Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as Democrats

It boils down to Jobs. What are their prospects once they've completed college?
Right now?, ZERO!
That is pretty much the way they see it, a very costly education and no job so they can pay that money back and no job that will pay them that salary they expected after all those hard hours of studying and learning.
10.00 dollars an hour and bills to pay, Say,,, Hello, Mom and Dad, My old room still empty?

So, they are now thinking that more and more college students are going Independent, even though they don't want to come out and say it,,,, I know their not going to answer to Republican and the Democrats,,,, well they didn't come through with the jobs and fix the broken economical problems.


Here's the link: www.nytimes.com...
Crossroads County
Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as Democrats.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.

Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.

The most compelling or the heart of this topic is here I think this next paragraph says it all :
Many students here, especially seniors nearing graduation, said that worries about the economy, and about getting a job after graduation, had filtered through the campus, dampening enthusiasm for Democrats in Congress and Mr. Obama.

edit to add: Dear MODS: Please move or Delete if you think it is the right thing to do. I did check the search option.

[edit on 3-9-2010 by guohua]

I like this quote from the article:

“It’s like picking a team when you really don’t want to root for either team,” said Ms. Johnson, a communication studies major, who said she was undecided about parties and politics going into the general election campaign.

If enough students wake up to the fact that BOTH parties are a poor choice, maybe there really is some hope for this country yet.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Your absolutely correct and that's why I made mention of being an Independent, I'm sure most college student Cringe at the thought of being called a Republican,,, so,,, why don't more college students look at the Independent party?

reply to post by guohua


That sounds like a promising start to true reform of the political machine. Candidates will have to stand on their merits, rather than depend on the (D) or (R) following their name.

reply to post by FortAnthem


That gives me an idea! Fantasy Politics! Create your own "team" of pols and compete to see who's "team" keeps the most campaign promises and votes the way they campaigned.

The libertarian revolution continues, I hope. (Still)
Ron Paul 2012.

I do hope that from now on, most of the people will register as a (I). Promise no party a damn thing and instead, let the candidate truely come up with a plan and a understanding to run on verses just a platform.

partys suck...do whats right, not whats the narrative.

I saw the problem with the democrats 40 years ago.

They are pro union pro tree-hugger. anti corporation.

The big corporations now have data bases that identify people and there political views from there Internet activities.

When it comes down to hiring someone a they have 2 apps that have the same level of schooling and experience.
the corporations will likely then check this data base.

If it shows a republican and a democrat and the corporation is one that has had problems with democrat administrations the republican will get hired.

If its two democrats one may get hired but don't expect to get ahead with the company and if there is a lay off your first,

I will not mater if you call yourself a independent as this database will still label you a democrat.

You might wonder who puts these tests on the internet.
www.politicalcompass.org...

They may be put there by the companies that sell the results to corporation. Along with the names of the people that take the test.
your email address and IP address will give them your name if they do the research.
your voter registration will also label you
This is why the democrats want open primaries in calif where your party does not mater.

Add that to your face-book and my-space pages and they have you.

Data mining is the number one secret business in the US.

There are 1000s of companies in the US that do it and other companies that boil down the data to know just what you are.


[edit on 4-9-2010 by ANNED]

reply to post by ANNED


Anonymous has no political affiliation...and I damn sure don't put any screen names or handles I have on applications.

My real last name is also never used in any signups...so I neither benefit nor lose from the conspiracy theory you present.

incidently, that gross generalization would apply only to what job your applying for anyhow...if we are going to use blanket statements like that, then if your going for a job as an actor or in the entertainment industry in general, a democrat would fill the roles...cause you know how all those hollywood liberals are...

They could be just trying to avoid being singled out by the inevitable Conservative gestapo death squads that are coming. With their "Our version of Freedom or we'll kill you!" campaign.

Just yesterday I read a post by a member here saying he wants to hang all Democrats. It's understandable that some may want to actually live past this recession and not get slaughtered by the coming conservative horde.

Well I am a 'young voter', 18 in fact. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican because I hate the sellouts of both parties and I hate the established left-right bull#.

Until we get money out of politics we should expect absolutely nothing to change and after this Supreme Court ruling things can only get worse. I mean look at Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, he has called the 'Club For Growth' too liberal and wants to end all corporate taxes, privatize social security and raise taxes for the middle class. The guy is insane!

I am not even voting this year because in my Congressional District I already know who is going to win. He is the 7th(?) most Conservative member of Congress and wins with almost 70% of the vote every election. And for senate here in Florida, ha! Who do I have to choose from? Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek, I have never seen such a lousy ass field of candidates in my life. And for governor? We have a lady who used public jets for her private life at tax payer expense and a Republican who has faced several corruption charges for somehow stealing taxpayer money.

Why should I even think about voting?

I am a Traditional Democrat. I break from both parties in what I believe since neither stand with my beliefs how can I possibly vote? The Democrats have become far too Liberal and the Republicans have become far too Conservative.

I support: Immigration restriction from non-western countries, public option healthcare, strong regulations(on Wall Street ONLY), Progressive Income Tax, Social Security, prayer in schools, Christmas decorations in public, overturning Roe v. Wade and letting states decide, tariffs to make up for difference in labor costs, public works projects, labor unions, conserving our traditional culture.

I oppose: America in any international organization(WTO, NAFTA, UN, NATO for example), Department of Education, Corporate campaign donations, lobbying, pre-emptive war/strike, America supporting Israel, taxes and regulations on small, medium and family business, Patriot Act, Gay marriage, Free and Fair Trade, Globalization, Liassez-faire capitalism, affirmative action, gun control, politically correct, censoring television/radio/internet, large military budget, congressional pension, government workers in unions, executive orders and multiculturalism.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
Misoir, that was an interesting reply. I'm happy to hear from a young person with some real mass between their ears they actually use to think with.

I would really like to see a solid three party option. I want to hear about reality not promises and hopes and dreams. I want to hear about every day life and the cost of living it and keeping our families feed and safe.

I know our Governement,,, They fights us all to keep their power over our everyday lives.

We need more,,, many more young people that think with their heads, not with their parents Guilt-Trip or what makes them Feel Good About Themselves.
Enough of my Rant.


[edit on 4-9-2010 by guohua]

reply to post by whatukno


ZOMG the hordes of white, racist, conservatives are going to descend on us all! Glenn Beck is going to lead an army so terrible it will put Genghis Khan to shame. He will rape and pillage the entire nation making sure that only Republican voting white men remain. Quick young people, we must hide our true feelings and run from the freedom-loving transparent democrats who wish only to pass bills that an approving public has the time to read through. Hurry hide your true and correct beliefs lest Glenn Beck and his white horde lynch us all!


Really....

Ever thought that younger people might actually think the government sucks? Ever thought that the government has become so corrupt that even younger people have figured it out? Geez give people some credit.

Republican/Democrat and even independent has ceased to matter.

It's a corporate fascist state, owned, operated and controlled from the exclusive country club golf courses across this nation. The super rich and the elite blood lines are invisible behind their gated communities and European villas. The rabble has no idea how the controllers operate.

The lobbyist and special interests hold all the cards. All the elections, polls, campaigns, primaries, conventions and all the rest of the BS is just a fantasy, a charade to make the electorate think they and their vote actually matters.
It's nothing more than madison Ave. hype and an industry to sell the tshirts, banners, advertising, and all the other BS that is marketed during the political year.

This is what the neocons and their PNAC had in mind all along and they have triumphed.

National politics is just theater. Think locally, there we may have a little control.

Perhaps the younger generation is hip to this also and that's why they are increasingly becoming apolitical.

It's a brave new world, welcome to the monkey house.



[edit on 4-9-2010 by whaaa]

Originally posted by WTFover
reply to post by FortAnthem

 

That gives me an idea! Fantasy Politics! Create your own "team" of pols and compete to see who's "team" keeps the most campaign promises and votes the way they campaigned.

Wait for it...

Surely when the Idiocracy arrives, this will be in vogue.

Seriously, I honestly only know three people that vote the party line, and one of them is the head of the party for their county, one is their spouse and the other is a delusional, uneducated wing nut. Everyone else I know just muddles through the ballots as best they can without selling their souls to the devil.

reply to post by wutone

Ever thought that younger people might actually think the government sucks? Ever thought that the government has become so corrupt that even younger people have figured it out? Geez give people some credit.

You know, normally I would, I really really would, except the constant threats of a violent overthrow of the government made by the extreme right.

Every single day some nutcase here on this site alone makes some half veiled threat to start shooting people if the government doesn't cow to their half baked insane ideals.

This site isn't alone either, all across the internet, right wing freaks are screaming revolution and threatening anyone with a hint of liberal ideology. The right wing has made it abundantly clear that if this election doesn't go exactly their way that they plan to shed blood in the streets.

Now you take your average college kid, many times these 20 somethings have a liberal mindset, (kinda goes with being young) unless they are the Neo Hitler Youth, by which I mean the Young Republicans, these kids tend to be liberal.

Obviously they don't want to die in some half cocked plan by the right to start murdering Americans if the right doesn't get their way, so they hide their liberal bias and try to opt in to the group and conform. Probably easier to hide being a liberal now than in 10 years being forced to wear a donkey badge wherever you go or being shoved into some Conservative Concentration camp waiting for the slaughter.

The substance of this article is a promising development! The two party system has been the achille's heel for sometime now. It would be good if more political parties would join the fray during elections. For example, the current political climate is like going to an ice cream shop and the only selection available is either chocolate or vanilla. If any one of us went into that ice cream shop and saw that selection, we would walk out and go to a shop with more variety.

Why can't the political climate be like the ice cream shop analogy? I ask my self that question all the time. Yet, majority of voters either go with the Democrats or the Republicans because they know no better. Both parties have run the country into the ground, and yet they continue to bicker back and forth who is better? What gives? Both parties have had a role in this collapse we are experiencing at the moment. Both parties are guilty of inflating government, corruption, and astronomical spending. It is a Republican and Democrat thing. They can spin all they want about who's fault it is, but they are the only groups who have been responsible for governing this country.

I would like more variety in viable candidates and more parties with a wide range of views and solutions to our problems. Not the same old watered down Republican and Democrat talking points. That is what is needed in the long term, but right now; most of the Democrats need to get pink slips. As well as most of the incumbents candidates; Republican or Democrats. This next mid-term election is only a drop in the bucket to remedy the disaster before us. If Republicans gain the majority in the House and the Senate, it is better than nothing and a change from what we have now.

reply to post by Jakes51


Just what exactly is the GOP going to "change" to make things any better?
Oh I imagine after the midterms there will be a feeling on the Right of triumph, but it will be a hollow and meaningless victory.

At times I hope that Palin and some other fool would get in a position of power and finish what Bush started. More wars, taxcuts for the rich, and a goofy sense of false cowboy patriotism. You betcha!!

I'll watch from a beach in Brazil.

God I'm glad I don't have kids!!! What kind of future would they have?







[edit on 4-9-2010 by whaaa]

reply to post by whaaa


Well, the GOP is all that is a available at the moment. If they bring new ideas to the table and are able to halt the nonsense going in government at the right now; more power to them! It may be another continuation to what is going on at present?

However, as it stands now; we know what the Democrat goons are about, and it seems to be astray from what is needed. It is a mess and I am in agreement with you. What choices do we really have as I have said in my previous post. Thanks for the reply!

[edit on 4-9-2010 by Jakes51]

reply to post by whatukno


Well, in my own family, there is this weird trend that has emerged with the Lost Generation...they often parrot their parent's political ideology - no questions asked. Which is totally opposite from my Gen Y perspective that my Boomer parents, God love them, are selfish, over-indulgent, half insane and not even their grocery list is to be trusted much less their ballot.

I chalk the trend up to the 00's, as it it was a financial boom time for many American families and so these young adults have only just thought to question politics and how society is organized. On top of that, there has been a mind-blowing amount of social change - life was financially stable but totally off the hook, no-holds-barred, from a social perspective which may have caused many families with children to lurch Right.

Plus, I think late Boomers and early Xer's have more in common with each other than their respective groupings and it's their children who fall into this "young voter" category. Find the common denominator and you'll likely find a reason for their general conservatism.

We'll see how it plays out. I suspect it means legions of liberals down the road...

[edit on 5/9/2010 by kosmicjack]