I think the sportsmen crowd can work to a great deal. There is no doubt the majority of young athletes are conservative along with the majority of outdoorsmen. For girls around my age I think the appeal to family values would be the best way to go.
Conservatism is cool, keeping taxes low to be able to start your own business like so many young people do now. Protecting the right to bear arms. Making Social Security solvent for the future of the youth (which I am). Plus, conservative are just flat out better looking than liberals. Young people like that.
We need to stop nominating guys like Dole and McCain.....
We need to focus on the younger, fresher faces of the party.
Obama won because he’s young and slick.
It’s not about being “cool”. Conservatism has to be recognized as the right set of ideas. The youth needs to be educated on history, economics, philosophy, so they can recognize that leftist liberalism and socialism are evil and failed ideas. This won’t happen in publik skool. We need to save our next generations and withdraw them from government run schools. The indoctrination needs to be stopped. On another note, we need to put young Conservatives like Jindal, Cantor and on top of that Sarah Palin at the helm of the movement.
I guess I am no longer young. Now if I transpose that last number I could be included—LOL. So I guess I am just a middle aged Repub—seeing me apparently inspires no one. Then tell me what happened with Palin—Hot, Smart, Sexy, Talented, 45—that is cool.
What is cool is to focus on ideals, be clear about them and why they exist and what their vision is if fulfilled on and then follow it through. This is what young people are inspired by. If one sets down a set of principles and does the opposite it inspires nothing but cynicism. Time to talk the talk and walk the walk and not attract people with sugar—doesn’t last long. We want to think long term and act for the long term.
Young voters tend to completely despise social conservatism.
A libertarian message really appeals to them.
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.
tell them to bring their long carbines.
Well... The “young people” love “rebellion”
That crazy Rage Against the Machine music and such...
I doubt that I’m going out on a limb here to suggest that indoctrination is a huge uphill battle to fight against and, regrettably, most of my age group (18-24) is completely sold out for O
I saw the demographic breakdowns and the youth vote, while not larger than I expected, was heavily for That One
That aside, if O does the damage I think he will, and reacts to conflicts like his ego will press on him to, I think the key to winning the young demographic is to prey on this factor and pitch it like “support for Obama is support for the mainstream” ... the only thing more hip than being a Lib is being a contrarian; if conservatism gets a fresh face and the youth can begin to see the hypocrisy that permeates every single facet of the Lib party in general, we’ll see a shift
Conservatives need to start inspiring young voters.
Don't you get it by now?
Any resemblance between the GOP and conservatism is completely coincidental/accidental.
Shift key.
Makes grown-up letters.
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.
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.
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!)
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.
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.
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.
Hello! I am also at UVa. Let’s try to come up with ideas together. E-mail me at Diamondsareforever87@gmail.com