July 2, 2012

The new young people, who vaguely remember the 2008 election which was "something about Obama saying we needed a change."

A quote from the opening paragraph of a NYT article about the kids who'll be voting for President for the first time this year.

Who are these people, the super-young voters? They're not the same people who went moony over the "Hope" poster.
“The concern for Obama, and the opportunity for Romney, is in the 18- to 24-year-olds who don’t have the historical or direct connection to the campaign or the movement of four years ago,” said John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics. “We’re also seeing that these younger members of this generation are beginning to show some more conservative traits. It doesn’t mean they are Republican. It means Republicans have an opportunity.”
An opportunity. Think they'll blow it?

53 comments:

raf said...

Think they'll blow it?

Of course.

ndspinelli said...

"The thrill is gone it's gone away baby.." Thanks, BB!

MadisonMan said...

Typically, when political parties are handed an opportunity, they do blow it.

rehajm said...

'Mitt is The Shit' T-shirts probably not going to cut it..

Beta Rube said...

It's not an opportunity, it's a tax.

rehajm said...

...though I was shocked at the young of the young crowd at the Ron Paul UW rally. Maybe there's a chance..

Original Mike said...

I'm more interested in whether or not the young voters blow it.

Unknown said...

The GOP would blow the Second Coming.

Tom Spaulding said...

Louis CK on The Young

sakredkow said...

New young people?

KCFleming said...

Man, we sure don't want to blow the chance to appoint the next conservative justice.

Oops.

fivewheels said...

Shouldn't it be 18- to 22-year-olds? I mean, if you were 20 last time, even if you didn't vote, you probably should have some awareness of what was going on.

cubanbob said...

Kids only get it when it costs them.

I do hope they took advantage of The time in college to study quantum physics. Just like the Schrödinger’s Cat experiment, the cat is either alive or dead depending on the observer, Obamacare according to the legal quantum physicist, the democrats and CJ Roberts it's either a tax or penalty depending on the observer. Kids they are both right so don't trust your lying eyes.

edutcher said...

Most of them will probably stay home.

Pogo said...

Man, we sure don't want to blow the chance to appoint the next conservative justice.

So we re-elect Choom and get another Short Shortstop.

Oh, yeah, that will improve things.

David said...

"Think they'll blow it?"

Well, there's a pattern here.

robinintn said...

My daughter turns 18 9/20/12. She would crawl through broken glass to vote against Obama on the price of gas alone. The republicans have no chance of blowing it with her.

edutcher said...

PS One thing to keep in mind about Supreme Court nominees (or other nominees to the Federal bench or US Attorneys) is that they have to be confirmed by the Senate - with its filibusters and "collegiality".

One thing that would help is to get rid of some of the RINOs there.

But the "realists" who dislike my Pollyanna attitude don't seem to like that idea.

yashu said...

This is why Obama's been begging Hollywood and the music industry to help him out-- to help not just with fundraising, but messaging and campaigning. It's why O's meeting with "25 of Hollywood's hottest young stars," doing slow jams on Fallon, etc. He's desperate to secure this demographic and going full Poochie (Simpson character) to do so.

Let's hope young people smell a Poochie campaign for the BS it is. I think most do already (even if they end up voting for Obama, they're rolling their eyes at him). The popularity of Ron Paul is a good and healthy sign. Even if young Ronulans don't end up voting for Romney (here's hoping a good number will), those young voters are already off the Dem plantation, thinking for themselves. The DNC can't take their votes for granted. In time (if not in this election then future ones), a number of those voters may well move into the GOP tent.

Romney's not going to win young people over by trying to out-cool Obama. He can make inroads by not pandering or patronizing but treating them like adults, respecting their intelligence, and addressing substantive fiscal and economic concerns which affect them as much (or more) than everyone else. But he has to reach out to them. Address them, specifically.

Romney sure has a better chance of winning them over than someone like Santorum would've. Someone like Paul Ryan would be great for this, too.

After Obama's big political panders to women and gay and Hispanic voters (with decidedly mixed results), I'm expecting a big pander to youth at some point. Wonder what it'll be.

bagoh20 said...

OK, Beta Rube. That made stuff come out of my nose. I'm eating guacamole, so no problem.

Shanna said...

Shouldn't it be 18- to 22-year-olds? I mean, if you were 20 last time, even if you didn't vote, you probably should have some awareness of what was going on.

Even an 18 year old should have had some awareness. 14 is not 2. They have memories.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Think they'll blow it?

Who? The kids? I hope not, for their sake.

The longer you remain lost in the sophist fog of Progressive-ism, the worse your life will be.

Best to never start.

KCFleming said...

@edutcher

That's not pollyannaish, it's pragmatic. And I agree a Romney selection would be more likely to be acceptable.

However, Roberts.

yashu said...

Remember that picture of the college girl at the college bar with Obama. Big smiles, the MSM loved it. How cool is Obama.

But then for all the MSM prodding (and to their disappointment), that college girl did not say she was voting for Obama. She remained politely noncommittal. That said a lot.

bagoh20 said...

If we can keep em out of college, we got a chance.

Pettifogger said...

No question the GOP will bow it. Will the kids blow it? Quite possibly. If we elect Obama in 2012, that will probably be the last meaningful vote we have. By 2016, Obama will have "fixed" the electoral process.

Anonymous said...

Yashu - I think it's telling of the mentality of the media that they believe that somebody who is excited to be photographed with the President of the United States must somehow be certain to vote for him. I personally find Obama to be a narcissist and a terrible President, but he's still The President. I'd absolutely want to have my picture taken with him.

Original Mike said...

"The republicans have no chance of blowing it with her."

Never underestimate the Republican Party's abilty to screw the pooch.

Chuck66 said...

yasha....I was a youngster in 1984 and, no matter how hard Hollywood tried to change this, there was a lot of energy amoungst us high school and college aged people for 72 year old Ronald Reagan.

Romney should not go all John Kerry and try to do stupid stuff to look cool. Just be professional, positive (run for something, not against Barry) and have a little fun.

Original Mike said...

I think President Romney should introduce Congress to The Chore Wheel.

edutcher said...

Po, you get no argument from me.

I'd love to see a few more Alitos, Thomases, and Scalias.

I think the trick is to clean out the RINOs from the Senate and, as we have seen, that's going to take a lot of work at the grass roots.

The Demos don't have to worry - all their people are small c communists. Republicans OTOH are the ones with the big tent, so you have a bigger variety of people, so a President is going to have to be more selective and the Republicans in the Senate are going to have to fight harder.

It should be noted a lot of our misses have been nominated by people named Bush

And I don't think there's a Jeb in our future.

PS In one of the ObamaTax threads, garage quoted a CNN poll saying people just loved ObamaTax.

The same poll shows the Romster with an 8 point bulge in 15 swing states.

HotAir is calling the whole poll "improbable", but, if garage is lurking, there's something for him to conjure with.

Kirk Parker said...

Yeah, the R's are the Palestinians of American politics--never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

garage mahal said...

If we can keep em out of college, we got a chance.

I'm surprised that message doesn't resonate more with the younger generation. And making it harder for them to vote.

Harsh Pencil said...

Chuck66 said

"Romney should not go all John Kerry and try to do stupid stuff to look cool. Just be professional, positive (run for something, not against Barry) and have a little fun."

This. I was "only" 42 at the time, but I thought Kerry snowboarding looked ridiculous. Skiing, fine. Snowboarding just looked lame. Act like a grownup.

I feel the same way about answering questions about tastes in music. Everyone of the Democratic candidates said "Bruce Springsteen" except Howard Dean who said "Wyclef Jan" (or however you write that). I would have killed to have one respond "I don't listen to pop music" or "Mozart".

Curious George said...

The ones that have siblings that are unemployed, broke, and still living at home should be easy.

BarryD said...

If anyone can blow an opportunity, it's the Republicans!

Alex said...

No doubt DaOne will carry this new 18-24 by 30 points just like last time. Born stupid, die stupid.

yashu said...

Just be professional, positive (run for something, not against Barry) and have a little fun."

I agree. Re "fun," the Romney campaign has shown that it has a sense of humor and even a bit of mischievousness in it, which is good.

Alex said...

Salon spiking the football

virgil xenophon said...

To show you how the entire culture has changed over the last 60 yrs I remember the Eisenhower-Stevenson election where all we sons & daughters of faculty members at Eastern Ill Univ were repeating the little ditty at the Lab school: "Eisenhower in the Whitehouse, waiting to be elected--Stevenson in the trash-can, waiting to be collected." Anyone want to put money on the chance the vast majority of today's spawn of Univ faculty are singing comparable negative ditties about Obama?

virgil xenophon said...

PS: And remember, Stevenson was the VERY popular Governer of Illinois..

Michael K said...

"And making it harder for them to vote."

Only if they are felons or Mexican citizens.

Synova said...

Unemployment for 18 to 22 year olds is what?

Synova said...

The thing about unemployment for the 16-24 year old demographic, or 18-22 demographic is that you've got the ones being destroyed by not getting jobs, not even at McDonalds, and even the 18 year olds may have spent the last two years looking for work, and you've got the kids privileged enough to go to college.

The unemployed kids might vote for Romney.

The privileged kids in college are going to be at Occupy rallies whining about it.

AllenS said...

garage mahal said...
I'm surprised that message doesn't resonate more with the younger generation. And making it harder for them to vote

How difficult is it to register? I didn't think that it was very hard at all. Is this younger generation stupid?

Synova said...

That got me last year at school, it really did. I'd duck into the lady's loo in the building where most of my classes were and there'd be posters (only on the ground floor, the 2nd and 3rd floor bathrooms apparently involved going up stairs) about how "we are the 99% and life is so unfaaaiiirrrr!"

And I thought... You are probably a resident of New Mexico, which is a rather poverty stricken state, and if you're here, peeing in *this* bathroom, you're either a student who is *able* to attend a not at all shabby University, be it with your own, your parent's, or public funds, so not at all denied a world class education, or else you're an employee.

Whining babies.

Alex said...

The iGeneration needs a mobile app to register & vote as many times as they want. Of course we know that it's mainly Democrats who do this.

Anonymous said...

18-24, fresh out of high school/ college, still live in mommy's basement, no prospects for employment, no prospects to pay back the student loan that poor old dad co-signed, no prospects of marriage. Can't even claim unemployment benefits, Pelosi's economic stimulant. Anyone still wonder why they don't want four more HopeyChangy years?

Paul said...

He who forgets history is doomed to repeat it.

So much for the 'younger generation'. Bunch of stupes.

Tim said...

"They're not the same people who went moony over the "Hope" poster."

That's not the problem.

Kids are stupid before they start paying income and property taxes. The system can absorb their ill-informed votes, notwithstanding a few legislative elections in college towns.

It's the people over 25 who bought into the "Hope" poster who are the real problem.

They should have known better.

But stupidity persists for some people.

The Crack Emcee said...

“We’re also seeing that these younger members of this generation are beginning to show some more conservative traits. It doesn’t mean they are Republican. It means Republicans have an opportunity.”

They're my "cult."

Watch,...

Anonymous said...

Aw Crack, I'm happy for you, you finally got some followers. Don't get mad, I'm just pulling your leg. :)

AlanKH said...

Obama changed the level of annual deficits.

carrie said...

I think it will be interesting. I am the parent of a conservative 18 year old who just graduated from high school. My son has a lot of friends who are conservative too. I compare his high school class to my 22 year old son's high school class (at the same extremely liberal Dane County High School) and my 18 year old son's high school class is much more conservative than his brother's class and, more importantly in Dane County, not afraid to show it (facebook has a lot to do with that). My 18 year old hates Rush Limbaugh, likes the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, and primarily gets his news from the internet. The only mainstream media that he reads is Time magazine, but he doesn't read that regularly and when he does he talks about its liberal bias. He also gets regular campaign emails from Romney and his family and supporters and belongs to conservative facebook groups. The Republicans are reaching out to this age group and they are connecting with them, so I don't think they will blow it. However, these kids aren't bothered by the same things about Romney that bother the older conservatives, so that will be interesting too and probably makes it a good thing that they don't listen to mainstream media.