Originally Posted at Liberal Values--see original post for links:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=2153Values And The Republican Loss of the Youth Vote
One of the more common comments from conservative trolls seeing the name of the Liberal Values blog (each of whom undoubtedly thinks they are being original and witty) is that liberals have no values. I usually laugh off their ignorance as a sign of their limited world view. MyDD demonstrates that for Republicans this shouldn’t be a laughing matter as they are facing serious consequences for being out of touch with the liberal values which so many in this nation support.
Mike Connery looks at why Republicans are doing so poorly among the young and finds “As so many Conservatives and pundits alike are fond of saying, this isn’t about one tactical decision or another, this is about our values as Americans. And right now, the values of the Millennial Generation are heading in the opposite direction of the values of the Republican Party.”
Results of a Democracy Corps poll are presented and Connery concludes:
On issue after issue, in poll after poll (see here and here), young voters are aligning more with Democrats than Republicans, and those are value-based decisions. Millennial voters support a multilateralist foreign policy, we support policies that protect the environment and civil liberties. Not even mentioned in this Democracy Corps chart are cultural wedge issues like choice and gay marriage, both of which are supported by more younger people than not. Just to twist the knife in a little more, let’s remember the fact that Millennials are the most diverse and tolerant generation in American history - two things that don’t mesh well with the GOP base.
The problem for the Republicans is more serious as these values are held by many more than the young. One feature of our two party system is that the parties evolve over time and are forced to change when their views are no longer representative of a significant portion of the nation. Some moderate Republicans have written this letter to attempt to turn the Republican Party in a direction which would be more in tune with American values. Mike Connery also sees hope in The Republican Youth Majority which is pro-choice and pro-environment along with being fiscally conservative. These young Republicans better understand American values than their predecessors in Young Americans for Freedom.