The Vanishing Young Republicans

Even as we continue to daily witness the often vile anti-gay agenda of Christianists and anti-gay Republicans like Ms. Virginia Foxx from North Carolina, comfort can be found in new data that shows that the far right is slowly but steadily destroying its own future by driving younger voters to liberalism in droves. Indeed, the politics of hate and division are taking their toll: the gap between members of the younger generation that identify as Democrats versus those identifying as Republican is at near all time highs. As I have stated numerous times previously, the problem for the GOP is that its base is now comprised of those who care nothing for objective facts and figures and who are moved only by their fanaticism which is increasingly religious based. Thus, pulling out of the death spiral will be difficult for the GOP and may leave what few rational Republicans who remain with little place to go other than to exit from the party. Here are some highlights as presented by Kristen Soltis:

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Yesterday's departure of Sen. Arlen Specter from the Republican Party re-opened the debate over the ideological direction of the Republican Party. Did the GOP move away from Specter, or was it Specter that left the GOP? Where do the American people fall?

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My focus on this site over the last few weeks has been on young voters. And most of the news I have had for the Republican Party has been bad news, presenting a picture of a young cohort less convinced of the virtues of limited government, more supportive of gay marriage, and more inclusive of minority groups less prone to voting Republican.

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The 2008 shift is most concerning for the Republican Party in two ways. First, it shows the highest proportion of young voters identifying as Democrats since 1972. Second, it shows the largest gap between 18-29 year old party ID and overall party ID in that same time frame. Consider 1976, when the post-Watergate voters abandoned the GOP.

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As it turns out, young voters began abandoning the Republican Party long before Barack Obama was even a serious contender for the presidency. Those pinning the Republican Party's poor fortunes among young voters on the Obama candidacy miss the source of the problem and certainly underestimate its severity.

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Another bit of conventional wisdom I hear from my fellow Republicans about the youth vote is that they need to vote Democratic twice before they are "locked in for life", supporting the notion that there is still time to turn the tide among this generation. Unfortunately, given that the shift began in 2006 and not 2008, for many voters the GOP may simply be too late. For the rest, if the Republican Party does not take immediate action to repair its brand, this generation may exhibit similarly low levels of Republican identification for years to come.