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What is so appealing about Ron Paul to young voters?
FOX News ^ | 1/31/12 | Karin Agness

Posted on 01/31/2012 12:00:06 PM PST by presidio9

The first primaries of 2012 are complete, but the fight over the proper role of government continues. The question before GOP primary voters is who best reflects their own answer to that question, and then, who is best suited to make that case to the American people?

A clear winner has yet to emerge, but there is little question about who has captured the loyalty of young Republican voters on this issue. Although finishing fourth overall, Ron Paul once again won the youth vote in South Carolina, winning 31% of ages 18-29, compared to Newt Gingrich who won 28%. Paul’s appeal, or more accurately, the appeal of Paul’s limited government message, is a key story to emerge from the Republican primaries.

There’s no mistaking the trend.

Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary, getting approximately 39% of the total vote. Ron Paul finished second with 23%, Jon Huntsman finished third with 17%, and Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum each won about 9% of the vote.

Yet young voters would have picked a different winner. According to Fox News exit polls, in New Hampshire, Paul won nearly half (46%) of the votes of people ages 18-29, while Romney won second place with just 26%.

Paul also won the youth vote in Iowa. In the Hawkeye State almost half (48%) of the Republican caucus goers ages 18-29 supported Paul, compared to 23% for the otherwise victorious Santorum, and 14% for Romney.

What is so appealing about Paul to young voters? One answer is that Paul has been the most outspoken candidate defending the importance of free enterprise and the limited role of government. And he has had a

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: apaulling; apaulogia; apaulogist; bongbrigade; dope; drugs; paul; ronpaul; whytheycallitdope; wod; wodlist; wosd
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To: RetSignman

Yeah you could say Ron Paul is all giving Grandfather to that generation LOL!


101 posted on 01/31/2012 2:35:39 PM PST by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: jpsb

i am 36 years old. I voted for Dole, George w Bush twice, and McCain.

I support Ron Paul because the FauxCons/Rinos/NeoCons are a bunch of lying snakes and thieves no different than the democrats.


102 posted on 01/31/2012 2:38:23 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (The Obama Adminstration: 2nd wave of attacks on America after 9/11)
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To: presidio9

Idealism is a belief based on unreality.

Young folks, at least most I know, have yet to be mugged by reality.


103 posted on 01/31/2012 2:39:24 PM PST by MortMan (Americans are a people increasingly separated by our connectivity.)
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To: presidio9
Of course it is - just like opposition to alcohol Prohibition was a conservative idea. Drug criminalization, like Prohibition before it, is "progressive" social engineering that has succeeded only in enriching criminals.

Prohibition is irrelevant to your argument, because alcohol and pot are not the same thing,

That they are not the same thing is what's irrelevant. They are both addictive mind-altering substances (but alcohol is more addictive, and the only one that can directly kill you).

and never will be. For example, while plenty of people enjoy a glass or two of wine with a meal, the only reason anybody ever smoked pot was to get stoned. Period.

Some claim to drink only for the flavor - and some of those are probably telling the truth, while others enjoy the mild buzz they euphemize as "relaxing" or "unwinding." At least a sizeable minority of drinkers seek the mental effects; so even if that percentage is less than 100%, the difference is too thin a reed to support the complete banning of one versus the regulated legality of the other.

104 posted on 01/31/2012 2:40:15 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies (A free society's default policy: it's none of government's business.)
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To: presidio9

Nail hit squarely on head.


105 posted on 01/31/2012 2:41:39 PM PST by Fledermaus (I can't fiddle so I'll just open a cold beer as I watch America burn.)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%
He’s a pothead

Paul's a pothead? Evidence?

106 posted on 01/31/2012 2:42:11 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies (A free society's default policy: it's none of government's business.)
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To: Antoninus
It never ceases to amaze me how many truly benighted individuals there are out there that think "drug legalization" is a good conservative idea.

Move to North Philadelphia for a few years and see if you still think that's the case. Legal or illegal, drugs are a scourge and drug users have a huge blast radius that affects scores of people around them.

I'm sure there are plenty of alcohol abusers there, also with huge blast radii - should we bring back Prohibition?

107 posted on 01/31/2012 2:46:15 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies (A free society's default policy: it's none of government's business.)
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To: presidio9
1) The potency of simple, absolute ideas.

2) Anti-establishmentarianism, the maverick/hobbit/outsider thing.

3) Karma: Ron Paul is to GWB and RBC what McGovern was to LBJ and HHH.

108 posted on 01/31/2012 2:47:36 PM PST by x
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To: Carry_Okie
You have done a very impressive job with your girls--to say the least. The paper would certainly deserve several credit hours towards graduation at any reputable college.

I was very impressed!--although I would offer a slightly different slant on some aspects of the decline--though certainly not disparaging their massed details of the dynamics of that decline.

You deserve to be proud--assuming that you played the role of a Conservative parent--as from your context, one would certainly assume. Well done!

William Flax

109 posted on 01/31/2012 2:56:29 PM PST by Ohioan
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To: presidio9
On the other hand, "Paul scores 0% by NARAL on pro-choice voting record."
110 posted on 01/31/2012 2:56:53 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies (A free society's default policy: it's none of government's business.)
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To: x

I am 36, self employed, never ever smoked pot or did illegal drugs, support israel, and support Ron Paul

1. He is the best on the 2nd amendment.

2. He is the best on civil liberties and the only one who would not sign the NDAA

3. Against mandates and cap and trade like Myth and newt

4. Understands that spending is the real tax on the economy and that inflation via the fed is as bad or worse than taxes.

5. Is for real money.

6. Is not a flip flopping liar and snake.

7. Is not beholden to K Street or Wall Street

8. Actually served in the military and was a doctor in private practice.

9. Never panders to people.

10. Understands basic economics.

11. Understands why we have the problems we do and wants to end the bloated govt.

You guys want more? You “Real Consdervative” clowns can mock Ron Paul all you like - but have fun with obama and myth next year. Don’t say you were not warned.


111 posted on 01/31/2012 3:00:21 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (The Obama Adminstration: 2nd wave of attacks on America after 9/11)
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To: SoldierDad
I’ve posted many more comments on FB regarding R-U-N Paul than I have all the other candidates combined, albeit negative comments each and every one made regarding R-U-N Paul.

I can only imagine how many people have de-friended you. Political Facebook posts are about the most annoying thing on the web.

112 posted on 01/31/2012 3:02:50 PM PST by jmc813
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To: Ohioan
The paper would certainly deserve several credit hours towards graduation at any reputable college.

They formally copyrighted it with the LOC to preclude claims of plagiarism when it shows up elsewhere (as I suspect it will).

You deserve to be proud--assuming that you played the role of a Conservative parent--as from your context, one would certainly assume.

To be frank, I haven't even read the whole thing. They did this themselves with me paying particular attention to the thesis and a couple of sections to show them what I expected. They did the rest. These two girls also self-taught calculus at that same age.

The reason is how I taught primary school. I taught them to read at barely three. They were factoring quadratics by six, before they had even finished their times tables. The rest was easy.

I'm really busy. I like easy. :-)

Recently one was tutoring higher mathematics at the local JC (at the age of 16). The other got her first position on a board of directors at the same age. Yet I would be the first to tell you that these girls are bright, but not exceptionally intelligent. This is what we should be expecting.

The point is that I have absolutely no respect for the American professorate as a group. By dint of over-specialization and political screening, by far most are highly trained idiots, hardly what any rational person would call an "expert." I have even less regard for their product. They gain their power by extortion for credentials; they don't guarantee results. With the tools we have now, children with self-control and commitment to a goal can learn most anything on their own. At most they might need a consultation from time to time to answer questions, but with Skype, it certainly shouldn't cost what parents are paying now. The whole educrat system needs to be replaced by private testing companies who WILL stand behind their validation services financially.

And I'm not hearing Ron Paul talking about that.

113 posted on 01/31/2012 3:16:34 PM PST by Carry_Okie (The RNC would prefer Obama to a conservative nominee.)
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To: Antoninus

fatty food is bad for you too, sugar is a killer, caffeine dido and there is mercury in fish don’t ya know. No one should be allowed to ride a bike without a helmet, don’t forget to always walk with the traffic and only cross at the light. Oh do not even think about trying that black slope when all you have is a federally issued green slope license.


114 posted on 01/31/2012 3:20:33 PM PST by jpsb
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To: SoldierDad

Reagan realized that the middle east is a snake pit and pulled out.


115 posted on 01/31/2012 3:29:03 PM PST by jpsb
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To: SoldierDad
"On February 7, 1984, President Reagan announced that he had asked for a plan for redeployment of the Marines from Beirut to ships offshore. On February 7 and 8, more than 100 U.S. embassy employees and all embassy dependents were evacuated from Beirut. On February 26, redeployment of the last Marines serving with the Multinational Force from their positions in Beirut to ships offshore was completed."
116 posted on 01/31/2012 3:33:51 PM PST by jpsb
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To: SoldierDad
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 - The United States battleship New Jersey bombarded Druse and Syrian gun batteries in Lebanon for more than nine hours today in the heaviest and most sustained American military action since the marines arrived here 16 months ago.

The gunfire was directed at targets ''in Syrian-controlled Lebanon which have been firing on the city of Beirut,'' a Marine spokesman, Maj. Dennis Brooks, said. The shells fired into the capital had landed in Christian-dominated East Beirut, several miles from the Marine compound at Beirut International Airport. In Washington, the Pentagon said the destroyer Caron joined in the bombardment, firing more than 300 five-inch shells. It said the New Jersey fired more than 250 16-inch shells.

117 posted on 01/31/2012 3:37:09 PM PST by jpsb
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To: jpsb

Then why wasn’t Reagan a Libertarian...

Ah, there’s the rub...


118 posted on 01/31/2012 3:55:33 PM PST by ejonesie22 (8/30/10, the day Truth won.)
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To: ejonesie22
There is the capital L Libertarian and the small l, a lot of conservatives are small l. Within the Liberation Party there are two sides. The Constitutionalist Libertarian and the anything goes Libertarian. Paul in his brief time in the Libertarian party was a minority constitutionalist libertarian.

I much prefer to discuss issues and dislike labels. But Paul is a small l Libertarian and I think Reagan was too. That is not to say Paul is another Reagan, he is not, sadly.

119 posted on 01/31/2012 4:28:04 PM PST by jpsb
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To: GlockThe Vote

“VERY SIMPLE - HE WANTS TO NOT HAVE US TO BE SLAVES TO DEBT RUN UP BY BOOMERS AND OTHERS AND THE CONFISCATORY TAXES NEEDED TO PAY FOR IT!”

Yep, all the goosestepping Code Pink commies that Paul attracts will solve that.


120 posted on 01/31/2012 4:47:59 PM PST by sergeantdave
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