Don’t try to tell Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that young people are a lost cause for the Republican Party.
The possible 2016 presidential contender knows Millennials care less about aligning with one political party and more about policies — especially when related to privacy. And with that in mind, he has a message for the youth of America.
“What you do on your cell phone is none of the government’s damn business.”
Paul — who is wildly popular with libertarian-minded young people — was the featured speaker at the Leadership Institute’s Wednesday morning breakfast, surprising the suit-and-tie audience by showing up in a baseball uniform. The Senator explained that he had just come from practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, to be held in June. In 2013, the Democrats routed the Republicans 22-0, extending their winning streak to five years.
“My colleagues are convinced if we just practice harder we can win, and I’m convinced that maybe if we kidnap their pitcher on the way into the ballpark we can win,” Paul joked.
Yet the GOP’s continued struggle to capture the youth vote is no laughing matter. As recently as March, Gallup polling revealed that 53 percent of 18-29-year-olds identified themselves as Democrats, with only 35 percent classifying themselves as Republicans. And while the exact breakdown has fluctuated over the years, Republicans haven’t held the majority since 1994, when 47 percent of young people said they were Republicans compared to 43 percent who aligned with Democrats.
It’s a disadvantage Paul confronts head-on.
“President Obama won the youth vote 3 to 1, but I don’t think he’s got a permanent hold on the youth vote,” the Senator told the crowd on Wednesday morning. “I think if we bring to them that message, that ‘You know what? What you do on your cell phone is none of the government’s damn business.'”
Paul has previously credited his strong stance on privacy with giving him the victory in this year’s CPAC straw poll of 2016 presidential candidates. He pointed out to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace that the Conservative Political Action Conference is full of young people — young people who are “fed up” with government intrusion. Polling from April revealed that Paul has a point, as only 31 percent of young people trust the federal government.
Despite the Democratic dominance in the youth sector, Millennials have gradually been receptive to Paul’s limited-government, pro-privacy principles to young people. Even historically-liberal academic settings, such as Howard University, brought the Senator measured success. And earlier this year, the Senator presented his perspective at the University of California Berkeley — an appearance he triumphantly touched on during his breakfast talk on Wednesday.
It’s his passion for policies, instead of politics, that landed the Kentucky Senator on TIME‘s 100 most influential people list this year. And it’s exactly that passion that Paul believes could ultimately pull some young people to the Right side of the aisle, if the entire party gets on board.
“There is a right and left connection that we can bring together,” Paul said. “Young people aren’t so committed to party that they’re stuck in one party or the other — they will be open.”
But don’t anyone think bridging the gap between liberal youth and conservative principles means the GOP has to become “Democrat lite.”
That viewpoint is, as Paul would say, hogwash.
