Gen (D): Democrats on the Rise in Youth Party ID
Posted by Matt Ortega · April 29, 2008
Marc Ambinder posted a graphic that shows a steady decline of Republican youth support in the last three presidential cycles, and a steady increase in Democratic affiliation, according to surveys conducted by Pew Research Center. These numbers show Democrats leading Republicans in party identification of 18 to 29 year olds by a staggering 25 point margin. Republicans dropped seven points in four years.
Notes Ambinder:
Consider: Voters under 30 in the Midwest are twice as likely to call themselves Democrats as they are to identify as Republicans. 63% of women under age 30 identify as Democrats versus just 28% who call themselves Republicans. Democrats even have the affiliation of a majority of young men.
And the widely held belief that the young are more liberal and grow more conservative with age is just unfounded.
A potential objection: that old canard, that young people are liberal and become more conservative? The historical data doesn’t support it. When Bill Clinton was elected, a plurality of people under 30 identified themselves as Republicans. Same thing when Ronald Reagan was elected. Politically, today’s cohort of 18-to-29 year olds came of age during the Bush presidency. It has turned them into Democrats.
The future does not look bright for Republicans if this trend continues. George W. Bush may have delivered a generation of voters to the Democrats, and sewed the seeds of destruction for the Republican Party.
Read the full report from Pew Research Center for People and the Press.
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July 21, 2008 at 11:36pm
[...] Polls continue to show young people are trending Democratic in massive numbers as Republican stock plummets. Seven years of incompetent Republican governance, young people are saying “no thanks” to destructive conservative policies and creating a generation of Democrats: Gen Dems. [...]