How can Conservative partys attract young voters ?

This issue stems from the last New Zealand election and the thread I have linked below. Although this topic has NZ perpective there are still some valid questions that need to be answered.

While I havnt been able to find any stats it was noted that the majority of young people (say under age of 25 for the topic sake ) voted for the centre left Labour party or for the Greens.

Why ?
The reasons are fairly simple IMO Labour was promising and has written off all interest on student loans and they wernt against a raise in the min wage. Now many young people either have student loans or work for the min wage or both. Labour also offered to beef up its working for familys package which has broughted welfare to working people.

Now what did the right wing / Conservative partys offer in return.
Maintain interest on student loans.
Aboilsh or oppose an raise in the min wage.
Tax cuts for most people this would amount to about an extra $8 a week in return for the usual increase in cost of government services.

Now why in the world would a young person vote for an Conservative/right wing party ?

Now here is the million dollar question.
How can Conservative partys attract young voters without giving up there core values and ideals ?
The centre right National party will need to gain the support of younger voters if they want to go from losing a close election to winning an election.



Related thread

[edit on 18-10-2006 by xpert11]

[edit on 18-10-2006 by xpert11]

I'm not sure about the situation in New Zealand, but in the U.S. the Republican Party is pretty good at attracting younger voters. While it's true younger people tend to be more leftist, as they grow up they move to the right. What's the old saying? Something like "if you're young and not a Democrat you don't have a heart, and if you're old and not a Republican you don't have a brain."


I guess I never had a heart since I've always been Republican

I guess I don't have a heart either then.

I'm a young voter and I'm pretty conservative, so I usually vote republican. It's fairly awkward because most of my peers (college students) are liberal. I try talking politics with some of them and it sickens me because of what they think. It seems like they've been brainwashed by these liberal proffesors and the left-leaning news media. I think it's because alot of college students don't have much money, so they couldn't care less about tax cuts and stuff, and it's "cool" to hate Bush. That's my opinion anyway.

Don't worry Mimbster, probably most of those people will become Republicans once they get a paycheck and see what the government takes

If you're really devoted to conservative ideals, you should try to get involved with your local Young Republicans group. I've been involved with mine off and on and it was a positive experience. I helped sell buttons, t-shirts, pins etc with all the proceeds going to the Bush campaign in 2004.

Thanks for the replys there have been some interesting comments.
Perhaps the two party system and the deep divison in American politics make it easier for both partys to attract supporters. I doubt that there are any swing voters in American at the moment. It is possible for an conserative politican to attract bipartisan support after all the 1980s saw such a thing as Reagan Democrats .

Just my 10 cents.

I'm surprised that the Conservative party here can attract the young voters with all that has been going on involving Foley from Florida. You would think that the actual Conservative party would try and distance themselves from the so-called Conservative party that is running the country right now. Even Senators like John McCain of Arizona and Lincoln Chafee of Nebraska have distanced themselves from the "Conservaties" in office right now.

I will say this about myself though, I am a Democrat and will always be. I am not the typical political person as in not thinking with one side of my brain like a majority of politicians do. If I got something to complain about, I say it, I don't keep my mouth shut.

A lot of those "Reagan Democrats" became Republicans. The old blue dog (usually southern) conservative Democrats are a dying breed, as the Democratic party has moved more and more to the left. It used to be that the Democrat Party was the "big tent" party that had a more diverse group of voters and politians, but in recent years, it has been changing more to a hardcore liberal party while the Republican party has attracted a lot of new voters. What's going to happen in the future is really unclear. People are definitely looking for some degree of change after total Republican rule for years, but they're not suddenly turning into San Francisco liberals and running to the Democrats....time for a third party? Maybe, stay tuned.

Hmm mayabe after Bill Clinton the Dems were back at square one in terms of there values and where they stand on the political spectrum. Back onto the topic I guess it will be interesting to see how moderate left wing supporters cast there vote.

The thing is the Conservative Party wants to get more young voters, and that right now is not happening. I think the conservative party here is out of touch with us young voters and they do have a problem recruiting young voters. That is if you don't go to a university like Columbia or any other such institution.

I wonder why though? You're right that most young voters tend to be liberal, but why is that? Is it because everyone else around them hates Bush and neocons, and they think it's "cool" to be anti-Bush and anti-Republican? I don't get it. I don't think all of them even believe some of the stuff they say. I can't believe people would want a stronger Govt. and higher taxes anyway. Liberalism alwyas does the opposite of what it intends to do.

[edit on 23-10-2006 by Mimbster]

First, they need to stop molesting young people.
Second, they need to stop protecting the people who molest young people.
Third, they need to stop protecting the people who protect the people who molest young people.
Fourth, they need to stop being racists, it turns out there are many black young people out there who don't like being called Macaca or the N word.
Fifth, they need to support things young people support instead of deaming everything young people support as evil, satan, or terrorist like. Also, the internet is not a series of tubes...
Sixth, they need to stop sending all of our young people to Iraq to die for oil. Although, I guess they change the saying to "If you can't beat them send them to war to die so you don't need to worry about them voting."

That's all.

Well in some cases its not hard to work out why younger people might lean towards so called Liberal values. For example a free or accessible education is going to appeal to someone who is studying or thinking about going to university. Tax cuts dont hold a lot of appeal for people on low - medium incomes. Most people are older if and when they become a part of the highest income bracket that benfits the most from tax cuts.

With all due respect, dj, but I think it's Yellow Dog Democrat you are referring to, not Blue Dog Democrat, which is a relatively new phenomenon.



With apologies to George Rodrigue

[edit on 2006/10/27 by GradyPhilpott]

United Kingdom Conservative are aiming to attract the young voters and its about modernising the party. Many think the Tories are old fashion right wing nutcases, but with David Cameron focusing on what were once traditional liberal ideas, many young people are keen to vote Conservative.

And its about making politics interesting and not dull and boring. Using the internet and sites such as Myspace and YouTube will do wonders for an election campaign (i believe a US politican used the internet in his campaign and it worked wonders).

And the same could be said for American COnservatives. Well, first they need to kick the NeoCons out of the party, but then they need to stop being so backwards. I mean, calling the internet a series of tubes? To reach the young voters they have many things they need to clean up first in the party but once they do they need to realize todays youth don't think that rock and roll is the devil.(All you punks and hooligans listening to your rock and roll music) They need to realize that abstinence only programs don't work either, it would be like teaching peaceful protest only in the Middle East, they won't listen. Also, like in the race between Corkins and Ford where Corkins has released a racist ad, that kills your chance with the youth of that state. And the guy who keeps going around using every racist word in the book might want to keep a lid on it. You can't attract the people you are demonizing and when you have plenty of demons in your own party it hurts. People looked at Reagan and said "Dang man, now that's an American Man." People look at Bush and say "Dang man, that's a retard who is owned by big business. He doesn't do anything for me, why should I support his party?" Hopefully the republicans, the true ones, will learn and stop supporting the NeoCons and start supporting other republicans.

Most people need to realize that the Neo - Cons aren't gonna go out to pasture that easily. First off - they need to find out who the pedophiles are in Congress, no matter what party or rank, and toss them out of the Congress for the rest of their lives. Second, most of the Congressional Republicans, maybe even the ones in the White House, are the ones who are protecting the pedohiles from justice. Third, even the ones protecting the pedophiles and the protectors of the protectors also need to be disiplined.

Racism is another big thing in this government that needs to be quelled. The races between Ford and Corkins is a heated race in itself. This video just exposes the ignorance of Corkins and his campaign.

Look at Senator Georgie Allen of Virginia, a Republican I might add, who is taking mudslinging to an extreme. As in calling the campaign manager of his Democratic opponent the Jewish racial saying of "Macaca." Seeing someone say something like that really says something about Mr. Allen. That is, you really have to go below the belt to get somewhere in the government.

[edit on 10/29/2006 by gimmefootball400]

Well, the neoconservative movement has pretty much tarnished the image of conservatism, so you can blame it on the top dawgs of the U.S. Republican Party.

What we need is for guys like John McCain and Tom Keane, Jr. to step up and speak very loudly about what the Republican Party is really about, much like the way people like Kevin J. Phillips have. If you listen to them, the Republican Party takes on a very different meaning and all of a sudden, you see them as victims of an absolutely disgraceful neoconservative movement rather than the problem.

Or if conservatism is a bit too extreme, push for a more liberatarian movement in the country. I am libertarian and I see no reason why it should not attract young voters. Example? Look at how much support Arnold Schwarznegger has garnered in his election campaign, even in liberal cities like San Francisco, and he's got people like Barack Obama by his side. When people understand what true political conservatism is, they embrace it. Its true liberalism, IMO.

If you get down to it, the only thing that should separate young voters from each other should be the limits of government. I guarantee true political conservatism will easily be embraced by young voters, not the djohnston77/GradyPhilpott/Mimster brand of conservatism (which is decidedly more social conservatism rather than political).

[edit on 29-10-2006 by sweatmonicaIdo]

THANK YOU!!!!! Finally somone who gets it! I have been arguing, not debating, with a guy named Gear who drove me batty. I have a topic, politics.abovetopsecret.com... where I call them out and I got blasted. They call me a foaming at the mouth liberal even though I state nothing liberal just anti-NeoCon. I try to explain how NeoCons are not conservative ore liberal but NeoCons and again blasted. I explain how the republican party needs to do one of three things, clean house, make new party, or join Libertarians and am blasted as an evil pinko commie liberal.

But here we have two people who freaking understand! God grace you folks.

What would surprise people even more is that the Republican Party's biggest critics are, in fact, conservatives. I already mentioned Kevin J. Phillips, who has made a living off books that talk about the "threat" the Bush dynasty poses to America, despite the fact Phillips played a huge and I mean HUGE role in the Republican Revolution (he has even openly stated that George W. Bush is just that stupid). Then there's the great Lou Dobbs, who describes himself as a lifetime Republican but has been one of Bush's biggest critics and even strongly endorsed John Kerry in 2004. I have a lot of friends who are political conservatives and I can't tell you how angry they are at the current state of the U.S. government.

Here's also a superb blog run by former C.I.A. officer Larry C. Johnson. The two primary contributers, Johnson and a woman calling her self "SusanUnPC" are Republicans (or at least former Republicans). Reading their blog is enough to send Rush Limbaugh on a genocidal crusade. Its at noquarter.typepad.com.

Thanks to the guys in the White House, they have pretty much destroyed the great ideology of political conservatism. Not that ideologies are great or anything, but for the sake of it. This all proves one thing, and it is that the people you love the most are the people you hurt the most.

EDIT: If you go to the politically conservative website Old Right.com, you will see that they are highly critical of the current government in power and go as far as post articles from the highly liberal Huffington Post and "staunchly support Jeff Rense." Again, don't look at the White House or Sugar Land, Texas if you want to know what political conservatism really is.

[edit on 30-10-2006 by sweatmonicaIdo]