Under-30's are NOT Pro-Bush; That's Media-Whoring

[liberalpragmatist]

Here's the full results of the Newsweek Poll:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4063502/

A majority of young voters (54 percent) say they approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president, virtually identical to the president’s approval rating among registered voters overall.

Okay, that's identical to the national electorate.

Here's what the media ISN'T reporting!:

37 percent said they would definitely vote to reelect the president while 34% they would definitely vote to elect someone else.

37 percent said they would definitely vote to reelect the president while 34% they would definitely vote to elect someone else.

For more evidence that youth is NOT a Bush constituency check out these GREAT links from DonkeyRising (emergingdemocraticmajority.com):

http://www.emergingdemocraticmajorityweblog.com/cgi/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=youth

Here's my take. Youth are naturally going to be more supportive of more progressive cultural issues, and although the picture is somewhat unclear, there is much evidence that youth, particularly those in college favor progressive social/economic policies.

The youth that's supporting Bush is largely uninformed. Yes, that is a generalization. There are many hard-core Bush-loving College Republicans. However, in general, many youth are apathetic or really haven't cared much about politics. Essentially, they're neophytes. For all the perceived liberalism of college campuses, the truth is that large liberal arts state universities (i.e. Berkeley, Wisconsin-Madison, IU-Bloomington, etc.) and the elite private schools (generally a lot of resentment of those schools on this site, but that's unwarranted; the student bodies and academia at schools like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, and the other Ivy's, Wash U., etc) and at small liberal arts schools are overwhelmingly liberal. However, a HUGE percentage of people go to relatively apolitical public universities. I'm not ratting on their schools -- often, they give a great education. But politics aren't high on their rankings, and many youth in these areas are not prone to vote Democratic b/c they're indifferent and if they plan to vote, they go with what the know best -- Bush.

We have major possibilities with youth. We need to make a major outreach towards them no matter who it is that we select. For all the talk of Dean as the youth magnet, I think that Edwards, Kerry, and Clark all have tremendous youth potential. Get our voices heard, strengthen the College Democrats, who are far below the College Republicans in funding and support, and I think we'll see chances in student participation.

[Edge]

1. I agree.

See thread in GD. :)

[redqueen]

2. Thank you!

This blatant acquiescence to manipulated and manipulative polls has GOT to stop!

[Wonco_the_Sane]

3. I'm not a fan of media polls

Speaking as a 31 :( year old that's back in college, under 30's will not likely vote Bush or "other" (goDean), most likely, they won't vote at all. :(

[Brucey]

4. Yes and no.

Young people are more conservative now than they used to be. Part of it is that they are misinformed. The Repugs say one thing and do another. Part of it is they have been influenced by popular culture to be tough... they like wars and capital punishment, for example. Part of it is that just as conservatives have infiltrated the media, they have also begun to infiltrate the schools. Curricula and teachers are selected that have a right-wing tilt. But, you are right that young people can be swayed if we appeal to them intelligently and in a welcoming manner. I hope they see the light.