“Donald Trump will be the presumptive GOP nominee,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted on Wednesday after both Ted Cruz and John Kasich suspended their presidential campaigns. “We all need to unite and focus on defeating Hillary Clinton.”
It’s all but confirmed that the 2016 general election will be a Trump/Clinton matchup, forcing Americans to choose between two candidates who are disliked by a large portion voters, especially millennials, despite having essentially won their respective parties’ nominations. Will young Republicans do as Priebus says and choose party over principles?
“In the case of the 2016 presidential race, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend,” wrote millennial, Eleanor May, in her recent editorial, I May Not Like Hillary Clinton, But I Can’t Vote For Donald Trump. “In fact, the de facto rival nominees appear to align as one, agreeing on everything from domestic policies, to foreign policies.”
As pointed out by Trump’s GOP competitors, he’s not a true conservative and has in fact been a Democrat for most of his life. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have supported universal healthcare, the war in Iraq, raising the minimum wage, and increasing the power of the federal government and the executive branch.
“Whether it is Donald or Hillary, we will inevitably be handing over the key to the White House to someone who will increase executive power and government overreach,” May continued. “The who’s who of the Republican elite is still standing behind [Trump]. Future voters (i.e. millennials) see through this nonsense, and I fear that by nominating Donald Trump the GOP will forever lose the youth vote.”
Millennials have been consistently fleeing the GOP, increasing the age gap of a party that seems unwilling to evolve. However, not all are leaving to join ranks with the Democrats, another party that young voters have become disenchanted with, as they feel the DNC has rigged its primary in Clinton’s favor. So, where are they turning then?
In the hours following the Indiana primary, Google searches for the Libertarian Party skyrocketed, and the LP’s new membership applications doubled. Additionally, searches for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s current front-runner, increased by 5,000 percent, suggesting that libertarian-leaning Republicans, many of whom are millennials, may be turning to a third-party option.
“I hope to be that nominee,” Gary Johnson said in a statement reminding voters that the Libertarian candidate will appear on the ballot in all 50 states. “With millions of Americans now feeling politically ‘homeless,’ a two-term governor who balanced budgets, cut taxes, cut regulations, and truly reduced the size of government may offer the home they are seeking.”
Young voters have seemed to show that they’d rather be true to their values than fall in line with a party that is reluctant to grow with them, but it’s yet to be seen if older GOP generations will do the same. In the words of Rare’s Matt Purple, “conservatives have always claimed to put ideology before party. Now it’s time to prove it.”
