Winning the Youth Vote for Republicans
A NextRight aricle on Three ways the GOP can win back the youth vote got me to think about this, and reply:
Establish a Young Voter Outreach arm of the Republican National Committee
Good! Let's add more punch to it ... Every single state level party needs to establish a young voter outreach arm and reinvigorate the Young Republicans and College Republicans and get more youth involved in discussions and decisions on the party direction. Establish youth outreach for local parties as well. (I will advocate this for our county party as an official outreach position.) This outreach is not just to colleges, but to High Schools, to get more opptys for Republicans to spread the message at the high school level.
Differentiate from Democrats Through Ideals of Limited Government
I would add that branding is not about logos, but about associations and affiliations. we need to rebrand the Republican party as standing for something.
Here's the "core values" that I see the Republican party needing to represent:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/11/republican-core-values.html
Here's my take on the Republicans core principles: The GOP is the party of liberty, limited government, judges who rule on law and not make them, law and order, traditional values and family values, free enterprise, equality of opportunity, strong national defense, Federalism and Government as close to the people as possible, support for the truly needy, Constitutional rights and individual responsibility.
In addition to the core values, we have to get people to think of themselves as Republicans. Consider that only 31% of Americans are Republicans but a lot more are conservatives (depending on the poll). Yet only 20% are self-described liberals and the Democrats get a lot more people calling themselves that. Why? They have a better brand, a wider one that makes people think its okay to be a Dem.
We need a "I am a Republican because ..." ad where men and women from all sorts of walks of life explain why they are Republican, probably because they believe some of the core values expressed above. We need to get the GOP back to the people. The Dems have successfully demonized the GOP leaders to the point that even Republicans talk of Republicans as "them" like the only Republicans in the country work in the west wing... WRONG! ... WE ARE ALL REPUBLICANS (if we voted the R side of the ticket). It needs to become a "Party of the Patriots" in the minds of the members and of all Americans.
Branding is not about colors and logos but about whatever it takes to build the positive associations and affiliations. Brand the party with core values, then associations and affiliations.
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6 comments:
I don't know if you noticed, but the Republican Party of Texas nearly de-recognized the Texas Federation of College Republicans this year after most of their chapters collapsed. The Young Republicans are only active in a few locations, like in Denton and Williamson County. The Austin YR's cannot be persuaded, cajoled, or even bribed to work for local candidates, except for the 2 members that are actually precinct chairs.
Much like many other Republican clubs, the CR's and YR's have chosen to be social clubs that talk about politics instead of political strike forces ready to make an impact.
Without a viable youth movement and without those building blocks to the future, the GOP will struggle to get our folks elected.
Hopefully, the new leadership with the College Republicans will work to build viable chapters statewide and recruit new people into the Republican Party.
No, I didn't know that.
Anonymous is right - the CR and YR movement, at least in Texas, needs a serious kick in the rear end. For years, both organizations have done more infighting and squabbling over who gets to lead and why without ever actually leading or contributing anything to the Republican Party. CRs, traditionally the volunteer backbone for local campaigns, are disappearing from college campuses in Texas thanks to moderates who apologize for conservative positions and partygoers who have no desire to blockwalk and phonebank. YRs, from which we should be growing viable local and Congressional candidates, are a drinking club more than anything, and are weighed down even at the national level with scandal (the current national president, a Texan, took over after a personal scandal caused the elected president to step down).
But all of that aside, about 99% of the problem with getting youth involved is the establishment assumption that anyone under 40 must be a "Ron Paul supporter" (which, at least in Texas, is the epithet of death in the Republican Party), and therefore dangerous. The Party blew us all off, to the point of the RNC and the McCain campaign not even spending the money for a "Youth for McCain" coalition.
We NEED youth outreach on the local level. We NEED Young Republicans to do more than get together once a month and drink. We NEED to stop judging all Republicans based on which Republican they voted for in the primary. We NEED young people taking their cues from Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Dinesh D'Souza, Edmund Burke, Friedrich Hayek, etc.
I agree with everything in this post.
Most of my "non-political" friends who are 30 and under supported Barack Obama this year because he appealed to their interests, lifestyles, and talked on their level. That will be a real problem unless Obama doesn't live up to his eloquent speeches.
I am currently announcing my candidacy for the Presidency of the Austin Young Republicans... Discussions to come tomorrow night... I hope to bring ALL 3 Young Groups together... Plan in Action!
Can anyone find the REAL problem with the GOP? It's found in the duplicity of comments below. Separated by only a few sentences, two completely contradictory definitions of "Republican" are given. First, an idea of Republican meaning commitment to specific ideology and principles, and second, an unprincipled, partisan "R side of the ticket" vote. I work to identify and organize principled Republicans who are not defined by their "vote" for RINOs, but by their commitment to the Constitution and the party platform.
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[snip]We need a "I am a Republican because ..." ad where men and women from all sorts of walks of life explain why they are Republican, probably because they believe some of the core values expressed above ....... WE ARE ALL REPUBLICANS (if we voted the R side of the ticket).
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