The Democrats weakness: their reliance on young voters

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

Courtesy of political wire.com:



The latest NBC/WSJ poll found that young people much less enthusiastic about voting in the midterm elections than older people. Just 35% of those 18-34 years-olds are enthusiastic about the midterm elections, versus 65% of seniors.

A Congressional Connection poll may have found the reason: When asked if they were satisfied "with the way things are going in this country today," 54% of 18-29 year-olds said "yes," compared with just 28% of 30-49 year-olds, 22% of 50-64 year-olds, and 19% of 65+ year-olds.

The Democrats already have sliding approval numbers working against them, and on top of that their base are just too stupid to vote.

[ryder]

Well the dems may be too stupid to go out and vote, but that is nothing compared to the minimal iq requirement to vote republican.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

the minimal iq requirement to vote republican.

A silly partisan attack based on a rejection of facts, rather than being based on facts or reason.

[ryder]

No facts? Look at the record of the republicans. Look at the mess America is in because of the Republicans. Anyone that would want the lies, violations of the constitution. illegal wars, dead soldiers, torture etc etc etc........ Now I ask you, what kind of moron would want that back?

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

Look at the record of the repubicans.

Why? Because I pointed out an ugly truth about the base of the Democratic Party? The Republicans can be sages or fools, but that is still irrelevant to the stupidity of the Democratic base for not voting for their own candidates.



Look at the mess America is in because of the Republicans. Anyone that would want the lies, violations of the constitution. illegal wars, dead soldiers, torture etc etc etc........ Now I ask you, what kind of moron would want that back?

Is this your roundabout way of calling me a moron?

[ryder]

Look I am not defending the democrats. But let's be realistic. Obama was handed a mess. I have no idea whether he could be a good president or not. He has had to deal with a polarized congress and trying to clean up Bush's mess. I am not claiming to have the answer but I do know what Bush and company did to America. To want more of the same would indicate either an iq problem or some delusional illness. I leave it up to you to decide which.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

To want more of the same would indicate either an iq problem or some delusional illness. I leave it up to you to decide which.

This is not the forum for you. You should find another.

[Jordanf992]

I think that if you're going to take a stance on either side, you need to bring some evidence to the table. Just calling someone a moron is more of a reflection of your inability to present your side of the argument in a coherent fashion.

I think young voters (myself being one) are more sheltered from the crises this country is facing than other voters. I'm thinking that the 54% of 18-29 year-olds who are content are not facing the host of problems that someone faces once they start working full time, maintaining a house, and raising a family. They aren't feeling the pressure from this, and they might not be driven to make changes within our country. These people are also more likely to be living with their parents or dorming at colleges: this isn't to say that they don't face problems, but they certainly have a lot less to worry about. I think the mentality could also be seen as, "well I'm doing fine, so I don't really need anything to change."

From the campaign work I've seen (talking now about Democrats), they should be targeting the young voters like Obama did. I think that if they did try to proactively get younger people involved, they would have a huge advantage.


What a difference 2 years of tough economic times can make. We wrote in 2008 about the fact that over 2/3 of 18-24 year-olds voted Democratic, partly driven by the charisma of Barack Obama. ["Why Republicans are Worried"] Political pundits speculated that this generation could be the bulge in the snake, altering the political equation for years to come in their skewed support for Democrats.

That was then. This is now. This February, Pew Research revealed that young Democrats (“millenials”) were much more on the fence. There was still a 14 point net democratic leaning of millennials (54-40%) but far less dramatic than the 32 percentage point gap in the 2008 elections.

The New York Times claims that young Americans’ political loyalties are now much more up for grabs (“Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as Democrats“), but the evidence seems more mixed on that score than the article’s lede. Since February, Pew Research suggests that, while the democratic advantage among young adults is less than in the 2008 elections, it has actually widened over the last 6 months and is now closer to a 20 percentage point advantage of youth toward Democrats. (see following graphic)

Social Capital Blog
http:socialcapital.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/young-americans-may-be-turning-away-from-democrats/



I think this is surprising, and it seems like if the democratic party doesn't try to reverse these statistics, they could lose a lot (more) of their momentum.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

From Gallup:

http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/vdpnxacmzkkazede9sfeta.gif

By a margin of more than 2:1 Democrats think they will maintain control of the house, when most pollsters say they won't. I think this shows that only a minority of people are really paying attention to things like polls I guess.