Conservatism on the rise in young voters

Daily Illini ^ | December 14, 2004 | Eric Chima

[paudio]

When Michael Graves was 20 years old, a typical evening involved caking his face in skull makeup, donning a leather vest stained with fake blood and spitting out lyrics in front of hordes of moshing, screaming kids. For five years, Graves was the lead singer of the Misfits, a legendary punk band known for their bloody "fiend" costumes and horror-movie lyrics. In short, he was the perfect example of America's radical liberal youth.

From the moment he left the stage, though, Graves was a devout Catholic and conservative voter.

Graves, now 29, was just one of a growing number of American youths defying the traditional stereotype of the young liberal. In recent years, the Democratic hold on the college-age demographic has weakened. If it releases altogether, they could be on the losing end of elections for years to come.

[paudio]

This is from independent student newspaper @ university of illinois at urbana-champaign.

[DTogo]

What do you make of this?

[SoDak]

I think young people feel compelled to rebel a bit against the beliefs of figures posing as authority. Therefore I find it somewhat expected that a certain portion of college students would turn on college professors, seeing as how 90% of said professors are self-admitted liberals.

[paudio]

With the leftist professors hold the power in campus today, being conservative actually like engaging in a counter-culture. If in the 1960s the counter-culture was anti-war, hippies, etc. , today, with those children of 1960s as professors, it may be the other way around.

[radicalamericannationalist]

Personally, I went to Cal Berkeley as a socialist and came back, as my mother put it, "normal." This was not out of rebelliousness but from seeing what a disaster the city had become after three decades of radical rule. I wouldn't doubt the same thing happens on other campuses as well.

[ledfoot]

Conservative adolescents (such as myself) are raised by conservative parents. My parents have been conservative my whole life, and thus I have been a conservative my whole life. To understand the shift, look to the parents. It is possible that terrorist incidents such as September 11 have caused a general shift towards the right for every American. (Not that there are none in the left, but they could be less far to the left)

[dakine]

18 year olds that work and see FICA (esp. Social Security part) tax come out of their checks, get conservative real quick...or they are sucking of the govt. teat...

[umgud]

Also, in years gone by, unions were very strong and pushed their members left. Now the unions are a fraction of their former selves and the old former union members are dying out. Another few election cycles and they'll mostly be gone.

Another big issue is that the old media is also dying out and no longer has the high ground on what perspective to feed us with their news stories.

[speedy]

I've been hearing for the past 25 years that the youth vote is getting more conservative, but it seems like in reality it goes back and forth rather quickly. It doesn't much matter because when they grow up they increasingly vote GOP. I don't think the 60s youth vote was ever as radical as it was portrayed -- the radicals got all the press, but then as now the majority of college students were apathetic. And of course the youth vote is not restricted to college students, something that usually is not pointed out. Since that portion of the vote is usually out working at a younger age, it always tends to be more conservative than those of us who got an extended adolescence at a university.

[nickcarraway]

interesting

[RockinRight]

It's the same as all us Metalhead Freepers. I am a die-hard conservative but love heavy metal.

And-yes, today's youth (as a whole) are more conservative than their parents.

[Slyfox]

university of illinois at urbana-champaign

There are a number of closet conservatives at that institution. My son-in-law is a doctoral candidate and has not let anyone know that he voted for George Bush for fear that he might be kicked out of the program. Both he and my daughter are itching to move back to Texas where they can breath free and carry their guns in peace.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Yup,, what goes around, comes around, remember ? back in the 60's the liberal cry of the time was " Rebel against authority " ?
Irony or ironies.

[aposiopetic]

One of those personalities, Pat Thetic, is almost the polar opposite of the Misfits' former singer, Michael Graves. As the drummer for the left-wing punk band Anti-Flag, Thetic spent his summer on the Vans Warped Tour, a widely attended concert festival in the United States, and his autumn on the Rock Against Bush tour.

Aptly named.

[Uncle Miltie]

The good news just keeps rolling in. Let's welcome all the new folks to the Center / Right coalition, and get the Lord's work done.

[John Will]

You can't make those names up.

[hsalaw]

I didn't get it until I read your post: "Pat Thetic" = pathetic. LOL