POLL: Future of the Republican Party

[MWardT]

It could be subastantial and lasting damage. Young people have moved towards the Democrats at rates well outside normal levels. As Boomers die out and millenials become the largest voting bloc, the GOP could experience massive problems in the future. Young people are heavily voting Dem and with each election, these patterns become more solidified.

Link to more young people voting dem now than in past?

 

[ctghawk]

I understand everything. You claiming Republicans had no other choice but Trump is demonstrably false.

And even if you're sick of your party, you don't turn it over to the narcissistic conman with severely limited cognitive abilities.

The RNC got steamrolled by a force they didn't see coming. Trump was 17 of 17 for me at the first debate, although I'm an indy. But when the rubber hit the road I would've voted for nearly anyone except Hillary- so I did.

 

[JWolf74]

The RNC got steamrolled by a force they didn't see coming. Trump was 17 of 17 for me at the first debate, although I'm an indy. But when the rubber hit the road I would've voted for nearly anyone except Hillary- so I did.

You chose incorrectly. And as bad of a candidate as Hillary was, she was multiple times better than the orange conman. After 3 years I hope that is as clear to you now as it was to most voters in 2016.

 

[hawksurprize]

Could you explain how you came to this understanding?

It doesn't really match up with what I think people generally understand to be reality. So I'm just curious where one comes to believe in the alternative that you subscribe to.

R's are steeped in the ways of alternative facts.

 

[JohnBasedow]

Link to more young people voting dem now than in past?

 

[sober_teacher]

Young people get jobs and have withholding taken out. That is when reality sets in. Then they get a house and have taxes taken out. Then they realize that they had more free spending money in college, than they do now. To get that car, to take those vacations, they have to give up going to the bars, going out to eat willy nilly and buying lattes. Becoming an adult is a bitch.

It's not just an age gap in voters though, minorities, educated/non-educated, male/female, etc. The trend in many of those has been leaning the Democratic direction the last several cycles, with several solidly Red states gradually becoming more and more competitive. NC, once a safe Red state, has turned into a true battleground state since '08, I won't be surprised if AZ flips in November, and while I don't expect Texas or GA to flip, I do expect both states to be within 5%, forcing Trump and the GOP to expend significant resources in those states.

Look at it this way, Trump won in '16 by running against the 2nd most disliked candidate in history - 2nd only to himself, by flipping 3 longtime Blue states, shocking nearly everyone. He did this despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes nationwide. In '18, Democrats in those 3 states won the statewide votes again by significant numbers. After '16 I won't be shocked or surprised if Trump wins re-election, though I will be if he wins the popular vote. To do that though, his path to victory is a narrow one.

I'm not predicting the death of the GOP. What I am saying is that voting trends are telling us that the GOP has to evolve again to reverse at least some of those trends, and I'm not sure I've seen much of that in the past 3 years.

 

[naturalmwa]

The Republican Party definitely didn't want Trump, but they literally had no choice once he decided to run. I speak from personal experience- when it came to election day, I held my nose and prayed, because Hillary was absolutely impossible to accept, so Trump it was.

As crazy as it sounds, in alot of ways Trump is blowing up the swamp. And he's pretty much the perfect guy to do it because he's so arrogant. Noone else could disrupt BOTH pathetic parties simultaneously.

How is the swamp being blown up?

 

[naturalmwa]

Politics with our two party system is a pendulum. People who aren't hardcore "stick with the party no matter what" types think, hey, these people in power suck. Maybe if I vote for the other party, they will suck less. Then the other party gets power and the whole thing reverses. We need more options who are reasonable decent people who aren't polarized. How do we break up the two party system?

Short of changing our form of government, you might explore ranked voting and publicly financed campaigns. But it’s just as likely that more options leads to even more craziness. Look at Britain. Two parties is actually a check on the fringes.