Julius Skrrvin
I be winkin' through the scope
Report: How GOP lost young voters - Katie Glueck - POLITICO.com
It's long so i'll post snippets..
It's long so i'll post snippets..
In the report, the young Republican activists acknowledge their party has suffered significant damage in recent years. A sampling of the critique on:
Gay marriage: On the open-minded issue [w]e will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table.
Hispanics: Latino voters tend to think the GOP couldnt care less about them.
Perception of the partys economic stance: Weve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but wont offer you a hand to help you get there.
Big reason for the image problem: The outrageous statements made by errant Republican voices.
Words that up-for-grabs voters associate with the GOP: The responses were brutal: closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.
Part of the report addresses one of the hottest and most contentious social issues of 2013: gay marriage. As increasing numbers of young people including Republicans voice support for same-sex marriage, the CRNC tested the extent to which the issue is a deal-breaker for young voters. It found about a quarter of those surveyed said they couldnt vote for someone who opposes gay marriage a finding the report characterized as neither a hopeless situation for the GOP nor a great one. But it does pose problems if the party wants to be perceived as more tolerant, the report noted.
On the open-minded issue, yes, we will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table, the authors wrote. In the short term, the party ought to promote the diversity of thought within its ranks and make clear that we welcome healthy debate on the policy topic at hand.
On immigration, the young Republicans called on the GOP to more clearly recognize the difference between legal and illegal immigrants and to also differentiate illegal immigrants from the children of illegal immigrants.
Concerning reproductive issues that have tripped up GOP candidates, the Republican Party has been painted both by Democrats and by unhelpful voices in our own ranks in holding the most extreme anti-abortion positions, the report said. Republicans need to avoid allowing the abortion debate to be conflated with debates over contraception, rape and Planned Parenthood, the report recommended, though the party neednt alter its stance on the issue of abortion itself.
Turning to a key talking point during the election, the report found that while Republicans during the 2012 cycle invoked jobs and the economy at every turn, the younger age group was put off by the way the GOP presented those issues.
Policies that lower taxes and regulations on small businesses are quite popular. Yet our focus on taxation and business issues has left many young voters thinking they will only reap the benefits of Republican policies if they become wealthy or rise to the top of a big business, the report says. Weve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it but wont offer you a hand to help you get there.
Younger voters especially those in the Hispanic focus groups the CRNC conducted are deeply familiar with the challenges posed by a less-than-robust economy, the report said, citing struggles with student loans and people who are delaying marriage because of financial issues. But the study said the party must explain how its policies translate into chances for economic advancement and should seek to do so in a more caring tone.
If we dont believe that Republicans are the fend for yourself party, then its time for us to explain why and to show our work, the report said. This will go a long way overall, but particularly with Latino voters, who tend to think the GOP couldnt care less about them.
Report: How GOP lost young voters #1
A new postmortem on the November elections from the nations leading voice for college Republicans offers a searing indictment of the GOP brand and the major challenges the party faces in wooing young voters, according to a copy given exclusively to POLITICO.
The College Republican National Committee on Monday will make public a detailed report the result of extensive polling and focus groups dissecting what went wrong for Republicans with young voters in the 2012 elections and how the party can improve its showing with that key demographic in the future.
Its not a pretty picture. In fact, its a dismal present situation, the report says.
The 95-page study, which looked at the partys views on social and economic issues, as well as its messaging and outreach, echoes a March report on the election debacle issued by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, which presented a devastating assessment of the partys current state of affairs.
But in some ways the new report from inside the GOP tent is even more scathing and ominous since it comes from the partys next generation.
Titled the Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation, the report is sharply critical of the GOP on several fronts. The study slams some Republicans almost singular focus on downsizing Big Government and cutting taxes; candidates use of offensive, polarizing rhetoric; and the partys belly-flop efforts at messaging and outreach, even as the report presents a way forward and, at times, strikes an optimistic tone.
In the report, the young Republican activists acknowledge their party has suffered significant damage in recent years. A sampling of the critique on:
Gay marriage: On the open-minded issue [w]e will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table.
Hispanics: Latino voters tend to think the GOP couldnt care less about them.
Perception of the partys economic stance: Weve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but wont offer you a hand to help you get there.
Big reason for the image problem: The outrageous statements made by errant Republican voices.
Words that up-for-grabs voters associate with the GOP: The responses were brutal: closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.
[The] Republican Party has won the youth vote before and can absolutely win it again, the report says, pointing to presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush who were competitive with that demographic. But this will not occur without significant work to repair the damage done to the Republican brand among this age group over the last decade.
The report is based largely on two national surveys of 800 registered voters each, ages 18-29, and six focus groups of young people, including Hispanics, Asian-Americans, single women, economically struggling men and aspiring entrepreneurs in Ohio, Florida and California who had voted for President Barack Obama he cleaned up with 60 percent of the youth vote but were considered winnable for the GOP.
It comes several months after Priebus released the RNCs Growth and Opportunity Project assessment, but the CRNC which bills itself as the oldest and largest political youth organization in America is an independent entity claiming 250,000 members on 1,800 campuses across the country. The surveys were developed by the Winston Group, a Washington-based GOP polling firm spearheaded by a former longtime adviser to House Speaker John Boehner. Alex Schriver, who served as the chairman of the CRNC during the election and is a co-author of the report, declined to say how much the study cost but called it a significant investment.
Leaders of the organization will publicly release the study on Monday and will present their findings privately to Republican officials and outside groups, though current CRNC Chairwoman Alex Smith declined to specify who would be there.
Part of the report addresses one of the hottest and most contentious social issues of 2013: gay marriage. As increasing numbers of young people including Republicans voice support for same-sex marriage, the CRNC tested the extent to which the issue is a deal-breaker for young voters. It found about a quarter of those surveyed said they couldnt vote for someone who opposes gay marriage a finding the report characterized as neither a hopeless situation for the GOP nor a great one. But it does pose problems if the party wants to be perceived as more tolerant, the report noted.
On the open-minded issue, yes, we will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table, the authors wrote. In the short term, the party ought to promote the diversity of thought within its ranks and make clear that we welcome healthy debate on the policy topic at hand.
On immigration, the young Republicans called on the GOP to more clearly recognize the difference between legal and illegal immigrants and to also differentiate illegal immigrants from the children of illegal immigrants.
Concerning reproductive issues that have tripped up GOP candidates, the Republican Party has been painted both by Democrats and by unhelpful voices in our own ranks in holding the most extreme anti-abortion positions, the report said. Republicans need to avoid allowing the abortion debate to be conflated with debates over contraception, rape and Planned Parenthood, the report recommended, though the party neednt alter its stance on the issue of abortion itself.
Turning to a key talking point during the election, the report found that while Republicans during the 2012 cycle invoked jobs and the economy at every turn, the younger age group was put off by the way the GOP presented those issues.
Policies that lower taxes and regulations on small businesses are quite popular. Yet our focus on taxation and business issues has left many young voters thinking they will only reap the benefits of Republican policies if they become wealthy or rise to the top of a big business, the report says. Weve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it but wont offer you a hand to help you get there.
Younger voters especially those in the Hispanic focus groups the CRNC conducted are deeply familiar with the challenges posed by a less-than-robust economy, the report said, citing struggles with student loans and people who are delaying marriage because of financial issues. But the study said the party must explain how its policies translate into chances for economic advancement and should seek to do so in a more caring tone.
If we dont believe that Republicans are the fend for yourself party, then its time for us to explain why and to show our work, the report said. This will go a long way overall, but particularly with Latino voters, who tend to think the GOP couldnt care less about them.
The college Republicans warned that the partys primary message of cutting taxes and reducing the size of government failed to resonate. In fact, one of the CRNCs polls found that 54 percent of young voters said taxes should go up on the wealthy while only 3 percent said taxes should be cut for the wealthy. Bashing Big Government also didnt play well and was even damaging, according to some of the focus groups, the study found.
We found that there were misconceptions and common ways of thinking among people who didnt view the Republican Party favorably that were simply not in accord with where the party actually stands, Smith told POLITICO.
That was especially the case with certain economic issues. The report said that on many questions tied to that subject, young people and the GOP are, in fact, on the same page: support for entrepreneurship and small businesses and slashing spending in many instances, for example. But that common ground often got lost for young voters.
To combat that, the report stressed that the GOP should better explain how its policies translate into economic growth for the country and for individuals. On an issue that hits especially close to home for young voters student loans Democrats are perceived as taking more action.