Conservatism on the rise in young voters

[Khephra]

When Michael Graves was 20 years old, a typical evening involved caking his face in skull makeup, donning a leather vest stained with fake blood and spitting out lyrics in front of hordes of moshing, screaming kids. For five years, Graves was the lead singer of the Misfits, a legendary punk band known for their bloody "fiend" costumes and horror-movie lyrics. In short, he was the perfect example of America's radical liberal youth.

From the moment he left the stage, though, Graves was a devout Catholic and conservative voter.

Graves, now 29, was just one of a growing number of American youths defying the traditional stereotype of the young liberal. In recent years, the Democratic hold on the college-age demographic has weakened. If it releases altogether, they could be on the losing end of elections for years to come.

The mass influx of liberal votes from college campuses has become a myth, said Carrie Donovan, the youth director for the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/2004/12/14/Features/Conservatism.On.The.Rise.In.Young.Voters-828816.shtml

[sniffa]

1. ah, the new rebeLLious youths

they become repubLicans

[Karenina]

40. SEND THEM ALL ENLISTMENT FORMS.

Document their "excuses." Compare 'em to *dauphin's or Buttboy's or...or...or...

[Guarionex]

2. what was it ...

that Marx said? That in the absence of class education...the ignorant would be vulnerable to the seductive calls of demagoguery? And I think that it also applies to Left wing politics (Stalinism, Maoism, etc.).

Not surprised...but theirs is a sad existence....they know that they stand in opposition to the rest of the world.

The U.S is the end of the capitalist system...a fall here will destroy capitalism everywhere...and the conservatives are circling the wagons.

[Brundle_Fly]

3. ugh

disinformation.

[imenja]

4. young voters went overwhelmingly for Kerry

18-30 year olds were the only age group that Kerry won handily.
I agree that the idea of the liberal university is overblown, but young voters turned out for the Democrats in significant numbers this election.

[stanwyck]

7. 55% for Kerry

in the 18-30 age group. I expect to see the numbers for Democratic among young voters to increase. They're going to be bearing the brunt of the Bushian disasters: the war, the deficit, and the collapse of the dollar.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

5. Until they are drafted. n/t

[greenman3610]

6. yes, draft the buggers

http://www.drawingblood.net/

[Strawman]

8. Yeah, right, that guy was the lead singer of the Misfits

Just like Gary Charone was the lead singer of Van Halen.

[Warpy]

9. Yeah, because one screwball put away the things of youth

and did a 180 degree turnaround, it's a MOVEMENT.

No wonder I don't bother with whore news.

[yardwork]

39. The kid sounds like he was skinhead, not punk

Who says he represented "liberal youth?" I say bullroar. The kid was probably very conservative to start with.

I've seen several of these articles in the past year, and none of them understand the difference between skinheads, punks, goths, and other subgroups of urban youth. Apparently any youth not dressed like Beaver Cleaver is a "liberal."

Sheesh. I'm in my mid-40s and even I know there's a difference!

[w4rma]

54. Yes. I was just about to say that. The guy wears a skull with blood. Not

very liberal, imho.

Conservatives are the ones obsessed with wars, death and murder.

[bemildred]

10. Bullshit on the rise in Illinois. nt

[Celeborn Skywalker]

11. That's just flat out bullshit

Yes, the college repubs are more outspoken than they were before, but the majority of people my age are fairly liberal. I believe my generation is more tolerant of differences such as race, sexuality, etc. than any generation before them. The biggest problem with young people is that many are not at all interested in politics and don't follow the news much.

[David Dunham]

12. Good point

[PROGRESSIVE1]

15. True. I am one those young people who proudly supported Kerry.

I am not a liberal. I'm a moderate with mixed views, but I do reject ANY IDEA that young people are right wing conservatives.

[Kolesar]

22. Salon.com agrees

The children of the baby boomers share values such as tolerance for interracial marriage. The only conservative age group is the oldest of voters and they are going to die off no matter what happens. I cannot seem to find the article at salon's website.

[flygal]

31. I also think a lot of these people are being being driven hard by their

churches to be more vocal. You don't hear about the quiet ones who have been raised to be more tolerant - but hopefully we will.

[bluestateguy]

13. Way overblown

Kerry improved over Al Gore with the 18-29 year old vote. He won it 54%-45%, an improvement over Gore's 48%-46% victory in 2000. It is true, however, that campus conservative and Republican organizations are in many cases better disciplined and organized that groups on the Left.

[BlueDog2u]

50. That's not an improvement; its a landslide

"He won it 54%-45%, an improvement over Gore's 48%-46% victory in 2000."

Um, thats taking a margin of 4% and more than doubling it in four years, to 9%. Extrapolate that trend four more years and the Repubs would be toast. I'm not predicting that, but you would think that these purveyors of conveniently self-serving dogma in the form of anecdotal evidence would bother to consult the demographic trends they are supposedly analyzing before making their pronouncements. Duh.

[Megahurtz]

14. The Misfits?

somehow I find that one hard to believe anyway. :eyes:

Sounds like someone was having a fit of misinformation.

[elemnopee]

19. He was a replacement

The real Misfits disbanded in the early 80's, Graves replaced (tried to) Danzig in a psuedo-Misfits rebirth.

Conservative Punk is an oxymoron.

How can you rage for the machine?

[Zhade]

33. RAGE FOR THE MACHINE - classic!

NT!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

16. Democrats need to become much more aggressive.

We need to recrut more people into our ranks. The right is ahead right now and we must reverse the tide.

any ideas?

[KingChicken]

17. I agree, kids are more conservative....

I think a lot of them vote conservative because it's the "new cool thing". Young people will do anything to differentiate from their stereotypes, if they call you a liberal then be a conservative. At 20, I can tell you the conservative youth voters I know tend to be just as clueless as the rest, they usually provide very concrete statements as to why they vote republican.

No worries, let the conservative idiots run the country into the ground, just make sure you keep pointing out each step of the way who is ruining the country, not us, them. At the end of this hell ride I hope the conservatives will stink of utter failure to accomplish even one concrete goal....

[RPM]

23. Law School Republicans

I have seen a lot more of them lately in my school; becoming quite the vocal lot.

I think the appeal lies in:

1) Pleasing your master - alot of those young pubbies have interest in pursuing corporate and tax law; and they will do what ever makes their clients happy so that they will have clients.

2) More work to do - being a liberal democrat is no fun - they have no real plan that you can rally around. Being a young pug is fun - you can work to dismantle the social structure dems have been building all since the new deal. I think they like slamming doors on people - no marraige for gays - no rights for women - no help for elders....

3) faux status - I think a number of them see being repuglican as being part of the ruling class. They think by associating with them, they will become wealthy and powerful - in 20 years they will be chewed up and spit out - hopefully a bit wiser for it....

[Blue_Tires]

29. exactly the reason there are more

black conservatives today....some people just like to go against the grain to be different, and tick people off.....when i was a kid in the early 80s I became a celtics fan just for the purpose of pissing off my family and all my friends, who were ALL Lakers fans at that time

[CatholicEdHead]

44. So true

They go by the overall media. The media is marketing them the current fad is to be "conservative". Either through ad nasuem talk shows or subtle propaganda/sales spread out on all TV/Corporate radio programming (e.g. songs, videos, talk shows, war video games, etc...).

The marketing follows the "enternal High School Clique" line of thinking. Everyone wants to be rich and cool.

Other posters mentioned Campus Crusade for Christ/College Republicans and similar groups. Those groups do their fair share, but the media, not specialized groups would make enough swing the way they can.

But like another poster said, a draft will have to come eventually with the current status, and many will get a rude wakeup.

[NCN007]

48. kids rebel against the hypocracy of their parents generation

whether there parents grew up in the 40s and 50s or 60s and 70s

[purduejake]

53. I see the youth getting more liberal...

at least at this conservative university. Part of it is that the new president came in and the administration is enforcing policies against harassing other students. It's completely changed the atmosphere and is opening minds. I will agree the right is getting much more vocal though, but it is an act of desperation. That's why the College Repukes do those stupid affirmative action bake sales even when they know the university will put them on probation or shut them down because of it. (They cooked the books right along with those cookies). They do outrageous stuff for attention at any cost.

Anyway, the repukes I know voted for * because he reduced the number of abortions and because he stopped Iraq from attacking us with WMD. They're Fox viewers... enough said.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Major flaw in this person's reasoning.

I know, because when I was very young, I made the opposite, incorrect, assumption. I was in high school and my very conservative, pinheaded history teacher asked this question in class: "Currently conservatives are generally older and Liberals are young. So what can you deduce from that?" No one answered. So I, who hate silence, broke down and spurted out, "it means if we all live long enough, the conservatives will all die off and this world will be a better place." Well, I didn't say it in those exact words, but the assumption was the same. He looked at me very puzzled and said, "No, it means that as people get older, they tend to become more conservative."

And to a point, he was right. Back then, rabid Christians were called Moonies and people paid big bucks to get their children deprogrammed. Looks like the deprogramming failed.

[eleny]

20. He's not too old - send him this

http://www.dior.whs.mil/forms/DD0004.pdf

[grumpy old fart]

21. Draft 'em and wake 'em up......

Ignorance is bliss. Diese junge kinder have no idea what the real world is about. It's all video games and faith based reality. God help us.

[wildwww2]

49. God only helps those who help themselves. Those who fuck themselves.

Well I guess God sits back and laughs at the stupid mess they make. I don`t believe in God by the way. But the bible is a cool book. I`ve read the whole thing twice.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[cyberpj]

24. Youth Camps - sound familiar?

(But seriously folks, didn't Hitler do something like this?)

I know you are all probably being deluged with links and websites as we are all outraged, but please take the time to at least browse through these, the agenda is quite clear right on their front pages....

There are DOZENS of youth lobbying groups sponsored by the extreme right wing and they are getting downright SCARY:


http://www.campamerican.com/home.htm

http://www.generationjoshua.org/dnn/

http://www.patriotacademy.org
(this one's just getting started)

[The Flaming Red Head]

62. The youngest Jonesboro shooter attended John Birch summer camp.

The summer before he killed all those kids at the middle school.

[el_gato]

25. that one idiot is trotted out everytime they try this meme

its bullshit

[leftist.]

58. Thank you el_gato!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You nailed it. Can we please, PLEASE be done with Michael Graves now? Please.

1) It was Danzig's Misfits, and that's the only Misfits that counts, brother.

2) It should be a rule that when you make it into a Daily Show "Expose" piece, the world simultaneously CEASES to take you seriously.

Ugh!

p.s. - Fuck JerryOnly

[SheepyMcSheepster]

26. yes, all hail michael graves

a devout catholic singing "die die my darling", "angelfuck" and "mommy can i go out and kill".

at least he stood up for what he believed in while he was in the misfits......oh wait he didn't.

fuck michael graves.

[Emboldened Chimp]

27. The good news is he'll get more liberal as he gets older...

[libpunkmom]

28. Pot smoking, Acid dropping, mushroom

eating Michael Graves? Too Funny!! Jerry Only threw him out of the "Misfits" for his drug use!!! Let the repukes have this sack.

[BayCityProgressive]

30. I am 21

and personally know about 8 people off the top of my head who are Republicans that are my age. it is really hard to speak to them around election time because being gay, I am storngly opposed to the GOP. Some of these people are even gay though! Many work for the drug companies, banks, or are in management. They almost all support a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, affirmative action, and a healthy environment and freedom of speech. However, they are all greedy "all for me" type people. They hate unions and want more deregulation. So at least perhaps, the next generation of GOP will be liberal socially and it will only be on economics we have to fight.

[cornermouse]

32. Change is a comin'

Its called the Draft.

[PleadTheFirst]

34. I know Mike.

Or used to, in passing, years ago. He's been to parties at my house - he even talked to me at one point about illustrating a Misfits comic book for them. (I'm a cartoonist).

The whole Misfits thing was a great gig for him, but he never really fit the makeup. He was always a mellow, quiet guy - the whole stage thing was an act. (Or at least that's the impression I got). When I saw him interviewed on a segment of The Daily Show a few months back and he was wearing the skull makeup, talking about how great * was, I fell out of my damned chair.

I had no IDEA he was a wingnut. :evilfrown:

[genieroze]

35. That's bull. eom

[NNguyenMD]

36. On Campus Christian Fellowship is another big reason...

The kids who join them take a one-eighty personality/independent thought change once they joined them. Sadly, I've losted a good number of friends to those places, and after they join all they want to talk about is JESUS!!

Could be mostly an Asian phenomenon though, who knows?

[Dude_CalmDown]

37. Is this the fucktard we're talking about? (Daily Show)

http://www.comedycentral.com/mp/play.jhtml?reposid=/multimedia/tds/helms/helms_8157.html

[SheepyMcSheepster]

42. yes

thanks for the link! i wanted to see it after a previous poster mentioned it.

[Dude_CalmDown]

56. In my opinion it's one of the funniest interviews I've ever seen

HELMS: If you're a Bush-man, aren't you raging for the machine?

SHITHEAD: Yeah, quite possibly - raging for the bush machine but then again you can look at it as raging against the machine, and that machine is the liberal left.

HELMS: So there are two machines?

SHITHEAD: Yeah!

HELMS: It's like Battle-Bots.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

61. yeah, that was my favorite part too

i laughed pretty hard at that, it is pretty damn funny.

"so there are two machines?"

:silly:

[Menshevik]

59. one of my favorite eps EVER! eom

[snippy]

38. The republican party puts a lot of work and effort into building and

supporting the College Republicans organizations and have been doing it for quite a while. The republican party has a well thought out long range plan to convert more college kids. I once read the manual for the organization and was impressed by how comprehensive and well organized it was. It has a lot of nuts and bolt details about media relationships and about organizing events to get media coverage. It also describes the best ways to harass liberal speakers on campus.

The various College Republican chapters have good relationships with a state leader, each of whom has excellent relations with the national party. The national party sometimes will help with expenses and media contacts for particular projects. The republican party likes to preach to these kids about affirmative action and Social Security in particular.

The College Republicans organizations illustrate how well thought out republican strategies often are and how the GOP is willing to make small gains year after year after year.

[yardwork]

41. College Republicans are funded by scams

There was a brief flurry of articles in local papers in NC and other states near the election. It turns out that the national College Republicans group solicits contributions through dozens of shell organizations - all with different names that imply they are working to help poor people, children, church groups, etc. Worst of all, these solicitations all go to extremely elderly, often demented people living in nursing homes!

No joke. Apparently the national College Republicans group got mailing lists from nursing homes all over the country, and they blizzard these confused old people with a different solicitation every week, always in a different name.

Many of the elderly people interviewed had no idea what they were giving to, or how much money they had given. The mailings pull on their heartstrings so they send $25 here, $35 there, until they've given thousands a year - all going straight to the College Republicans!

[snippy]

47. How to run those scams probably is covered in the manual. n/t

[LynnTheDem]

43. So is ignorance & stupidity.

Maybe there's a link...

[greekspeak]

45. This should come as no surprise to us.

Why?

1) College is becoming less accessible to the poorer folks in America. Money is what matters. Spoiled rich lazy kids are becoming the norm. At the school where I am doing my PhD, kids have more audacity and mendacity than any I have seen.

2) Students are not going to college for liberal arts any more. They are coming to learn how to make money. Business degrees, trades, etc. are becoming more and more prominant, and liberal arts majors are becomming less and less prominant. The students, thus, come ready-fit in the conservative "gimmee" mold.

3) Students in crisis are going to become more liberal and stand up for what they beleive in. Look at the late 60's. Students taking over administration offices. Riots, sit ins, armed confrontations on campuses. Why? The kids did not want to go fight in Nam. Today, there is no motivation for most kids to do anything. They just float in and float out with their degree, take their job , and drink their kool-aid like good little automatons.

4) Critical thinking is going out of the window. Employers do not want people to think critically; they want people who will do what they are told. Critical thinking skills are not as salable as they were in days past. Critical thinking leads one away from conservatism and its trappings. Liberalism is a movement of thinkers and pluralism; conservatism is a movement of a few leaders and masses of followers. Critical thinking is a worthless skill. A dangerous skill-hard to control people when they think.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

52. Great post..you should work this into an article

:thumbsup:

[goforit]

60. Points well taken ........similar to the German Society prior to WWII

Another disturbing factor to enter into this equation
is the fact that so many hard rock christian conservative bands
that are creating this neo-conservative cultism racing through
the youth of today.

Fascism at its finest hour.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

46. CIRCLE jerk

[stevebreeze]

51. excuse me? any proof of the claim in the article? NO

There's a hell of a lot of wishful thinking but no facts to back up the claim.

Secondly a macho religious goofball is a perfect target for the far right. Start with a kid who thinks with the head not on his shoulders, probably listened to some sadistic morning shock jock who treats women like sex objects. Then tell em if he is man enough he can win the economic super-bowl through strength of will.

[Anakin Skywalker]

55. What Utter B.S.!

"I think conservatives can reach kids through somebody like me," Graves said. "I think my feelings concerning family, God, the military and my pro-life stance, they fall in line with the conservative agenda, and they're things kids can identify with."

Well good luck, Mr. Fall-in-Line. Committed a Freudian slip there, did you?

Also, he seems to be saying conservatism is for kids who aren't old enough to THINK for themselves. :)

[roguevalley]

57. That's all right. They can reap the fruits of dumbass thinking:

draft

poverty

no environment to think of

no hope

no future

I'll be dead by then. Thankfully.

[lonestarnot]

63. Not falling for this shit!

This propoganda someone would like to have youth believe. Youth NOT all chimps.

[TheDonkey]

64. WTF? complete BS. Kerry won the youth vote by far more

than Gore did. Young people aren't running in droves to republicans, sorry.

[Zerex71]

65. The New Hitler Jugend