Democrats no longer have a lock on voters under 30

Over the past few months, I have been posting on what inroads the GOP has or has not been making into what has been considered the dem/leftist base. Recently, I posted on how the GOP has been reaching out to the black community. Now it is time to look at the under 30 voters. Since the Vietnam era, the under 30 vote has been considered to be solidly dem/leftist. Attitudes and political leanings change over time. Vahe Tazian explains the changing demographics in his article.

"The trend of young voters becoming more conservative has, to some degree, been overlooked. The general assumption, as Dean incorrectly claimed, is that young voters are typically liberal. One reason this notion still exists is that the trend has been gradual. Starting in 1984, when Ronald Reagan transformed the image of the Republican party in the eyes of many youth, to the recent presidential election, the GOP has been slowly, but impressively, increasing its appeal among young voters.

The rise in more young voters leaning conservative is not a coincidence. A constructive, issue-oriented debate has long been lacking in the Democratic Party. Simultaneously, Republicans have proposed new ideas and offered better solutions to various problems.

In his re-election campaign and early in his second term, Bush has outlined issues that are of vital importance to young voters, namely, reform of the Social Security system, an affordable college education and the creation of well-paying jobs.

Ideas do matter. If Dean is to resurrect the party, he may want to start by reassessing his claim to being "the party for young Americans.""

Once again it would seem that the dem/leftists have taken another of what they thought were their base for granted. The President, on the other hand, seems to be resonating with the concerns of under 30 voters and has taken action on them. Bush at least has put ideas on the table, the dem/leftists have yet to do more then bash what Bush as put forth. If the dem/leftists are serious about retaining their portion of the under 30 vote, they will need to present a plan and/or some ideas. Merely trashing Bush is not going to cut it. - Sailor