The RNC and the Youth Vote

It’s no surprise that Obama won the youth vote. In fact, according to FoxNews.com, Obama had a whopping 34% margin. Now, why am I bringing this up now? It’s old news that Obama won the election, and that he’ll be inaugurated in twenty-one days, so why bother discussing it again?

Because Obama won the youth vote, and there’s good reason for it.

Obama listened to young voters, or at least pretended to, and gave them hope for the future. Folks, as a young conservative Republican, there’s no reason why it should have ended up this way, and I blame the GOP itself. You can cry all you want about the MSM slanting the news towards Democrats, but that’s never stopped us before. In order to ever win an election again, we must rise above any and all obstacles, and that path starts with the act of listening.

You see, for years the GOP has pretended to listen to the youth vote. Maybe they’ve made a good faith effort, but I’ve never seen it. What I’ve seen is flashy Demo websites, professional TV advertisements, rock concerts for Demo candidates, and an embracement of new technology. From the GOP? A mismanaged message and a half-hearted attempt at everything.

The RNC started text messaging its supporters a few years ago. Well, that’s a start, except I’ve only ever received four texts from them. Obama announced his VP choice by text message! See the difference? Obama’s website screamed community, while McCain’s struggled to keep its supporters logged in. Obama went after college students and young people by showing them how his policies would affect and better their daily lives. McCain, well, didn’t.

Time and time again, we as “the youth vote” have offered our suggestions, and, yet, the RNC hasn’t listened, at least in a measurable way. We had Meghan McCain as a clandestine, “unofficial” blogger, and a “McCain blog” with no personality. Twitter? Oh, “@JohnMcCain” was there, with more links. “@BarackObama” is still the most popular user on Twitter. Why?  His tweets were personal. Voters believed Barack Obama himself was really talking to them. RNC, where is the drive? Where’s the passion? Do you even care that we lose the youth vote time and time again?

If we’re to reboot the conservative movement, it must be as conservatives,  and if I’m not mistaken, bottom-up leadership is what conservatism is all about. Remember States’ Rights? Freedom from big government? The youth vote is not just going to go away. We’re just going to get older and have children and raise families, and the majority of us will be liberal Democrats, willing to hold out our hands and wait for the government give us everything.

We, as young Republicans, believe in conservatism. Why, RNC, don’t you? Pay attention to us. Your future depends upon it.

For some great examples of how young conservative Republicans are leading the way to GOP victories in 2010 and 2012, check out these great sites:

RebuildtheParty.com is dedicated to restoring the GOP to its conservative roots. Its plan has received endorsement from almost all of the current candidates for RNC Chair.

TheNewRepublicans.net is a college-focused news site, bringing in writers from universities across the nation to offer opinions and articles covering the most-pressing political issues of today.

Tags: Democrats, Election 2010, Election 2012, mccain, Meghan McCain, obama, RebuildtheParty.com, Republicans, RNC, TheNewRepublicans.net, twitter, youth vote