calling all young republicans!!!

[UVA2010]

gop needs to start inspiring young voters. if we want conservatism to endure, there needs to be a serious effort made towards the 18-24 group. being conservative CAN be cool. any ideas??

[snowstorm12]

probably concentrate on young white males. I think they can definately be won over and they can be convinced to get their girlfriends and buddies on the bandwagon.

[GOP Poet]

Awesome post. Thanks. Great points.

[GOP Poet]

I never nominated either. But I digress. Pathetic.

[BattleHymn]

People need to feel like they can identify with their candidate of choice. Obama is perceived as young (compared to McCain), and identified with the young voters more.

Many I have talked to that voted for Obama leave me to suspect they are expecting some sort of free ride out of Obama. Once they have to make a few sacrifices, many will become disillusioned by him.

When the disillusionment comes, we need to be prepared, not in the sense of the Republicans being the “opposition”, or the “alternative”, but in principled, easy to understand ideas that make sense.

I tried an experiment a few months back. I went down to the local state university, and asked some students (I too am a student, but at a private, Christian university) what being a republican meant. Would anyone like to guess the answers that I got? If any of you guessed anything at all, you are correct. And that is part of the problem. We are perceived as being all over the place on a number of issues, and I lay the blame squarely at the feet of those in the party who tried to be everything to everybody.

The biggest criticism that I heard was that we are supposed to be the party of SMALL GOVERNMENT. How can you expect someone to vote for your party that is founded on smaller government, when it is doing the exact opposite, which is growing the size of the government?

I do not have an answer to the last question. And I as a young person who is a conservative would like to know what the answer is.

[FFranco]

On Fox I saw that the biggest concern for young voters was jobs. The GOP needs to prove they can do better at keeping our economy strong and creating jobs than the Commie liberals.

Also, some of us might not be happy about it, but America is turning brown. The GOP needs to find candidates who aren’t old white men like it usually runs. Governors Jindal and Palin are good starts, but more YOUNG women and minorities are needed in leadership positions.

[swordfishtrombone]

I lay the blame squarely at the feet of those in the party who tried to be everything to everybody.

"A political part cannot be all things to all people." Reagan

[television is just wrong]

both my young adults voted for McCain / Palin. They are really upset about this loss. I don’t blame them cause I am too.

[BattleHymn]

There is the perception that there is more back-biting in the the Republican crowd. Libs seem to stick up for their own. I’m just bouncing some ideas off some of my friends here. We’re taking turns playing the Wii.

[LSUsoph]

I’ll tell you how, exactly how....the GOP needs to start nominating candidates who ARE cool. It is hard for young people to get up for a candidate who is probably older than their grandpa. I have never seen so many young people think it was “cool” to support a candidate as I did when Bobby Jindal ran for governor the first time in 2004. I worked on his campaign (I was a senior at the time at Tulane) and the excitement amongst 20somethings was unreal. The GOP needs to put forth younger, more well spoken, conservative candidates to get excited about (like Bobby!)

[BattleHymn]

“The GOP needs to find candidates who aren’t old white men like it usually runs.”

To that I would add that Mitt Romney looks like a used car salesman, and I don’t know how anybody could get energized to vote for him. If the GOP wants a semblance of hope in 2012, they will not put him on the ticket. Anywhere.

[USMCWife6869]

My 18 year old voted Republican, and she is very proud to be one. But in all honesty, she gets harrassed by her friends all the time. And they aren’t kind about it.

[panthermom]

I have 2 teenage boys, my oldest will be 18 in Dec. I had about 6 other boys over on election night watching with us, some had just voted in their 1st election, they voted for McCain. I would have to say, in my sons group of friends all are conservative, and yes they are athletes and sportsman.

[panthermom]

FCA is huge at my sons school, so is Younglife, another Christian club. Younglife starts in middle school with Wyldlife and Campuslife. Both of my older boys go to both FCA and Younglife and my middleschooler does CampusLife. They love it, if you have kids in that age group you should look into Younglife and see if you can start a club at your school.

[Arrowhead1952]

0’s administration is going to be enough to sway a lot of young conservatives. Hell, I will be graduating school in 4 weeks with no prospect of any kind of work. They will have enough time to think about the consequences of what this country will face soon enough.

I hear you loud and clear. My daughter graduated in May of this year, and luckily has a job. She makes more than I do after almost 40 years in the workforce. She paid for most of her college by working before and during college. She also bought a new car for herself during her third year.

There are a lot of young adults that had everything paid by their parents, and now expect the government to pay college, health care, etc. It is good to see some young people like you who are willing to work. Keep looking and sending your résumé to companies. You will get a job somewhere.

One last word of advice for you and every other young adult:

When you go to an interview, always make a GOOD first impression, because you only have ONE chance to make a first impression.

[zoso82t]

Small government, fiscal responsibility and individual liberty are issues that win every time, young or old. The real problem is that the current GOP is hardly any of those things. The GOP is trying to be big-gov lite, which will never win against the real thing.

For the record, I’m 26 and conservative. I’ve been voting since 2000. Republicans had a real chance to show how well true conservatism works, but got drunk on power and blew it. For their failure, we now have Obama.

And if you think you can organize the party around the religious right, then the Democrats will be in power forever. Like it or not, that’s just the cold, hard truth.

The current GOP is circling the drain, and it’s hard to say that they don’t deserve it.

Small government.
Fiscal responsibility.
Individual liberty.

Don’t just talk about it; take action and lead by example.

[absolootezer0]

0’s administration is going to be enough to sway a lot of young conservatives.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! you don't really believe that do you? the entire term all you'll hear is how obama was left a huge mess and its bush's fault its taking so long to fix it. he's already recycling granholm campaign promises ("it'll take more than just one term," "just give me five years") and setting the stage to blame republicans for the next four years.

[absolootezer0]

part of the problem in that group is social conservatism. alot of the young voters i talk to are not anti-abortion, pro-embryonic stem cell research and pro-gay marriage (or at least don’t want to ban it), yet they are pro 2A, fiscally conservative, want lower taxes, pro-fair tax, anti-welfare, pro-privatizing SS...
if conservatives would knock off all the talk on social conservatism and focus and talk about the fiscal end, that would sway alot more younger voters.