In a recent NPR article/broadcast, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says he’s meeting with groups of voters, including Hispanics, Asians, and youth, who have voted Democratic in the past.
After several years of the GOP telling young voters that they will be footing the bill for Obamacare and growing entitlement spending. It’s no surprise that many put much more emphasis on fiscal issues rather than social issues. From the article:
During the 2008 election, I was registered Republican,” he says. “Technically, I still am registered a Republican, but I definitely identify myself more with the Libertarian party.”
Leone is a fiscal conservative, but when it comes to the GOP, he thinks the party needs to take a different approach to some issues.
“They need to change their outlook, especially on social issues, which is why I identify myself more as Libertarian,” Leone says. “But I think that they are still very much in the right in terms of economic issues, the Republicans are.”
Young voters are quick to raise social issues such as same-sex marriage. They are far more likely than other age groups to approve of it.
Another student says, “We’re also the ones who are going to have to pay for Obamacare. A lot of people don’t necessarily connect those things. They say, ‘Oh, well, health care is great. I get to be on my parents’ health-care plan until I’m 26.’ Well, once you turn 27, you have to pay for that. And especially with the joblessness rates being what they are, I think that’s going to hit kids our age pretty hard.”
The good news is that up until 2000, the youth vote was pretty evenly split among youth, so it’s possible to get them back. Unfortunately, I think many party leaders have simply written off the youth vote rather than actually respond to their concerns.
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