A potential objection: that old canard, that young people are liberal and become more conservative? The historical data doesn’t support it. When Bill Clinton was elected, a plurality of people under 30 identified themselves as Republicans. Same thing when Ronald Reagan was elected.

18-29 group, no. 25-29 should begin to show a glimmer of hope in theory, but any improvement is subsumed by culture and decades of welfare state entitlements.

Add to that tougher economic times at the moment (hyped by the media, obviously not Republican, either), and continued de-industrialization and outsourcing of jobs (while execs enjoy ever-higher pay) and the odds don't look good for the GOP this November. (But then again, who was going to dare to say it would look good other than what Clinton's and Obama's baggage portend? Not quite how Shaun lists it, but McCain, hardly the youth poster child that Obama is, has baggage of his own.)

Floor yielded. (Interesting subject[s])

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/813/gen-dems

Fiscal conservatives don't ever seek the Democratic Party on the basis of fiscal conservatism! It's the Democratic Party that's the engineer in this country of the massive welfare state and constellation of entitlements. What happened after the 1994 elections was that the Clintons, who went far too to the left, and the Democrats were corrected and warned, and for a few years there were instances of where the Clintons and the Democrats had to concede to reality, but at the same time, the so-called “revolutionary” Republicans in Washington gradually became just like the Democrats, infatuated with power in Washington, while engaging in one non-fiscally-conservative (and cynical) thing to which you likely are overreacting: While also often agreeing to excessive spending (a true fiscal conservative wants substantial reductions in spending and the size and scope of Washington), the GOP resists tax increases in favor of debt, which plenty of us do not like to see happen.

The GOP's becoming so much like the Democrats in Washington (complete with corruption and personal misconduct scandals) is the other reason besides being tired of the war in Iraq and disappointment with Bush why we saw the results we saw in 2006.

The young nowadays don't want to identify the the non-hip, older, wealthier GOP any more than they have in the past, and cannot stand to encounter people who might say “no” to their entitlement and morality-compromised mentalities.

A lot of logic is in dire need here! Since when have 18-to-29-year-olds, coming of age at any time, _failed_ to become Democrats (or at least to vote Democratic while they called themselves “independents,” or in later years, “moderates”) rather than Republicans? The youth are naive, well-left-leaning, idealistic and unrealistic, and have come of age for decades now under an entitlement mentality and viewing government as their parent as well as political weapon. Since when have 18-to-29-year-olds, coming of age at any time, _failed_ to become Democrats?

The only reason that the Clinton Administration can claim to be fiscal conservatives is that the Republican Congress was not about to pass any Clinton initiatives. Given that virtually all of the budget cuts in the Clinton Administration came defense spending cuts and that tax revenue increase due to the dot.com bubble, it is hard to argue that the Democratic Party are not fiscal conservatives. Look at the new entitlements that Senator's Clinton and Obama are proposing. They will result in trillions of new spending.

My take on this is that the Republicans overreached after they gained control of the house in 1994. The Republican Party began to be dominated by social and foreign policy conservatives in a way that reduced their appeal amongst this next generation. Young fiscal conservatives and moderates had no where to go except he Democratic party.

Most of them are examples of what I believe are big government libertarians. They want a large government to give them college money, government jobs, and grants for NGO work but they want the government to leave them alone when it comes to drugs, sex, personal relationships. They want to make their own choices and when they make bad choices, they want the government to pick up the pieces. I also believe that personal corruption will greatly increase in the near future. Most of the 20 somethings have been through the large, inpersonal schools, universities, employers. They realize that institutions are something that have to be avoid and worked around instead of worked with. Thus, the idea of paying taxes, getting licenses, etc will greatly decrease.

A political pitch of individualism and responsibility will never work with the 20 somethings. That is why the U.S. will soon be a one party state and the hard fought elections will be in the Democratic Primary over which special interest group gets the most spent on it.