For many years now, Democrats have been the party that younger voters flock to at the polls.
Today, though, the GOP believes that it has a message that’s resonating with younger voters centered on the state of the economy. And as such, the party believes that it’s well-positioned to meet these voters where they are.
Speaking with Just the News recently, the chairman of the College Republicans at Liberty University in Virginia, Jesse Hughes, explained:
“There is a huge concern among younger voters about home ownership and finding a good job to pay for it. Fifty years ago, you could be a single-income household and could afford to own a house. That’s not the case [today]. We need to address the economic factors that contribute to that.”
While inflation has come down a lot as of late, there have been times during the Biden administration where inflation has reached record highs. Some of that, of course, was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the persistent nature of rising inflation under President Joe Biden has not boded well for Democrats as a whole.
The Federal Reserve has been trying to stop inflation by rising interest rates, but that has caused ripple effects through the economy that are felt especially hard among younger people. Not only have mortgage rates been on the rise – making homeownership a dream rather than a reality for a lot of people – but interest rates on other loans such as for cars and credit cards have soared as well.
A recent Tufts University study found that 41% of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 said that their top concerns right now were gas prices and inflation in general. Another 25% were concerned about being able to get a job that would pay a wage they could survive on.
While Democrats have consistently tried to hammer home issues such as abortion rights – thinking that would resonate among young voters – that doesn’t seem to be a major priority of this cohort. According to the survey, only 29% of people in that age group said that abortion rights was a main priority of theirs.
Fiscal conservatives constantly accuse Democrats of trying to use government spending programs as a way to attract new voters to their cause. The Biden administration has tried to do that, in part, by passing an executive order that would forgive billions of dollars in federal student loan debt. That plan is on hold for now until the nation’s Supreme Court hears two current legal challenges to the plan.
The plan could cost $400 billion, as students could have as much as $20,000 in their student loan debt erased. If it goes through, it would ultimately end up being the most costly executive order ever passed in the history of the U.S.
This is something that, surprisingly, isn’t resonating very well with all young voters. For instance, Justine Murray, who serves as the policy chairwoman of the New York Young Republicans, said:
“The Democrats love to lure in young voters by promising government benefits and free college for useless degrees. The GOP needs to address why this doesn’t work.”
