McCain and the Republican Party are so out-of-touch, they’re even having a hard time appealing to self-described young conservatives, according to a Washington Post article featuring a group of 20-something Republicans.
This isn’t good for a party which has yet to come up with an economic plan that appeals to the average, hard-working American just a few months prior to a presidential election.
Conservatives haven’t been in the right place to get the message to young voters,” Austin Walne, 22, says… “Young people who just got into the workforce don’t care about the tax rate, but they have to fill up their gas tank and turn on the AC in their studio apartment. Energy is a big winner for us if we can communicate it well. [Washington Post, 7/22/08]
But as the McCain campaign has shown, young voters can see past the Republican rhetoric of an energy policy — drilling and a gas tax holiday — that just fattens the pockets of oil companies, while actually worsening our energy crunch.
According to the Post’s young professionals — most of whom worked for one of the Republican presidential primary candidates — McCain and the candidates are on the wrong track when it comes to forming an attractive message and getting that message out to young conservatives.
This year, according to [a] Post-ABC poll, 44 percent of those under 30 call themselves Democrats, and only 18 percent identify as Republicans.
The Post article shows that young Republicans feel their party is too rooted in the past, too focused on reviving the political success of the Regan-era than catching up to modern politics and the current demands of the American people — both ideologically and technologically.
After all, how can John McCain appeal to the tech generation when he’s “still learning how to sign on to the Internet,” as NPR and numerous other news organizations have reported?
His campaign has never sent a text message, [one politically active conservative says of his inbox]. “It’s the little things like that, along with poor communication on the big issues such as Iraq and the economy that have caused the GOP brand to slip with younger Americans, even as they have grown more political.” [Washington Post, 7/22/08]
Who can blame them though? After eight years of rising energy prices and a shrinking economy, companies cutting pensions, health care and wages, and the Bush administration not doing a thing to counteract any of these negative economic effects, it’s only natural for young voters — conservative or liberal — to gravitate toward the Democrats. Especially because of our pledge to expand access to health care, fight for fairer wages, fix the economy and develop a responsible energy policy.
While we encourage the Republicans to catch up, we’re also just as happy to welcome their next generation of voters to the Democratic Party.
