In yet another indication that the Republican Party is doomed with young voters in 2016, the most recent national survey from pollster Frank Luntz found that Republican candidates are barely even on the radar for first and second-time voters aged 18 to 26.
Young voters are already having a noticeable impact on the 2016 presidential race. Exit polls from Tuesday’s election in Michigan showed another surge of millennials helped push Bernie Sanders to victory. Over 80 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds voted for Sanders, helping him close the double-digit gap between himself and Hillary Clinton.
While this is bad news for Clinton, it is even worse news for Republicans, who must overcome the fact that the nation’s largest voting demographic is rejecting the GOP brand.
According to Luntz’s polling, just 15 percent of young voters identify as Republican, which is lower than any other age group studied. In clear contrast, 44 percent identify as Democrats, which is higher than any other age group. The remaining 42 percent describe themselves as independent, however Luntz noted that this “independent” millennial cohort leans left on most issues.
While the young voters Luntz studied listed Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama as their favorite politicians, the only Republican some could coalesce around was Donald Trump, a candidate many Republicans have actually rejected from the party.
Coinciding with the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Luntz found that young voters increasingly favor a socialist political system over a capitalist one. Two-thirds of the millennials surveyed claimed socialism and communism are “more compassionate” than capitalism, and young voters who agree with the statement, “America is exceptional/better than every other country in the world,” are in the minority.
Finally, Republicans are not efficiently getting their message out to youth. Democrats continue to beat Republicans on social media — not just in reaching out to young voters on apps like Snapchat, but in methods of online fundraising and field organizing that helped Obama carry the youth vote in 2008 and 2012.
While millions of young voters are tuned in to the election this year, and most say they are following it closely, they aren’t hearing any messages they like from the Republican side.
Luntz noted that “the Democratic debates are largely about substance and solutions, while the Republican debates are too often about hand size, spray tans, and whatever insult the candidates can dream up next.”
