saying and see the point, but some 18 year olds are actually capable of using their brains and observing the obvious.
Rose, heck, the author’s peering through Cabernet glasses.
The current younger generation is breathlessly ignorant. They don’t know liberty, they don’t know history, and they don’t know they don’t know, though they probably think Disney’s Pocahontas was the first to say that.
If you’re young and conservative, you have no heart. If you’re old and liberal, you have no brains.
I deal with a lot of young people, and I see absolutely no sign of this.
They seem all to willing to give Socialism it’s “full, fair shot”, as none of them have lived through the Cold War and hence they’re clueless about the downside.
To the extent there is a change some are becoming Libertarians (shut down the NSA, legalize pot, get your nose out of who or what I sleep with, etc.)
I am around millennials all day long here in the tech industry and I am not seeing that trend. They are as misinformed as ever.
The trouble is, the entrenched politicians and bureaucracy are almost impossible to dislodge. The problem is systemic. Mark Levin's Liberty Amendments addresses this problem, but the process of adopting these amendments will be long and hard. The alternative is a complete economic collapse, which may result in a dismantling of the welfare state.
They’ll always believe that socialism works, but the right people have never run it.
No, I imagine completing college, having to take a low pay, no future McJob (or several at 15 hours a week per McJob) and having $50K in student loan debt that can't even be discharged in bankruptcy probably has more to do with it. Those kids aren't making enough to pay spit in income taxes.
Winston Churchill.
excellent post. Winston Churchill said it. I think it was about the same time as he “re-ratted” back to the conservative bench.
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