Although the party performed poorly among younger voters in November, Republicans are far better than Democrats at communicating who their up-and-coming leaders are to them.
A new study released by the College Republicans National Committee Monday found that Millennial voters who cast their ballots for President Barack Obama last fall are less likely to name the rising stars in the Democratic ranks than those who voted for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The study was largely based on data from six focus groups of Millennials conducted in San Diego, Orlando and Columbus, Ohio in January of 2013. Among the demographics included in the focus groups were Hispanics, Asian-Americans, aspiring entrepreneurs, single women and men having economic difficulties.
“On the Democratic side? Few groups could list even one up-and-coming Democratic leader,” the report noted. “The young men’s focus group in Columbus named [Newark, N.J. Mayor] Cory Booker, while another participant said, ‘I can’t think of any young people.’ Despite the focus groups describing Democrats as the ‘young’ party, no one could actually describe who their young leaders might be.”
In fact, the Democratic Party’s current makeup in Congress became older in November, as the average age of a Democratic member of the House rose to 60 while the average age of a Republican in the chamber fell to 55.
However, when the six focus groups interviewed in the study were asked to name future leaders among the GOP they mentioned several examples. Among those mentioned by the focus groups were New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky. The findings were particularly noteworthy, given that the party received flack for having a predominantly “white” and “old” crowd of delegates at the Republican National Convention last September.
Perhaps it’s a sign that the days of the Republican party being the “Grand Old Party” are finally coming to an end.
