More Americans support Bernie Sanders than Donald Trump

[libertybele]

What the GOP is missing is the third group, Millennials who don't identify with either. They are about to be one of the largest voting blocks in the country.
Millennials have never known a world without Google, without Twitter, without Facebook or some other social media.  They came of age during the era of the status update and selfie. More important to politics, they grew up expecting more for free. File sharing, streaming, now living off college debt that people are promising they should not have to pay back. Millennials who will vote for the first time in the next election never had a job where signing up for the ACA wasn't an option. Their entire life has been dominated by the  words 'free', 'open', 'fair', and 'neutral', all provided of course, by the government.  In the media, via PSAs, their world is divided into two groups, bullies and victims, and they sure don't want to be a bully so by default, they must be a victim of something.

Of course this massive voting block is going to gravitate to Santa Claus promising free everything versus the guy whose catch phrase is 'You're Fired'.

The GOP has been failing at really reaching out to this group. They are ripe for the picking too as they don't trust the democrats either.  It doesn't mean we need to pander, but we sure can frame a message better for them.

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2014/mar/17/rock-vote/half-millennials-dont-associate-democrat-or-republ/

   Absolutely!  The GOP candidates need to send a very clear message to this group that conservatism isn't evil and why it will be better than the liberal path that this country is on. Most importantly they need to be made to realize that the Constitution does matter and was written to protect their rights. They need to be shown that the so-called "entitlement" will actually hold them back rather than help them to prosper.  Secondly, for many of them it will be about jobs.

[alicewonders]

I think the keywords that will entice the Millenials is not freedom or conservatism - but liberty and independence.  If we can show them what the future looks like with Socialists running every aspect of their lives versus the future where they are truly in charge of their destiny, that might get their attention.

The challenge is that young people have been thoroughly indoctrinated and I believe the thought that they would be on their own without a government crutch is actually "frightening" to them.  My generation - we could not wait to leave the security of our parent's nest so that we could start the adventure of creating our own lives!  We had been taught that we could be anything we wanted to be, and we weren't afraid of "words" and "guns" and "climate".

These kids are scared to leave their parent's house. 

 

[massadvj]

Of course this massive voting block is going to gravitate to Santa Claus promising free everything versus the guy whose catch phrase is 'You're Fired'.

Except that they gravitated toward SantaClaus once before and got screwed by Obamacare.  There is plenty of buyers' remorse out there over that.

[Fishrrman]

AbaraXas wrote above (regarding the millenials):
[[ Of course this massive voting block is going to gravitate to Santa Claus promising free everything versus the guy whose catch phrase is 'You're Fired'.
The GOP has been failing at really reaching out to this group. They are ripe for the picking too as they don't trust the democrats either.  It doesn't mean we need to pander, but we sure can frame a message better for them. ]]

If what you state above is in fact true, there is no way for Republicans to "reach out" to them.

The vast majority of them are -- for all intents and purposes -- "un-reachable" insofar as attracting them "to the conservative side" goes.

Their entire upbringing and education (indoctrination?) has been to inculcate into them a worldview that is the antithesis of conservative ideals and practices.

[[ Their entire life has been dominated by the  words 'free', 'open', 'fair', and 'neutral', all provided of course, by the government ]]

This is 180 degrees opposite from the way the world really works, and from what conservatism is all about (aside: "free" does not equate to "freeDOM").

Either the millenials, en masse, are going to soon experience a rude awakening, or...
.... WE are.

[ABX]

Except that they gravitated toward SantaClaus once before and got screwed by Obamacare.  There is plenty of buyers' remorse out there over that.

This group has never really known the alternative. They were told if they didn't have it, they couldn't buy it. they never knew they could go out in the open market before and buy healthcare at competitive prices versus the monopoly prices we have now.

[massadvj]

This group has never really known the alternative. They were told if they didn't have it, they couldn't buy it. they never knew they could go out in the open market before and buy healthcare at competitive prices versus the monopoly prices we have now.

They also did not know that most people used to work their way through college.  That was before the government "helped" everyone with college loans.

[jmyrlefuller]

They also did not know that most people used to work their way through college.  That was before the government "helped" everyone with college loans.

Granted, before college loans, college was a lot cheaper. Yet today's generation doesn't seem to be able to put two and two together as to why college costs continue to spiral far past the rate of inflation.