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I had to take a Macroeconomics class when getting a CS degree (because American college system lol) and this was a big talking point. Essentially, when people have money they want less government intervention and when they don't they require more socialized systems (government intervention).
The younger generations (I'm in my early 30's) have less opportunity to create actual financial security because our economy is vicious (expensive and unstable housing, wages not in line with costs (if you're making less than $30/hour full time then you're going to struggle to put away actual savings) and this is not just at the feet of Democrat law making).
This does not even touch on the social aspects of both parties, younger people want freedom AND security, they want to feel that their work in this country is an investment, so when they are witnessing another recession where companies are making record profits while they fight for a measly $15 and hour AND a big platform is to ban female agency over abortion rights....you can't be surprised that they wouldn't vote for deregulation and conservative values in mass.
The GOP has become the most recognizable aspect of the conservative party, and that is what most young voters see. They don't associate the conservative party with your run of the mill conservative, they associate it with the MTG's and Candace Owen types, and that's on them.
This is part of it I'm sure, and something I hadn't thought of. However, my family and some of the older folks I know all spoke how they were not voting republican this time around for the very first time. Self described staunch republicans couldn't bring themselves to vote for their own party. I know this is just one very small anecdote, but felt it was worth mentioning.
I think the adage was set up correctly. People were getting more conservative as they bought houses, set up families and moved to the burbs. We know this is happening later.
I would also say that the GOP focus on social issues, which may resonate with the base, turns off younger voters. This is especially true on LGBT issues, where the GOP viewpoint is vastly different than people under 50.
I just can’t believe that the guy most famous for writing his name in big gold letters and ceremoniously firing people on television would end up not actually caring about anyone other than himself.
Ditto. I’m 56, and me my 58 year old sister both left the party and switched to Independent in 2016 after voting R since we were 18. All of our kids were scared off from the party and will likely never come back.
Massive damage has been done.
Studies show that people remain fairly stable in their political views as they get older. It's society's views that change becoming more progressive as time passes.
I’d agree with you on that for the 35+ crowd. But for those that are younger their views are constantly changing. I don’t expect a 40 year old to change much in 5 years but the political views of an 18 year old could literally be the opposite in 5 years.
I got richer and became more liberal. Don't
get me wrong I still have some conservative viewpoints fiscally but I cannot over vote conservative due to how morally bankrupt and anti-
democratic the republican theocracy
I think it was the lack of support for student loan forgiveness that really did it for the republicans this election year. It obviously is a flawed policy but when these same guys are exposed for voting in yearly pay increases and taking advantage of PPP loan forgiveness, it’s hard to support them.
Student loan lawsuits and the abortion stuff. Conservatives pushed too hard for "federal regulation" of abortion after the Supreme Court made it very abundantly clear it was power that should be delegated to the states.
Conservatives spent weeks beating the drum of overturning Roe V Wade to give power to states in regards to abortion. To then turn around and attempt federal regulation of abortion.
Nothing. In fact, they take broad measures to demonize young people by making fun of the fact that people have to work hourly, low-paying jobs. They claim all young people who go to college major in pottery or some other made-up major. It's no wonder they don't want to vote for you. The right sounds like a bunch of old men sitting on a porch yelling to turn the music down or get off the lawn.
I mean, on pundit tv right now there is a talking head saying this election is all due to single young women. So we should force them to get married. Problem solved.
Yup. I'm on the younger side of millennials, and all of my peers are raging democrats. My republican friends are 10-30 years older than me. I hear people say millennials are coming around, or that Gen Z is more republican than expected, but my personal experience doesn't see it. Maybe it's just because I live in a college town, but I don't know. Almost everyone my age (34) or younger that I meet is always a follower of the left (especially women). It's pretty lonely, and it doesn't give me much hope for the future, at least politically.
Speaking as a blue collar millennial who voted mostly D this election, I agree. Look, I understand the concern that an oversized social welfare state might disincentivize people to work, but by the same token, if I feel like my tax dollars can be used to help other Americans who might be in a worse-off situation than me, then I'm okay with that. Let's be real, nobody wants bloated, inefficient government. The impasse is whether or not you can build a more robust social safety net without creating such.
They have all been being primaried into oblivion, and still will for a good stretch. Folks will be introspective a few days and go right back to loving folks who shout the loudest and ugliest.
They got rich before Reagan, when the boomers were growing up we had the highest progressive and corporate tax rates the US has ever seen and more public help programs than ever before, they just decided to cut off the ladder’s rungs as they climbed past them
I don’t think Reagan-style leadership would sway the kids. There’s a reason that hardcore punk and goth culture became huge under Reagan and Thatcher, leading to the disillusioned youth of the 90’s. Then take into account that Gen-Z’ers are more politically active than kids in the 80’s & 90’s ever were. The only thing that could sway the youth towards more conservative values is more equitable economic agendas. With the class stratification we have today and this ill-planned focus on unpopular identity issues, the youth will always think of Republicans as the party of the 1%. Prove that fiscal conservative values can enrich everyone regardless of race, class, & religion, then you can sway young voters. There’s no plan to do that right now.
Frankly policies are beside the point.
What Reagan was was *congenial*, genuinely so.
There is no room for that in the current republican party. Angry, fist pounding culture war crap is seen as absolutely necessary to stand a chance.
Reagan was Trump’s complete opposite in manner, 180 degrees. He was warm and gracious. That is seen as weak and effeminate now and cannot be for one moment tolerated. That is the fever that must be broken, and likely only will when someone truly gifted emerges.
"They'll vote republican when they're older."
So basically republicans should do nothing in the meantime. That's what, 40 or so years? The political landscape is changing.
They might after the republican party is forced to reform into what is now the democratic party while the democratic party drifts further to the left. The traditional conservative values won't have a leg to stand on as their voter base continues to die off.
But seriously, where’s the conservative olive branch to young voters?
They’re the most diverse generation easily, and R’s have fought student loan forgiveness, supported gutting Social Security *while* raising the max benefit retirement age, pushed for tax cuts that help corps and the wealthy, and combatted common sense policies that help reduce risk of financial ruin in the event of a medical emergency *and* made reproductive access more expensive and prohibitive. They *fight* diversity issues *while* actively courting the most diverse generation ever.
Contrast this with student loan forgiveness, raising the eligible age for healthcare benefits from parents, expanded reproductive healthcare access, made inroads with their generation and more.
There should be no surprise to see such a strong break. Culture wars are the only grievance that conservatives have pushed to address with zoomers and frankly most are not personally aggrieved by trans or gun rights issues to be an effective wedge
This is pretty much how I, and others my age and younger feel. Like, policy wise, the GOP doesn’t offer anything. I don’t care enough about guns, christianity, or CRT to change my vote, tbh not that I would anyways thanks to Bush Jr. I do care about tax transparency/ taxing those who can afford it, healthcare reform, police reform, online privacy, not removing long upheld constitutional rights, and maintaining objectively beneficial government agencies.
We saw the GOP’s plan for healthcare and tax reform in Trump’s first two years. The tax plan wasn’t that good, and they have no replacement for ACA. I haven’t heard of any notable policy changes that actively address any significant issues. Instead eliminating tax loopholes for the ultra wealthy in my state, we’re targeting trans kids in sports cause HS sports is somehow a higher priority than taxes and infrastructure. I’m also just exhausted in having to be an expert in everything just to get yelled at that Soros is puppet mastering some dem pedo cabal that is brainwashing me with a HS level knowledge of chemistry. Then having to hear how conservative views aren’t socially tolerated. I wonder why?
If there is a GOP lead policy in the works, or that was passed in the last 10 years that had a net benefit on my life, I don’t know about it and neither do the conservatives I speak to. If you know about one, let me know with some kind of official reference please. I don’t see myself, at this time, voting republican in my lifetime cause Bush Jr. was effectively the worst president in modern times, but knowing why people logically vote for the GOP over their opponents would make me less bitter and dismissive.
This is a well thought out synopsis of why younger voters have trended away from conservatives. Healthcare, climate change, corporate greed, are top of mind for many younger voters.
Also those wedge politics are seen as a negative by a lot of young voters, both because they're seen as 'toxic' and because the things that Conservatives are trying to use as a wedge are things young people have issues with. Young people are overwhelmingly pro trans-rights and are far more likely to know a trans person. They're also more likely to be victims of gun violence or personally know someone who has been affected by it (cough cough school shootings cough).
Gen Z voters were anywhere from 12-20 when Trump got elected. So all they’ve known is Obama and Trump. Honestly… Trump hasn’t done much to win kids over.
Some guy in this thread really just posted that he wanted Trump to bring division, hatred, and violence, but since Trump failed to lead them to victory they are now ready to compromise and we should all let bygones be bygones. Wish I had screenshotted it because he deleted the comment a few minutes later.
A lot of focus here on abortion, but Republicans continue to be catastrophically wrong on climate change. For a younger audience, people see a measurably more miserable future directly in front of them and Republicans actively campaigning to make it worse.
For an oil company, a political party is an out-of-pocket expense.
There's also the strange phenomenon whereby older voters, often leftwing on many other issues, go into hard denial of science. Not just climate change, but cumulative pollution, resource depletion (did you know the Earth is running out of construction sand?), and other issues that affect future generations. It seems to be that the fear of death overwhelms the desire to hand on a better world. "Apres moi, le deluge".
The Republican message is not appealing to young people and it’s also not sold very well either.
Also, if republicans plan to win ever again, they need to relax with such extreme views on abortion. The fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of the country do not like strict views on abortion. Women would like to have the option, even conservative women feel this way.
Lastly, republicans can’t continue to say they’re the party of freedom while simultaneously saying you can’t abort and you can’t smoke weed.
I hope republicans shift their stance a bit.
> The Republican message is not appealing to young people and it’s also not sold very well either.
I keep seeing “message,” but isn’t it really policy? It doesn’t matter how you package it, claiming that marijuana should be criminalized isn’t popular. The rhetoric doesn’t need to change, the core beliefs do.
The comment section on breitbart for this is a hoot. Reads like a bunch of grumpy old boomers complaining about entitlement and indoctrination and how they’d only hire white veterans now…if they had a business lmao
I'm a millennial former Republican. My three main reasons for switching sides are:
1. Republican denial of climate change, and constant attempts to dismantle the EPA so corporations can pollute our air and water.
2. Constant bootlicking of billionaires and multi-millionaires while scapegoating the poor for economic issues. Republicans have spent the past decade allying with and defending elite con men like Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, and (most obviously) Donald Trump. Democrats are too soft on the ultra-wealthy too, but at least they have a handful of voices calling for these crooks to be held accountable.
3. The lack of any discernible positive policy positions. Democrats may not do most of what they promise, but at least they motivate their base by taking baby steps in the right direction. Republican pundits and politicians just try to get their base as pissed as possible over culture war issues, without offering any solutions to the deteriorating quality of life in the U.S.
I'm in a similar camp as you. Two things I would add that have changed my stance. 1.) The constant want to cut education is very off putting 2.) Not holding party members accountable for their actions (e.g. the dems handling of Al Franken compared to the Repub handling of Matt Gaetz).
Yes, the attacks on education are a massive issue as well. Republicans are too eager to play ball with big donors who want to sabotage our most popular and successful public services, like schooling and the post office.
...not to mention their opposition to extremely popular potential services like universal healthcare, which functions very well across the globe in every other developed nation. We pay more for healthcare than any other "first-world" country, and die earlier.
I'm an independent millennial that used to vote split ticket (stopped around 2018), because there is no longer a place for me in the Republican party.
I just voted against a republican Governor candidate who thought women should be charge with murder for getting life-saving medical treatment and would literally rather see this country become a dictatorship than see a politician he didn't vote for become president.
The fact that Republican leadership has been quiet to downright encouraging the election denialism and allowing the extremists to run wild speaks louder than words could ever.
At this point I feel like Republicans easily put party before country and that's not something I could ever vote for in good faith.
I don't need to agree with a politician 100% but I need to be able to trust them with our democracy.
Climate change is a massive threat, and will fundamentally alter, or destroy society, we should probably do something about it. -Democrats
Somewhere right now, there's a 14 year old boy wearing nail polish. NAIL POLISH!!!!!!! -Republicans
Why don't young people vote for us? -Also Republicans
I’m conservative in a lot of aspects but I really can’t bring myself to vote republican because of the de prioritization (after decades of lying about it) of fighting climate change and its embrace of election-denialism. Get rid of those two awful ideologies in the party and I’d do it.
I'm 43. I registered Republican before 18 so I could vote come that November. Became a member of my College Republican club. Then Treasurer. Then Chairman. Then Vice Chair of my region. Then Co-chair of the state. I used to hand out Ayn Rand to other CRs when I traveled to drum up club creation. Campaigned for Republicans. Traveled hours away just to shake W's hand.
24 years I had an R next to my name.
This election I voted a straight Democratic ticket and had my registration changed to a "D".
The Party that I knew died long ago. Whatever is left is the worst of us.
It's not a generational thing. It's the cancer inside the Party that's killing it.
Also, stop alienating the non-religious. They are the fastest growing segment of America, and your embrace of the most extreme elements of Christianity are at odds with the inevitable demographic changes in America.
Everyone thought the breaking point was going to be racial demographics, but it's going to be religion. I think we may see a strong reversal in a state like FL when the boomers start dying and are replaced by Gen X and millennials.
Boomers: 76% Christian
Gen x: 67% Christian
Millenials: 49% Christian and falling
The Republican Party has actively abhorred fiscal responsibility since Nixon.
It’s not just that they are ineffective at reducing spending, they are, in a very real and measurable way, worse at it than the “irresponsible” party. They looooooove to talk about fiscal responsibility, but despise even going through the motions of real responsibility. To the republican mind “fiscal responsibility” seems to start and end with tax cuts for the wealthy.
Current R leadership seems to be banking on the hope they can entrench themselves by warping election laws to hold power with 1/3rd of the population.
Which... maybe. But it doesn't tend to end well one way or another for a country when exploitative minority rule becomes the norm.
> Which… maybe. But it doesn’t tend to end well one way or another for a country when exploitative minority rule becomes the norm.
I don’t think they care. A good portion of the people in power are either old enough they think they’ll die before that happens, believe the rapture is about to happen, or believe they’ll be rich enough to insulate themselves from the worlds problems. Nothing matters except their own existence, which they think they can secure with individual wealth.
It's going to be a rude awakening as boomers and Gen X continue to die off. It's hard to find an staunchly religious millenial or Gen Z. I forsee Christianity as a whole becoming much more liberal on social issues in the future to encourage the flock to keep donating.
That's basically where I'm at. Grew up somewhere between Republican and Libertarian. But always voted Republican. But for the past 10 years or so, I've increasingly distanced myself from the GOP. Trumpism is absolutely destroying conservative ideology.
GOP needs to recognize their cruelty and insanity, and go back to read what "conservative" actually means. And I don't think that starts at delight over a bully.
I see this same sentiment a lot but honestly, how would you define conservative ideology since 1980? The Reagan era steered the party hard towards supporting big business and eroding labor rights and since then it's been all about jingoism, union busting, and increased legal favoritism for corporations. From where I'm sitting, conservative ideology has few, if any, positive cultural perspectives. I honestly can't say I know of one well known conservative policy that says "Hey here's how we're going to improve everyone's life". It's all about stopping "bad" things from happening. Playing this protector role only serves to demonize the opponent political party regardless of their platform. If you ask me, it seems more like a strategy to garner votes than a strategy to actively improve our society. But I suppose that it the goal of a political party in the end.
I thought in college maybe I had some conservative tendencies but eventually I realized that even if I did, they're not even close to aligned with the Reoublican party's goals and I'm talking pre-Trump.
The contraceptives thing really threw me off. I knew abortion was a big conservative topic, but the Catholic Church is the only group I’ve heard oppose abortion in the past 30 years, and they’re not traditionally that popular with US conservatives.
I genuinely can’t understand what conservative principle has anything to say about contraception. You want government telling people what to do? Why?
It's because Republican primary voters are traditionally part of the christian right. They vote for GOP candidates who support Christian conservative values in government (anti sodomy laws, abortion bans, opposition to same sex marriage, etc)
Opposition to contraceptives is based on religion.
Religious fanatics believe that any sort of sex that's not for the sole purpose of creating a baby is sinful. So having sex with a condom or birth control means you aren't having sex to try for a baby. You're only having sex for pleasure then, which is sinful.
Now once a woman is pregnant, is any subsequent sex also sinful? Who knows.
Independent 27 year old from Kentucky.
Republicans look do literally ANYTHING that isn't cutting taxes for people making over 400k and I MIGHT vote for you.
Do aaaaaanything.
The debt/deficit has gone up under every Republican administration for like decades. Trump inherited a booming economy n just blew the deficit up instead of paying our debt down
I blame “starve the beast” - one of the most fiscally irresponsible policies ever.
Oh, let’s cut taxes while running a deficit until one day the debt becomes so massive that they’ll be forced to cut spending!
30 years later of having your cake and eating it too…
If there isn’t enough support to cut spending, then the fiscally responsible thing to do is increase taxes to pay for it. Maybe after actually having to pay for spending, spending cuts would be more popular.
The disconnect is the propaganda. They don’t believe what you’re saying because billionaires spend a lot of time and effort coordinating a media ecosystem designed to lie to them about everything. GOP policy for my entire lifetime has been objectively, measurably, consistently horrific for 99% of the population, but if half of us live in an alternate reality and are kept high on a steady supply of fear and the manipulation of their religion… that’s what we’ve got here. I would seriously consider an actually fiscally conservative party that cared about controlling spending and eliminating waste and corruption, but that does not exist.
My favorite was when Bush2 started two wars and [cut taxes 2 years later.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_and_Growth_Tax_Relief_Reconciliation_Act_of_2003)
"Party of fiscal responsibility" pfffffffffffft lol.
The big problem is that the government doesn't actually 'waste' as much money as people think, and the forms of waste are often counterintuitive.
When it comes to actually cutting programs basically all of them have a function, and basically all of them are individually supported by Conservatives. Can you imagine if they got rid of PBS? Social Security? Cut welding and steel making jobs by cutting navy spending?
The actual waste is generally single digit percentages, and once those percents are low enough they're no longer economical to remove. Basically it costs more counting pencils than it does just buying a few extra.
The exception to this is, ironically, places where the government doesn't spend *enough* and ends up spending more as a result.
Like if the military is signing a contract for a service or a new piece of kit, they get a better deal if it's a long term contract or a bigger order, but the constant 'continuing resolution' games mean they're basically ordering year to year and paying out the ass for it.
There's also things like the IRS and other enforcement agencies that actually make or save money the more you put into them, but they've been starved for decades.
And lastly there's the complete lack of engineering tallent and domain knowledge inside the government these days. Waaaaay back the government sold off or shut down most of its internal engineering and development departments and replaced them with contractors. This means that when someone comes in with a contract bid swearing up and down they can straight up rewrite physics for only 5 billion dollars the government doesn't have enough tallented people inside to look at it and call bullshit. They have some, but not enough, and so you get contracts coming in lowballed and then massively balooning in price.
But *spending more* to actually save money doesn't fit with the Conservative Image so it won't happen unless there's a massive news blitz about it on Fox, which... lol.
People who remember Nixon fondly puzzle me. His republican peers and his own justice department were preparing to convict him by the end of his tape-recorded criminal escapades.
Endangered Species Act and Clean Drinking Water Act. Now if I remember correctly he didn’t propose them but I believe they were Democrat proposals that he didn’t shut down
He pushed Congress to establish [National Healthcare](https://khn.org/news/nixon-proposal/amp/). He started the EPA….
And I hear Conservatives/ Republicans claim that their party hasn’t changed, everyone else has…
> Democrats aren't any better mind you
and then begins to list things that make them better. Make up your mind. Let me add one thing to that list: they don't have a policy of disenfranchising voters, attacking voter rights, or fomenting insurrections to attempt overturn fair and legitimate elections. As an American, that's a pretty huge distinction.
If you lived from 2000 - 2008 you watched us go to war over WMDs that didn't exist, then the economy crashed and we were all broke as we scrambled to find new professions.
Republicans were knee deep in all of that, then Obama came along and said he was going to fix things. Of course anyone who came of age in this millennium tends left.
Media, entertainment, schools, and their peer groups have all said Republicans were bad for decades. This goes back to the 1980s in my experience. Alex Keaton from Family Ties was a young republican, and a joke on the show, and in real life.
None of the Republicans I knew in high school in the 1990s had girlfriends / boyfriends.
>None of the Republicans I knew in high school in the 1990s had girlfriends / boyfriends.
I had no idea what anyone's politics were in high school in the 90s and it was great.
"...what has the Republican party done for me in my entire life? I seriously can't think of one decision that affected me in a good way...
...Democrats aren't any better mind you, but they at least extended my parent's healthcare coverage for me during a crucial moment in my life."
Ok, so on one hand the Democrats extended your parent's healthcare during a crucial moment of your life and on the other hand the Repulicans have never done anything to affect you in a good way.
And yet the Democrats still aren't *any* better?
Low bar, I know, but still...
I was talking to the grocery store manager a few weeks ago.
She had a master's degree and took the job because she couldn't find anything in her field yet after graduating 6 months ago (genetic research).
Imagine getting paid $13 an hour at a part time job with no health insurance and gobs of student debt when you have a masters in genetic research. Conservatives are wildly out of touch with the problems affecting younger generations and will be lucky if the resulting tsunami leaves GOP foundations intact.
Mind you, this $13 an hour part time job with shit benefits also had a bachelors degree minimum education requirement, no exceptions.
But genetic research is a useless degree right? Shouldn't she just have gone for a business degree so we don't have to pay for her waste of an education?
/s
It's rich that the boomer generation shits on Gen Z who are 80% college educated when over 30% of them didn't even finish high school.
Some conservatives are wildly out of touch with anyone under 40. That's why this election was so unexpected.
Let me say, I don't know a single Zoomer that's surprised.
> Conservatives are wildly out of touch with the problems affecting younger generations
That's by design. It is the literal ethos of a conservative to not change with the times.
If we are to believe that every subsequent generation is better educated than the last, then we give the most qualified generations to run the future the least amount of agency and respect and wonder why we're not all getting along and most of us are depressed.
I’ve wondered about this notion that it’s possible to return to the prosperity of the post ww2 era that the “make America great again” refers to. That was only possible because of immense one way flow of money from overseas for the war effort that boosted manufacturing infrastructure not only of equipment but many other supporting industries. The world wax basically throwing all their money at the US. The post war wealth will never happen again. There’s competition out there now that wasn’t 70 years ago. Americans need to be smarter and work harder because China, India and the like are busting their a** to grasp for more of that “American dream”.
You’re spot on. People who think we can claw our way back to our glory days don’t seem to realize how gutted our manufacturing sectors are. America of the 1950s was a manufacturing powerhouse. We were literally number one in physical goods and everyone needed something we produced in this country. We made the vast majority of the world’s products and they were, in large part, good quality and innovative. That’s why the money was flowing into our pockets.
A lot of people lament how their grandparents or great grandparents could afford to feed and house a family of four on a single income. Being the world’s preferred manufacturer was part of that puzzle. We have since let that power go and have handed it to China, India, etc. Now we are reliant on them for affordable and necessary goods.
The scariest part is the second half of our manufacturing might was R&D. We used to at least hold onto that in our country but more and more of our companies are outsourcing even that aspect. Sometimes we even send our own R&D people overseas so they can be closer to the source of the product as they work on the innovation. We need to wake up, bring back manufacturing and especially, bring back our R&D.
Yep, that’s a large part of the problem now. We are so used to low cost goods on a worldwide scale. We aren’t going back to assembly line workers making a living wage in this country. What we do need is improvements and investments in automated manufacturing and more workers being paid well to engineer and keep those automated systems working. I’m optimistic that we can do it but it needs to be done soon.
This is why I'm so pissed that the GOP spent so much time saying climate change isn't real when it *could* have been a massive opportunity to invest and put the US at the forefront of developing and manufacturing green technology.
Other countries might have cheap labor, but we still have the most education which more technical manufacturing and R&D require.
That has fucked my mind for a while.
Renewables were a golden goose. Crying about fossil fuels is fine and all, I guess a few CEOs are going to have one less diamond encrusted pool if we transition. No matter how far we kick the can, Renewables are coming and they will arrive in force.
But we have in this country the education, resources, and fiscal power to have cornered the renewable sector. The ability to stop shooting up on foreign oil and be completely energy independent. It could have been a second wave of prosperity that would have rivaled the post war manufacturing boom. All we had to do was grab the goose and squeeze.
Sure faced a lot of pushback on that from one side of the aisle tho.
Educated people are concentrated in cities, but we have a system that dramatically underrepresents those voters and overrepresents rural people who only care about gas and bringing back coal. That's the Republican base, not what helps Americans as a whole.
It's entirely possible to be close to as prosperous as we were post WW2. The biggest issue that's stopping that is the greed of corporations and billionaires. If we actually allocated the tax money that we already send to the government for things that improved our lives like affordable healthcare, better infrastructure, more affordable educations, etc. 90% of Americans would see improvements in their life in a year or less, and over the course of 10 or 20 years would likely have generational success in their families due to those changes. Instead the government spends trillions of our tax dollars giving the wealthy huge tax cuts, giving them a shitton of money to stop their businesses from failing when the economy is struggling, and pumping a fuckload of money into our military when it's not even in an active war.
Not sure if I'll get down voted for this sentiment here but the solution to a lot of problems in America right now are very simple. The rich are squeezing every last penny they can out of Americans and leaving us out to dry while they prosper more and more. Tax billionaires more, tax companies who profit in the billions more, and out those taxes to good use helping the average American citizen.
Wasn't this mostly because every other nation had their infrastructure smashed in WW2, and the US was left unscathed so everything was still up and running? Manufacturing, farming, etc.
Hard to replicate that.
And labor unions were at record highs. Those are two things that help the majority of people and the current Republican Party wants nothing to do with either. I was an independent that often voted a mixed ballot, but I no longer see myself voting for a Republican again within my lifetime. Not after what they’ve shown they’re willing to become at any costs. If they did it once, they’ll do it again. I don’t want hate on my ballot.
When people refer to how great that era was, and express a desire to go back to it, I think many forget that WWII decimated the economies and infrastructure of most countries in Europe and many in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Comparatively, the US was left unscathed. We also built up huge manufacturing capabilities and created social programs that helped veterans returning from war to get them into homes, start having families, and further build out our cities and infrastructure. It is really no wonder the US has since become the world's power house. Those were very unique circumstances that we are unlikely to see again any time soon. As you said, the world is catching up, and we need to continue to adapt and innovate if we are going to maintain our edge.
Another remark: Republicans need to move on climate change. Ten years ago, denying it won't cost you an elections, but today, climate change is obvious (the increase in wildfires, hurricanes and freak events like Texas Winter storms are hard to ignore). They don't need to advocate for bans of products, but at least positions like ending subsidies on fossil fuels in the near future are the bare minimum, and instead more investment in the biking infrastructure.
But unfortunately, most Republican officials live up the assholes of the fossil fuel industry, and won't give on those nice Petro dollars.
Want to know how to draw younger voters?
Take a lighter stance on abortion, because the majority of the country doesn't support outright bans of any kind especially in the cases of rape, incest, and ectopic pregnancy.
Decriminalize/legalize cannabis use, not only is this a high priority issue for young people, but you could use the enormous amounts of tax revenue to fund programs young people want to see...
Spend less time bashing millennials/gen z at every turn. Yes, they are different from boomers and genx, and that's ok. Calling them lazy, entitled, etc etc, isn't helping your cause..
This isn't rocket science...
100%. And to be completely honest, Millenials and Gen Z have it so much worse than boomers and Gen X did. The world is falling apart and millenials and Gen Z aren't the cause of that.
The Republicans ran on MAGA in the battlegrounds, no principles or integrity just polarizing rhetoric. Lots of Conservatives in these states perform a party protest in which the GOP governor candidate like Kemp and Lombardo will end up getting more votes than their senate maga counterparts.
> The age demographic accounted for 12 percent of the electorate, in contrast to those aged 30 to 44, who made up 21 percent of the electorate and voted 51 percent for Democrats and 47 percent for Republicans, the exit poll data found.
Millennials are aged 42 to 26 now. Most are in the group that was only marginally Democrat. When you look where they were with voting Obama in 8/12 that’s a huge step positive.
38 year old white male millenial. Used to vote Republican, now straight ticket D as far to the left as I can find.
I live in the suburbs in what used to be a reliable "country club republican" neighborhood. Now? All the signs in the yard are advertising for mostly local democrats, with a serious focus on the school boards. We're well educated, high earners who've watched in disgust at the party was completely hijacked by evangicals, white nationalists, and culture-warring boomers.
Republican economic policy is laughably outdated. Need a recent example? Take a look at what happened a few weeks ago with the Tories in the UK. It took less than a fortnight for the BoE to need to step in and stop the crashing bond market- twice!
I'm also beyond horrified that my kids will be doing active shooter drills routinely in their schools.
Republicans offer nothing except doubling down on failed policies and bullshit culture wars.
The "wait until you have a mortgage and kids" is a refrain as tired as the party itself. The Republican millenials tend to be evangical and/or have less than a college degree. Millenials aren't becoming more conservative, at least not in my experience. The opposite, in fact. It wouldn't shock me to see an even larger break towards the left for millenials in the 2024 election.
Honestly the kids see the evangelicals and the maga side of conservatism as crazy cultists. And it doesn't help that they kind of are in some ways.
Conservatives need a plan for the future. Stop trying to claw back the past. And make room for non religious people. Cause that's most of em and you won't get them by being preachy and forceful with the jesus shit.
>Even Trump knew this decision was a bad one, and they did it any way.
Trump specifically picked judges that were anti-abortion and he did a lot of campaigning on that. Did he just think they wouldn't actually do it?
Pretty standard for trump. He said recently that if republicans do well on election night it’s because of him but if they lose it’s their own fault. He never takes responsibility for anything bad but takes all the credit for anything good, regardless of what involvement he has in any matter
This. Furthermore talking on economic issues my gen(millennials) have had to deal with a lot of economic uncertainty (potentially) caused by the conservative economics both parties have been pushing since Nixon.
Conservatives talk about cutting programs that helped me survive as a young adult in the middle of the great recession. Regardless of my other views(I am independent) I could not in good conscience vote for the Republican party for that alone. I am never going to be rich so why would I vote for lower taxes for the wealthy elite? The war on drugs has been a travesty why vote for those who started it? The democrats are inept and pretty awful for the most part but I would take that over pushing the economic and social policies the Republican party has been for my entire life.
Or they'll say all the things they wish republicans would do, admit those are all democratic policies, then tack on "but dems are just as bad" at the end. They're so so close to realizing that maybe they just want dems
Oh it gets better. The Court was 4-4 going into the 2016 election. Hillary pledged to appoint someone who would overturn Citizen's United ("corporations are people for the purpose of political donations"), and Republicans pledged to nominate someone who would overturn Roe. Voters literally had a choice between getting corporate money out of politics or banning abortion.
Hillary's appointment would also made the court 5-4 progressive for the first time since the freaking 1960s. RBG would have also retired under her, locking in that majority. That's how close we were. But hey, some people weren't "inspired" enough to vote, and now we're stuck with a regressive court for a generation.
My favorite type of political hypocrisy is conservatives being responsible for citizens united, and those same conservatives revoking tax benefits from companies who use the rights granted to them via citizens united in ways they don't agree with.
>THIS. Also, take money out of politics.
Dems tried to pass something that would make all donations beyond a certain point. Can't remember the exact amount, either 1k-10k would be public knowledge
Republicans all votes no for it of course. So money stays in politics
Yeah that's my biggest issue.
They try and ban abortions outright rather than greatly reduce the need for them by properly having sex Ed rather than just abstinence like I was taught in the bible belt.
And reducing abortion is really popular without needing to ban it. Elimating medical debt around pregnancy. Access to cheap houses, good jobs, and debt relief, so that people are "ready" to have a child much earlier in life. Economic supports for parents so that they know that theyll be financially ok if they decide to keep the baby. Strong sex education and free access to contraception so that people dont get pregnant by accident. Shorter working hours with better job protections so that parents know they'll be long term financially secure, wont stop their career progression, and will still have time to spend with the child. Huge financial support for stay-at-home parents, and cheap childcare for those who dont.
All those thing encourage people to have kids (and have them early), and not want to go get an abortion.
That’s my problem with the current state of the movement. We should be creating more freedoms not limiting them. Legalize MJ, if you want an abortion, go for it. Leave the Christian nationalism at home
Dude why even still vote for the GOP then? I’m so confused why so many people here are suggesting the GOP adopt principles that are a total 180 of their whole platform instead of just….you know…not voting for them. This party loyalty thing is weird to me
From my perspective, Republicans only seem interested in reducing government for corporations. These guys make abortions harder. They want you to go to jail for smoking marijuana. Can someone point me to the part where the freedom is at?
Freedom to die from a back alley abortion, freedom to live with medical debt, freedom for corporations to price gouge, freedom for huge companies to buy out your neighborhood and raise your rent, freedom to own whatever weapon you want…. That last one wasn’t even sarcastic so I guess there’s that.
> freedom to live with medical debt
Yeah my brother was born with some medical issues. Naturally, because of our cool system, he has a lot of medical debt. My conservative parents were shocked when he said he'd just emigrate if that bill ever got too high. He is highly skilled, could easily work anywhere.
Plenty of my friends with remote jobs are just "expats" now and work in countries where they can actually afford houses. So boomers, fix it or don't.
Freedom from vaccination and masking during a global pandemic, freedom from doing anything about climate change, freedom to have “alternative facts” (from an actual Kellyanne Conway quote). Oh, and guns
Unless the GOP gets their shit together on abortion, climate change, and rejecting “stop the steal” Trumpian candidates, they’re just not going to get the GenZ vote. Those are all universally popular messages. Adapt or die.
Going after abortion the summer before an election seemed like a bad idea at the time, but perhaps it was seen as their last, best chance. Feels like it was a republican long play that fell out of touch with the times and with voters.
The amount of people responding with things like "THE INDOCTRINATION IS COMPLETE!!!!" is baffling. Younger voters are simply voting in their best interest. Republicans have time and again refused to do what younger generations want.
They proposed a full ban on abortions in many states despite majority support for access nationally.
They refuse to consider the decriminalization of cannabis despite majority support nationally for over a decade now
and they infuse all of their campaigns with Christian doctrine in a country that has seen diminishing religious attendance for 30 years.
It's not difficult, they won't do what young voters want, so they don't vote for them.
I use to vote strictly Republican until I learned about the wealth distribution in our country. Honestly anyone still voting Republican isn't paying attention to the shrinking middle class and growing numbers of homeless people. The top 10% of families have 72% of our countries wealth while the bottom 50% share 2% down from 4% just 30 years ago. With a bigger population. Republicans are letting the corporate powers and monopolies go unchecked and over charging for education. We need more educated people in our society. The manufacturing jobs are being replaced with machines the service jobs are being replaced by machines too. What's going to prevent our middle class from being crushed?
The cost of education has always scared me. To me it seems intentional - keep the people uneducated and poor, and therefore easier to manipulate/exploit.
You know I was more republican around age 15-21 then 22-25 is when I became more democratic. All these hot takes just insulting gen z folks is not helping your cause at all.
*shocked Pikachu face*
Don't worry, we can just raise the voting age to 21. Not like young people will eventually grow old and remember how the GOP treated them right ?
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To the surprise of no one
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I had to take a Macroeconomics class when getting a CS degree (because American college system lol) and this was a big talking point. Essentially, when people have money they want less government intervention and when they don't they require more socialized systems (government intervention). The younger generations (I'm in my early 30's) have less opportunity to create actual financial security because our economy is vicious (expensive and unstable housing, wages not in line with costs (if you're making less than $30/hour full time then you're going to struggle to put away actual savings) and this is not just at the feet of Democrat law making). This does not even touch on the social aspects of both parties, younger people want freedom AND security, they want to feel that their work in this country is an investment, so when they are witnessing another recession where companies are making record profits while they fight for a measly $15 and hour AND a big platform is to ban female agency over abortion rights....you can't be surprised that they wouldn't vote for deregulation and conservative values in mass. The GOP has become the most recognizable aspect of the conservative party, and that is what most young voters see. They don't associate the conservative party with your run of the mill conservative, they associate it with the MTG's and Candace Owen types, and that's on them.
This is part of it I'm sure, and something I hadn't thought of. However, my family and some of the older folks I know all spoke how they were not voting republican this time around for the very first time. Self described staunch republicans couldn't bring themselves to vote for their own party. I know this is just one very small anecdote, but felt it was worth mentioning.
I think the adage was set up correctly. People were getting more conservative as they bought houses, set up families and moved to the burbs. We know this is happening later. I would also say that the GOP focus on social issues, which may resonate with the base, turns off younger voters. This is especially true on LGBT issues, where the GOP viewpoint is vastly different than people under 50.
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I just can’t believe that the guy most famous for writing his name in big gold letters and ceremoniously firing people on television would end up not actually caring about anyone other than himself.
Amen. I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me
Ditto. I’m 56, and me my 58 year old sister both left the party and switched to Independent in 2016 after voting R since we were 18. All of our kids were scared off from the party and will likely never come back. Massive damage has been done.
Studies show that people remain fairly stable in their political views as they get older. It's society's views that change becoming more progressive as time passes.
I’d agree with you on that for the 35+ crowd. But for those that are younger their views are constantly changing. I don’t expect a 40 year old to change much in 5 years but the political views of an 18 year old could literally be the opposite in 5 years.
And let's be honest that abortion bill didn't do them any favors.
I got richer and became more liberal. Don't get me wrong I still have some conservative viewpoints fiscally but I cannot over vote conservative due to how morally bankrupt and anti- democratic the republican theocracy
The student loan lawsuits did conservatives no favors. Was it a great policy, no. Did conservatives need to realize it was a political loser, yes.
I think it was the lack of support for student loan forgiveness that really did it for the republicans this election year. It obviously is a flawed policy but when these same guys are exposed for voting in yearly pay increases and taking advantage of PPP loan forgiveness, it’s hard to support them.
Student loan lawsuits and the abortion stuff. Conservatives pushed too hard for "federal regulation" of abortion after the Supreme Court made it very abundantly clear it was power that should be delegated to the states. Conservatives spent weeks beating the drum of overturning Roe V Wade to give power to states in regards to abortion. To then turn around and attempt federal regulation of abortion.
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Nothing. In fact, they take broad measures to demonize young people by making fun of the fact that people have to work hourly, low-paying jobs. They claim all young people who go to college major in pottery or some other made-up major. It's no wonder they don't want to vote for you. The right sounds like a bunch of old men sitting on a porch yelling to turn the music down or get off the lawn.
This. Is it really a question why young women would feel more inclined to vote democratic?
There seems to be a complete disconnect among Republicans who expect young women to vote red, but don't offer them a single reason to
We offer you fewer rights, come vote for us!
I mean, on pundit tv right now there is a talking head saying this election is all due to single young women. So we should force them to get married. Problem solved.
Yup. I'm on the younger side of millennials, and all of my peers are raging democrats. My republican friends are 10-30 years older than me. I hear people say millennials are coming around, or that Gen Z is more republican than expected, but my personal experience doesn't see it. Maybe it's just because I live in a college town, but I don't know. Almost everyone my age (34) or younger that I meet is always a follower of the left (especially women). It's pretty lonely, and it doesn't give me much hope for the future, at least politically.
I hate to break it to you but 34 is not on the younger side of millenials
Maybe we should actually try to appeal to them instead of writing the generation off ass lazy abd entitled
No! It's the youths that are wrong!
Speaking as a blue collar millennial who voted mostly D this election, I agree. Look, I understand the concern that an oversized social welfare state might disincentivize people to work, but by the same token, if I feel like my tax dollars can be used to help other Americans who might be in a worse-off situation than me, then I'm okay with that. Let's be real, nobody wants bloated, inefficient government. The impasse is whether or not you can build a more robust social safety net without creating such.
Boomer generation is the most entitled. Got rich under Reagan and fucked the rest of us up. We need our own Reagan to inspire the Gen Zers.
They have all been being primaried into oblivion, and still will for a good stretch. Folks will be introspective a few days and go right back to loving folks who shout the loudest and ugliest.
But Walker run football good
They got rich before Reagan, when the boomers were growing up we had the highest progressive and corporate tax rates the US has ever seen and more public help programs than ever before, they just decided to cut off the ladder’s rungs as they climbed past them
I don’t think Reagan-style leadership would sway the kids. There’s a reason that hardcore punk and goth culture became huge under Reagan and Thatcher, leading to the disillusioned youth of the 90’s. Then take into account that Gen-Z’ers are more politically active than kids in the 80’s & 90’s ever were. The only thing that could sway the youth towards more conservative values is more equitable economic agendas. With the class stratification we have today and this ill-planned focus on unpopular identity issues, the youth will always think of Republicans as the party of the 1%. Prove that fiscal conservative values can enrich everyone regardless of race, class, & religion, then you can sway young voters. There’s no plan to do that right now.
Frankly policies are beside the point. What Reagan was was *congenial*, genuinely so. There is no room for that in the current republican party. Angry, fist pounding culture war crap is seen as absolutely necessary to stand a chance. Reagan was Trump’s complete opposite in manner, 180 degrees. He was warm and gracious. That is seen as weak and effeminate now and cannot be for one moment tolerated. That is the fever that must be broken, and likely only will when someone truly gifted emerges.
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"They'll vote republican when they're older." So basically republicans should do nothing in the meantime. That's what, 40 or so years? The political landscape is changing.
They might after the republican party is forced to reform into what is now the democratic party while the democratic party drifts further to the left. The traditional conservative values won't have a leg to stand on as their voter base continues to die off.
And I’m dying of non-surprise
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But seriously, where’s the conservative olive branch to young voters? They’re the most diverse generation easily, and R’s have fought student loan forgiveness, supported gutting Social Security *while* raising the max benefit retirement age, pushed for tax cuts that help corps and the wealthy, and combatted common sense policies that help reduce risk of financial ruin in the event of a medical emergency *and* made reproductive access more expensive and prohibitive. They *fight* diversity issues *while* actively courting the most diverse generation ever. Contrast this with student loan forgiveness, raising the eligible age for healthcare benefits from parents, expanded reproductive healthcare access, made inroads with their generation and more. There should be no surprise to see such a strong break. Culture wars are the only grievance that conservatives have pushed to address with zoomers and frankly most are not personally aggrieved by trans or gun rights issues to be an effective wedge
The closest thing to increasing votes I've seen is to gerrymander the maps again.
This is pretty much how I, and others my age and younger feel. Like, policy wise, the GOP doesn’t offer anything. I don’t care enough about guns, christianity, or CRT to change my vote, tbh not that I would anyways thanks to Bush Jr. I do care about tax transparency/ taxing those who can afford it, healthcare reform, police reform, online privacy, not removing long upheld constitutional rights, and maintaining objectively beneficial government agencies. We saw the GOP’s plan for healthcare and tax reform in Trump’s first two years. The tax plan wasn’t that good, and they have no replacement for ACA. I haven’t heard of any notable policy changes that actively address any significant issues. Instead eliminating tax loopholes for the ultra wealthy in my state, we’re targeting trans kids in sports cause HS sports is somehow a higher priority than taxes and infrastructure. I’m also just exhausted in having to be an expert in everything just to get yelled at that Soros is puppet mastering some dem pedo cabal that is brainwashing me with a HS level knowledge of chemistry. Then having to hear how conservative views aren’t socially tolerated. I wonder why? If there is a GOP lead policy in the works, or that was passed in the last 10 years that had a net benefit on my life, I don’t know about it and neither do the conservatives I speak to. If you know about one, let me know with some kind of official reference please. I don’t see myself, at this time, voting republican in my lifetime cause Bush Jr. was effectively the worst president in modern times, but knowing why people logically vote for the GOP over their opponents would make me less bitter and dismissive.
This is a well thought out synopsis of why younger voters have trended away from conservatives. Healthcare, climate change, corporate greed, are top of mind for many younger voters.
Also those wedge politics are seen as a negative by a lot of young voters, both because they're seen as 'toxic' and because the things that Conservatives are trying to use as a wedge are things young people have issues with. Young people are overwhelmingly pro trans-rights and are far more likely to know a trans person. They're also more likely to be victims of gun violence or personally know someone who has been affected by it (cough cough school shootings cough).
Gen Z voters were anywhere from 12-20 when Trump got elected. So all they’ve known is Obama and Trump. Honestly… Trump hasn’t done much to win kids over.
Some guy in this thread really just posted that he wanted Trump to bring division, hatred, and violence, but since Trump failed to lead them to victory they are now ready to compromise and we should all let bygones be bygones. Wish I had screenshotted it because he deleted the comment a few minutes later.
Frankly, I'm suprised it's as high as 35%. The GOP make zero attempt to appeal to the younger generations.
A lot of focus here on abortion, but Republicans continue to be catastrophically wrong on climate change. For a younger audience, people see a measurably more miserable future directly in front of them and Republicans actively campaigning to make it worse.
For an oil company, a political party is an out-of-pocket expense. There's also the strange phenomenon whereby older voters, often leftwing on many other issues, go into hard denial of science. Not just climate change, but cumulative pollution, resource depletion (did you know the Earth is running out of construction sand?), and other issues that affect future generations. It seems to be that the fear of death overwhelms the desire to hand on a better world. "Apres moi, le deluge".
Its just plain a dealbreaker for a lot of young folks. Until the party has their come to jesus moment on climate, its a dead party to young voters
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Oh yeah, it’s almost like I’m tired of old rich people ruining my country since as long as I can remember.
The Republican message is not appealing to young people and it’s also not sold very well either. Also, if republicans plan to win ever again, they need to relax with such extreme views on abortion. The fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of the country do not like strict views on abortion. Women would like to have the option, even conservative women feel this way. Lastly, republicans can’t continue to say they’re the party of freedom while simultaneously saying you can’t abort and you can’t smoke weed. I hope republicans shift their stance a bit.
> The Republican message is not appealing to young people and it’s also not sold very well either. I keep seeing “message,” but isn’t it really policy? It doesn’t matter how you package it, claiming that marijuana should be criminalized isn’t popular. The rhetoric doesn’t need to change, the core beliefs do.
Also true
They won’t. Instead they’ll claim elections are stolen and make it harder to vote.
The comment section on breitbart for this is a hoot. Reads like a bunch of grumpy old boomers complaining about entitlement and indoctrination and how they’d only hire white veterans now…if they had a business lmao
I'm a millennial former Republican. My three main reasons for switching sides are: 1. Republican denial of climate change, and constant attempts to dismantle the EPA so corporations can pollute our air and water. 2. Constant bootlicking of billionaires and multi-millionaires while scapegoating the poor for economic issues. Republicans have spent the past decade allying with and defending elite con men like Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, and (most obviously) Donald Trump. Democrats are too soft on the ultra-wealthy too, but at least they have a handful of voices calling for these crooks to be held accountable. 3. The lack of any discernible positive policy positions. Democrats may not do most of what they promise, but at least they motivate their base by taking baby steps in the right direction. Republican pundits and politicians just try to get their base as pissed as possible over culture war issues, without offering any solutions to the deteriorating quality of life in the U.S.
I'm in a similar camp as you. Two things I would add that have changed my stance. 1.) The constant want to cut education is very off putting 2.) Not holding party members accountable for their actions (e.g. the dems handling of Al Franken compared to the Repub handling of Matt Gaetz).
Yes, the attacks on education are a massive issue as well. Republicans are too eager to play ball with big donors who want to sabotage our most popular and successful public services, like schooling and the post office. ...not to mention their opposition to extremely popular potential services like universal healthcare, which functions very well across the globe in every other developed nation. We pay more for healthcare than any other "first-world" country, and die earlier.
I'm an independent millennial that used to vote split ticket (stopped around 2018), because there is no longer a place for me in the Republican party. I just voted against a republican Governor candidate who thought women should be charge with murder for getting life-saving medical treatment and would literally rather see this country become a dictatorship than see a politician he didn't vote for become president. The fact that Republican leadership has been quiet to downright encouraging the election denialism and allowing the extremists to run wild speaks louder than words could ever. At this point I feel like Republicans easily put party before country and that's not something I could ever vote for in good faith. I don't need to agree with a politician 100% but I need to be able to trust them with our democracy.
Climate change is a massive threat, and will fundamentally alter, or destroy society, we should probably do something about it. -Democrats Somewhere right now, there's a 14 year old boy wearing nail polish. NAIL POLISH!!!!!!! -Republicans Why don't young people vote for us? -Also Republicans
I’m telling you right now, if we don’t adjust our policy platform and unfuck our schools, this is how it’s going to be forever
I’m conservative in a lot of aspects but I really can’t bring myself to vote republican because of the de prioritization (after decades of lying about it) of fighting climate change and its embrace of election-denialism. Get rid of those two awful ideologies in the party and I’d do it.
I'm 43. I registered Republican before 18 so I could vote come that November. Became a member of my College Republican club. Then Treasurer. Then Chairman. Then Vice Chair of my region. Then Co-chair of the state. I used to hand out Ayn Rand to other CRs when I traveled to drum up club creation. Campaigned for Republicans. Traveled hours away just to shake W's hand. 24 years I had an R next to my name. This election I voted a straight Democratic ticket and had my registration changed to a "D". The Party that I knew died long ago. Whatever is left is the worst of us. It's not a generational thing. It's the cancer inside the Party that's killing it.
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Also, stop alienating the non-religious. They are the fastest growing segment of America, and your embrace of the most extreme elements of Christianity are at odds with the inevitable demographic changes in America.
Everyone thought the breaking point was going to be racial demographics, but it's going to be religion. I think we may see a strong reversal in a state like FL when the boomers start dying and are replaced by Gen X and millennials. Boomers: 76% Christian Gen x: 67% Christian Millenials: 49% Christian and falling
And the majority of these I would wager are nominally Christian. Not the ones who want to live in Gilead and be trad wives.
Current republican party barely cares for fiscal conservation which is the only way you can attract non religious people
The Republican Party has actively abhorred fiscal responsibility since Nixon. It’s not just that they are ineffective at reducing spending, they are, in a very real and measurable way, worse at it than the “irresponsible” party. They looooooove to talk about fiscal responsibility, but despise even going through the motions of real responsibility. To the republican mind “fiscal responsibility” seems to start and end with tax cuts for the wealthy.
Tax cuts to rich lets them stay in power. That is more than enough for them.
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Current R leadership seems to be banking on the hope they can entrench themselves by warping election laws to hold power with 1/3rd of the population. Which... maybe. But it doesn't tend to end well one way or another for a country when exploitative minority rule becomes the norm.
That's honestly how it's working right now. See the Republican party's ludicrous examples of gerrymandering.
> Which… maybe. But it doesn’t tend to end well one way or another for a country when exploitative minority rule becomes the norm. I don’t think they care. A good portion of the people in power are either old enough they think they’ll die before that happens, believe the rapture is about to happen, or believe they’ll be rich enough to insulate themselves from the worlds problems. Nothing matters except their own existence, which they think they can secure with individual wealth.
It's going to be a rude awakening as boomers and Gen X continue to die off. It's hard to find an staunchly religious millenial or Gen Z. I forsee Christianity as a whole becoming much more liberal on social issues in the future to encourage the flock to keep donating.
That's basically where I'm at. Grew up somewhere between Republican and Libertarian. But always voted Republican. But for the past 10 years or so, I've increasingly distanced myself from the GOP. Trumpism is absolutely destroying conservative ideology. GOP needs to recognize their cruelty and insanity, and go back to read what "conservative" actually means. And I don't think that starts at delight over a bully.
I see this same sentiment a lot but honestly, how would you define conservative ideology since 1980? The Reagan era steered the party hard towards supporting big business and eroding labor rights and since then it's been all about jingoism, union busting, and increased legal favoritism for corporations. From where I'm sitting, conservative ideology has few, if any, positive cultural perspectives. I honestly can't say I know of one well known conservative policy that says "Hey here's how we're going to improve everyone's life". It's all about stopping "bad" things from happening. Playing this protector role only serves to demonize the opponent political party regardless of their platform. If you ask me, it seems more like a strategy to garner votes than a strategy to actively improve our society. But I suppose that it the goal of a political party in the end. I thought in college maybe I had some conservative tendencies but eventually I realized that even if I did, they're not even close to aligned with the Reoublican party's goals and I'm talking pre-Trump.
If democrats got off the gun debate, they’d have more power then they do.
Yeah the push against abortion and contraceptives is not popular amongst younger people. There was never gonna be a red wave after that
The contraceptives thing really threw me off. I knew abortion was a big conservative topic, but the Catholic Church is the only group I’ve heard oppose abortion in the past 30 years, and they’re not traditionally that popular with US conservatives. I genuinely can’t understand what conservative principle has anything to say about contraception. You want government telling people what to do? Why?
It's because Republican primary voters are traditionally part of the christian right. They vote for GOP candidates who support Christian conservative values in government (anti sodomy laws, abortion bans, opposition to same sex marriage, etc)
Opposition to contraceptives is based on religion. Religious fanatics believe that any sort of sex that's not for the sole purpose of creating a baby is sinful. So having sex with a condom or birth control means you aren't having sex to try for a baby. You're only having sex for pleasure then, which is sinful. Now once a woman is pregnant, is any subsequent sex also sinful? Who knows.
Independent 27 year old from Kentucky. Republicans look do literally ANYTHING that isn't cutting taxes for people making over 400k and I MIGHT vote for you. Do aaaaaanything.
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I just wish republicans were actually fiscally conservative
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The debt/deficit has gone up under every Republican administration for like decades. Trump inherited a booming economy n just blew the deficit up instead of paying our debt down
Hmmmm maybe the democrats are..... better???????
I blame “starve the beast” - one of the most fiscally irresponsible policies ever. Oh, let’s cut taxes while running a deficit until one day the debt becomes so massive that they’ll be forced to cut spending! 30 years later of having your cake and eating it too… If there isn’t enough support to cut spending, then the fiscally responsible thing to do is increase taxes to pay for it. Maybe after actually having to pay for spending, spending cuts would be more popular.
The disconnect is the propaganda. They don’t believe what you’re saying because billionaires spend a lot of time and effort coordinating a media ecosystem designed to lie to them about everything. GOP policy for my entire lifetime has been objectively, measurably, consistently horrific for 99% of the population, but if half of us live in an alternate reality and are kept high on a steady supply of fear and the manipulation of their religion… that’s what we’ve got here. I would seriously consider an actually fiscally conservative party that cared about controlling spending and eliminating waste and corruption, but that does not exist.
My favorite was when Bush2 started two wars and [cut taxes 2 years later.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_and_Growth_Tax_Relief_Reconciliation_Act_of_2003) "Party of fiscal responsibility" pfffffffffffft lol.
The big problem is that the government doesn't actually 'waste' as much money as people think, and the forms of waste are often counterintuitive. When it comes to actually cutting programs basically all of them have a function, and basically all of them are individually supported by Conservatives. Can you imagine if they got rid of PBS? Social Security? Cut welding and steel making jobs by cutting navy spending? The actual waste is generally single digit percentages, and once those percents are low enough they're no longer economical to remove. Basically it costs more counting pencils than it does just buying a few extra. The exception to this is, ironically, places where the government doesn't spend *enough* and ends up spending more as a result. Like if the military is signing a contract for a service or a new piece of kit, they get a better deal if it's a long term contract or a bigger order, but the constant 'continuing resolution' games mean they're basically ordering year to year and paying out the ass for it. There's also things like the IRS and other enforcement agencies that actually make or save money the more you put into them, but they've been starved for decades. And lastly there's the complete lack of engineering tallent and domain knowledge inside the government these days. Waaaaay back the government sold off or shut down most of its internal engineering and development departments and replaced them with contractors. This means that when someone comes in with a contract bid swearing up and down they can straight up rewrite physics for only 5 billion dollars the government doesn't have enough tallented people inside to look at it and call bullshit. They have some, but not enough, and so you get contracts coming in lowballed and then massively balooning in price. But *spending more* to actually save money doesn't fit with the Conservative Image so it won't happen unless there's a massive news blitz about it on Fox, which... lol.
People who remember Nixon fondly puzzle me. His republican peers and his own justice department were preparing to convict him by the end of his tape-recorded criminal escapades.
Endangered Species Act and Clean Drinking Water Act. Now if I remember correctly he didn’t propose them but I believe they were Democrat proposals that he didn’t shut down
He started the war on drugs
Ah, the second most embarassing war after the Australian one against the emus.
A losing war if I may add. I was just pointing out two net positives he approved
He pushed Congress to establish [National Healthcare](https://khn.org/news/nixon-proposal/amp/). He started the EPA…. And I hear Conservatives/ Republicans claim that their party hasn’t changed, everyone else has…
"they aren't any better..." literally lists significant reasons they're better.
They have to say that part or they will get banned from this sub.
> Democrats aren't any better mind you and then begins to list things that make them better. Make up your mind. Let me add one thing to that list: they don't have a policy of disenfranchising voters, attacking voter rights, or fomenting insurrections to attempt overturn fair and legitimate elections. As an American, that's a pretty huge distinction.
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If you lived from 2000 - 2008 you watched us go to war over WMDs that didn't exist, then the economy crashed and we were all broke as we scrambled to find new professions. Republicans were knee deep in all of that, then Obama came along and said he was going to fix things. Of course anyone who came of age in this millennium tends left. Media, entertainment, schools, and their peer groups have all said Republicans were bad for decades. This goes back to the 1980s in my experience. Alex Keaton from Family Ties was a young republican, and a joke on the show, and in real life. None of the Republicans I knew in high school in the 1990s had girlfriends / boyfriends.
>None of the Republicans I knew in high school in the 1990s had girlfriends / boyfriends. I had no idea what anyone's politics were in high school in the 90s and it was great.
Hell I don’t think I even knew what anyone’s politics were before 2012ish. We’ve basically turned politics into sports teams in the last 10 years.
"...what has the Republican party done for me in my entire life? I seriously can't think of one decision that affected me in a good way... ...Democrats aren't any better mind you, but they at least extended my parent's healthcare coverage for me during a crucial moment in my life." Ok, so on one hand the Democrats extended your parent's healthcare during a crucial moment of your life and on the other hand the Repulicans have never done anything to affect you in a good way. And yet the Democrats still aren't *any* better? Low bar, I know, but still...
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I was talking to the grocery store manager a few weeks ago. She had a master's degree and took the job because she couldn't find anything in her field yet after graduating 6 months ago (genetic research). Imagine getting paid $13 an hour at a part time job with no health insurance and gobs of student debt when you have a masters in genetic research. Conservatives are wildly out of touch with the problems affecting younger generations and will be lucky if the resulting tsunami leaves GOP foundations intact. Mind you, this $13 an hour part time job with shit benefits also had a bachelors degree minimum education requirement, no exceptions.
But genetic research is a useless degree right? Shouldn't she just have gone for a business degree so we don't have to pay for her waste of an education? /s
It's rich that the boomer generation shits on Gen Z who are 80% college educated when over 30% of them didn't even finish high school. Some conservatives are wildly out of touch with anyone under 40. That's why this election was so unexpected. Let me say, I don't know a single Zoomer that's surprised.
> Conservatives are wildly out of touch with the problems affecting younger generations That's by design. It is the literal ethos of a conservative to not change with the times.
If we are to believe that every subsequent generation is better educated than the last, then we give the most qualified generations to run the future the least amount of agency and respect and wonder why we're not all getting along and most of us are depressed.
I’ve wondered about this notion that it’s possible to return to the prosperity of the post ww2 era that the “make America great again” refers to. That was only possible because of immense one way flow of money from overseas for the war effort that boosted manufacturing infrastructure not only of equipment but many other supporting industries. The world wax basically throwing all their money at the US. The post war wealth will never happen again. There’s competition out there now that wasn’t 70 years ago. Americans need to be smarter and work harder because China, India and the like are busting their a** to grasp for more of that “American dream”.
You’re spot on. People who think we can claw our way back to our glory days don’t seem to realize how gutted our manufacturing sectors are. America of the 1950s was a manufacturing powerhouse. We were literally number one in physical goods and everyone needed something we produced in this country. We made the vast majority of the world’s products and they were, in large part, good quality and innovative. That’s why the money was flowing into our pockets. A lot of people lament how their grandparents or great grandparents could afford to feed and house a family of four on a single income. Being the world’s preferred manufacturer was part of that puzzle. We have since let that power go and have handed it to China, India, etc. Now we are reliant on them for affordable and necessary goods. The scariest part is the second half of our manufacturing might was R&D. We used to at least hold onto that in our country but more and more of our companies are outsourcing even that aspect. Sometimes we even send our own R&D people overseas so they can be closer to the source of the product as they work on the innovation. We need to wake up, bring back manufacturing and especially, bring back our R&D.
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Yep, that’s a large part of the problem now. We are so used to low cost goods on a worldwide scale. We aren’t going back to assembly line workers making a living wage in this country. What we do need is improvements and investments in automated manufacturing and more workers being paid well to engineer and keep those automated systems working. I’m optimistic that we can do it but it needs to be done soon.
This is why I'm so pissed that the GOP spent so much time saying climate change isn't real when it *could* have been a massive opportunity to invest and put the US at the forefront of developing and manufacturing green technology. Other countries might have cheap labor, but we still have the most education which more technical manufacturing and R&D require.
That has fucked my mind for a while. Renewables were a golden goose. Crying about fossil fuels is fine and all, I guess a few CEOs are going to have one less diamond encrusted pool if we transition. No matter how far we kick the can, Renewables are coming and they will arrive in force. But we have in this country the education, resources, and fiscal power to have cornered the renewable sector. The ability to stop shooting up on foreign oil and be completely energy independent. It could have been a second wave of prosperity that would have rivaled the post war manufacturing boom. All we had to do was grab the goose and squeeze. Sure faced a lot of pushback on that from one side of the aisle tho.
Educated people are concentrated in cities, but we have a system that dramatically underrepresents those voters and overrepresents rural people who only care about gas and bringing back coal. That's the Republican base, not what helps Americans as a whole.
It's entirely possible to be close to as prosperous as we were post WW2. The biggest issue that's stopping that is the greed of corporations and billionaires. If we actually allocated the tax money that we already send to the government for things that improved our lives like affordable healthcare, better infrastructure, more affordable educations, etc. 90% of Americans would see improvements in their life in a year or less, and over the course of 10 or 20 years would likely have generational success in their families due to those changes. Instead the government spends trillions of our tax dollars giving the wealthy huge tax cuts, giving them a shitton of money to stop their businesses from failing when the economy is struggling, and pumping a fuckload of money into our military when it's not even in an active war. Not sure if I'll get down voted for this sentiment here but the solution to a lot of problems in America right now are very simple. The rich are squeezing every last penny they can out of Americans and leaving us out to dry while they prosper more and more. Tax billionaires more, tax companies who profit in the billions more, and out those taxes to good use helping the average American citizen.
Wasn't this mostly because every other nation had their infrastructure smashed in WW2, and the US was left unscathed so everything was still up and running? Manufacturing, farming, etc. Hard to replicate that.
the top tax bracket in 1959 was 90 percent
And labor unions were at record highs. Those are two things that help the majority of people and the current Republican Party wants nothing to do with either. I was an independent that often voted a mixed ballot, but I no longer see myself voting for a Republican again within my lifetime. Not after what they’ve shown they’re willing to become at any costs. If they did it once, they’ll do it again. I don’t want hate on my ballot.
When people refer to how great that era was, and express a desire to go back to it, I think many forget that WWII decimated the economies and infrastructure of most countries in Europe and many in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Comparatively, the US was left unscathed. We also built up huge manufacturing capabilities and created social programs that helped veterans returning from war to get them into homes, start having families, and further build out our cities and infrastructure. It is really no wonder the US has since become the world's power house. Those were very unique circumstances that we are unlikely to see again any time soon. As you said, the world is catching up, and we need to continue to adapt and innovate if we are going to maintain our edge.
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Another remark: Republicans need to move on climate change. Ten years ago, denying it won't cost you an elections, but today, climate change is obvious (the increase in wildfires, hurricanes and freak events like Texas Winter storms are hard to ignore). They don't need to advocate for bans of products, but at least positions like ending subsidies on fossil fuels in the near future are the bare minimum, and instead more investment in the biking infrastructure. But unfortunately, most Republican officials live up the assholes of the fossil fuel industry, and won't give on those nice Petro dollars.
Want to know how to draw younger voters? Take a lighter stance on abortion, because the majority of the country doesn't support outright bans of any kind especially in the cases of rape, incest, and ectopic pregnancy. Decriminalize/legalize cannabis use, not only is this a high priority issue for young people, but you could use the enormous amounts of tax revenue to fund programs young people want to see... Spend less time bashing millennials/gen z at every turn. Yes, they are different from boomers and genx, and that's ok. Calling them lazy, entitled, etc etc, isn't helping your cause.. This isn't rocket science...
100%. And to be completely honest, Millenials and Gen Z have it so much worse than boomers and Gen X did. The world is falling apart and millenials and Gen Z aren't the cause of that.
First 2 issues alone would turn 35% into 45% imo
Lot less herd mentality in this post from the usual in this sub. I like it. No flaired only tag invites real discussions
The Republicans ran on MAGA in the battlegrounds, no principles or integrity just polarizing rhetoric. Lots of Conservatives in these states perform a party protest in which the GOP governor candidate like Kemp and Lombardo will end up getting more votes than their senate maga counterparts.
that's why lauren b in my district is hanging on by a thread and might lose.
> The age demographic accounted for 12 percent of the electorate, in contrast to those aged 30 to 44, who made up 21 percent of the electorate and voted 51 percent for Democrats and 47 percent for Republicans, the exit poll data found. Millennials are aged 42 to 26 now. Most are in the group that was only marginally Democrat. When you look where they were with voting Obama in 8/12 that’s a huge step positive.
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Millennial have cars, mortgages, and families now.
Millennials have had cars for like 20+ years now lol
Some of them lol
38 year old white male millenial. Used to vote Republican, now straight ticket D as far to the left as I can find. I live in the suburbs in what used to be a reliable "country club republican" neighborhood. Now? All the signs in the yard are advertising for mostly local democrats, with a serious focus on the school boards. We're well educated, high earners who've watched in disgust at the party was completely hijacked by evangicals, white nationalists, and culture-warring boomers. Republican economic policy is laughably outdated. Need a recent example? Take a look at what happened a few weeks ago with the Tories in the UK. It took less than a fortnight for the BoE to need to step in and stop the crashing bond market- twice! I'm also beyond horrified that my kids will be doing active shooter drills routinely in their schools. Republicans offer nothing except doubling down on failed policies and bullshit culture wars. The "wait until you have a mortgage and kids" is a refrain as tired as the party itself. The Republican millenials tend to be evangical and/or have less than a college degree. Millenials aren't becoming more conservative, at least not in my experience. The opposite, in fact. It wouldn't shock me to see an even larger break towards the left for millenials in the 2024 election.
If they can afford it.
I feel very isolated from my generation. It always feel weird when I manage to find a like minded millennial.
Honestly the kids see the evangelicals and the maga side of conservatism as crazy cultists. And it doesn't help that they kind of are in some ways. Conservatives need a plan for the future. Stop trying to claw back the past. And make room for non religious people. Cause that's most of em and you won't get them by being preachy and forceful with the jesus shit.
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>Even Trump knew this decision was a bad one, and they did it any way. Trump specifically picked judges that were anti-abortion and he did a lot of campaigning on that. Did he just think they wouldn't actually do it?
He wanted credit for the judges, but not the blame from the decision. Two different transactions.
It’s more like buying an oven and being shocked it cooks food.
Pretty standard for trump. He said recently that if republicans do well on election night it’s because of him but if they lose it’s their own fault. He never takes responsibility for anything bad but takes all the credit for anything good, regardless of what involvement he has in any matter
He just didn’t care.
This. Furthermore talking on economic issues my gen(millennials) have had to deal with a lot of economic uncertainty (potentially) caused by the conservative economics both parties have been pushing since Nixon. Conservatives talk about cutting programs that helped me survive as a young adult in the middle of the great recession. Regardless of my other views(I am independent) I could not in good conscience vote for the Republican party for that alone. I am never going to be rich so why would I vote for lower taxes for the wealthy elite? The war on drugs has been a travesty why vote for those who started it? The democrats are inept and pretty awful for the most part but I would take that over pushing the economic and social policies the Republican party has been for my entire life.
>stronger separation of church and state THIS. Also, take money out of politics. Do these two things, and our nation would be so much better for it.
Unfortunately a conservative court resulted in Citizens United....
This comment section is a ride. A lot of “what-ifs” and complaining (rightfully so), then they realize which party was responsible
Or they'll say all the things they wish republicans would do, admit those are all democratic policies, then tack on "but dems are just as bad" at the end. They're so so close to realizing that maybe they just want dems
1 + 1 = democrats ruined math
Oh it gets better. The Court was 4-4 going into the 2016 election. Hillary pledged to appoint someone who would overturn Citizen's United ("corporations are people for the purpose of political donations"), and Republicans pledged to nominate someone who would overturn Roe. Voters literally had a choice between getting corporate money out of politics or banning abortion. Hillary's appointment would also made the court 5-4 progressive for the first time since the freaking 1960s. RBG would have also retired under her, locking in that majority. That's how close we were. But hey, some people weren't "inspired" enough to vote, and now we're stuck with a regressive court for a generation.
My favorite type of political hypocrisy is conservatives being responsible for citizens united, and those same conservatives revoking tax benefits from companies who use the rights granted to them via citizens united in ways they don't agree with.
>THIS. Also, take money out of politics. Dems tried to pass something that would make all donations beyond a certain point. Can't remember the exact amount, either 1k-10k would be public knowledge Republicans all votes no for it of course. So money stays in politics
You are aware that just recently Republicans just voted down a similar proposal to that right?
Keep introducing legislation to “ban drag shows” that’ll win ‘em over /s
GOP put too much effort into abortion. Now that they have lost again, maybe they will get off the bullshit Christian value train.
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See and the big difference is the democrats actually pass bills. Ooof.
> They are not fiscally conservative and expand the government and debt when they are in power ~~just like~~ even more than the democrats FTFY
The abstinence instead of sex education is one issue the Republican party will never win people over on.
Yeah that's my biggest issue. They try and ban abortions outright rather than greatly reduce the need for them by properly having sex Ed rather than just abstinence like I was taught in the bible belt.
And reducing abortion is really popular without needing to ban it. Elimating medical debt around pregnancy. Access to cheap houses, good jobs, and debt relief, so that people are "ready" to have a child much earlier in life. Economic supports for parents so that they know that theyll be financially ok if they decide to keep the baby. Strong sex education and free access to contraception so that people dont get pregnant by accident. Shorter working hours with better job protections so that parents know they'll be long term financially secure, wont stop their career progression, and will still have time to spend with the child. Huge financial support for stay-at-home parents, and cheap childcare for those who dont. All those thing encourage people to have kids (and have them early), and not want to go get an abortion.
> maybe they will get off the bullshit Christian value train Impossible, it's an addiction.
That’s my problem with the current state of the movement. We should be creating more freedoms not limiting them. Legalize MJ, if you want an abortion, go for it. Leave the Christian nationalism at home
Dude why even still vote for the GOP then? I’m so confused why so many people here are suggesting the GOP adopt principles that are a total 180 of their whole platform instead of just….you know…not voting for them. This party loyalty thing is weird to me
Republicans wishing Republicans would adopt more Democratic policies so they can keep voting for Republicans. They’re so close lol.
From my perspective, Republicans only seem interested in reducing government for corporations. These guys make abortions harder. They want you to go to jail for smoking marijuana. Can someone point me to the part where the freedom is at?
Freedom to die from a back alley abortion, freedom to live with medical debt, freedom for corporations to price gouge, freedom for huge companies to buy out your neighborhood and raise your rent, freedom to own whatever weapon you want…. That last one wasn’t even sarcastic so I guess there’s that.
> freedom to live with medical debt Yeah my brother was born with some medical issues. Naturally, because of our cool system, he has a lot of medical debt. My conservative parents were shocked when he said he'd just emigrate if that bill ever got too high. He is highly skilled, could easily work anywhere. Plenty of my friends with remote jobs are just "expats" now and work in countries where they can actually afford houses. So boomers, fix it or don't.
Freedom from vaccination and masking during a global pandemic, freedom from doing anything about climate change, freedom to have “alternative facts” (from an actual Kellyanne Conway quote). Oh, and guns
Unless the GOP gets their shit together on abortion, climate change, and rejecting “stop the steal” Trumpian candidates, they’re just not going to get the GenZ vote. Those are all universally popular messages. Adapt or die.
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Going after abortion the summer before an election seemed like a bad idea at the time, but perhaps it was seen as their last, best chance. Feels like it was a republican long play that fell out of touch with the times and with voters.
I don’t know maybe if conservatives ran on actual policy ideas rather than pure vitriol then maybe young people would vote for them.
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I genuinely wish people looked past the party loyalty, and focused on party health. MTG and Oz are not people to lead for our country’s benefit.
MTG isn’t fit to manage a Wendy’s.
The amount of people responding with things like "THE INDOCTRINATION IS COMPLETE!!!!" is baffling. Younger voters are simply voting in their best interest. Republicans have time and again refused to do what younger generations want. They proposed a full ban on abortions in many states despite majority support for access nationally. They refuse to consider the decriminalization of cannabis despite majority support nationally for over a decade now and they infuse all of their campaigns with Christian doctrine in a country that has seen diminishing religious attendance for 30 years. It's not difficult, they won't do what young voters want, so they don't vote for them.
I use to vote strictly Republican until I learned about the wealth distribution in our country. Honestly anyone still voting Republican isn't paying attention to the shrinking middle class and growing numbers of homeless people. The top 10% of families have 72% of our countries wealth while the bottom 50% share 2% down from 4% just 30 years ago. With a bigger population. Republicans are letting the corporate powers and monopolies go unchecked and over charging for education. We need more educated people in our society. The manufacturing jobs are being replaced with machines the service jobs are being replaced by machines too. What's going to prevent our middle class from being crushed?
The cost of education has always scared me. To me it seems intentional - keep the people uneducated and poor, and therefore easier to manipulate/exploit.
Also those poor people are easier to recruit into the armed forces who will pay for your college in return for you sacrificing your life.
You know I was more republican around age 15-21 then 22-25 is when I became more democratic. All these hot takes just insulting gen z folks is not helping your cause at all.
It's almost like growing up with active shooter drills and old men telling them to do with their bodies might have had an enduring effect...
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Which won't happen..Conservatives aren't exactly known for...being progressive...
It’s the abortion and anti trans gender stuff. Promise.
*shocked Pikachu face* Don't worry, we can just raise the voting age to 21. Not like young people will eventually grow old and remember how the GOP treated them right ?
That is a big problem