Republican Party - leaving the young behind?

Rolling Stone Magazine has an article detailing how the Republican party is leaving behind young people, who overwhelmingly supported Obama in the 2012 election. The article discusses a survey done for the Republican Party and published here, which essentially highlights the fact that the GOP's opinion of gay marriage turns off young voters. Abortion as a divisive electoral issue is less important for Americans born after 1980, than it is for older voters.

Probably more useful for Unit 3C than Unit 4C, but could be useful background for any essay contemplating how representative Congress is, or the nature of Presidential power:

President Barack Obama won 5 million more votes than Gov. Mitt Romney among voters under the age of 30 in the 2012 election. Despite Romney holding a 2 million-vote advantage over the President among voters aged 30 and older, Obama’s significant lead with the youth vote was enough to ensure his re-election. While Obama’s advantage among young people shrank from 34 points in the 2008 election to 23 points in 2012, the election reinforced the generational challenge faced by the GOP.

Florida Primary

A quick post to update my graph of the Republican race; commentators including The Economist are pretty certain Mitt Romney is going to win. Exact figures can be found here at the Wikipedia page, or here at the BBC news page, or they helpfully give a media digest here

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The Economist's Democracy in America blog has a useful analysis of all this:

Although Mr Romney’s win in Florida has put him back on track for the nomination, it does hold some worrying portents for the general election. Independent voters, who could not take part in the primary, seem to have been put off by the nasty tenor of the campaigning. The proportion of them who take a dim view of Mr Romney has risen in recent days. Moreover, the turnout among Republicans was lower than in 2008, itself a year in which the party was quite dispirited. To have prevailed in a big, swing state like Florida is an enormous boost for Mr Romney, but Mr Obama will find some solace in the results as well.

US Presidential Race 2012

The race for the White House continues with its ups and downs. As I like a good graph, I thought I would create one to show the race for the White House. It is a bit complex, but an easy way to check how the comparative fortunes of the Republican candidates continue. I have put up the approval rating of President Obama on there too as a point of comparison. Technically the approve / disapprove rating of the leader of the free world does not equate to the support by Republican voters for their candidates to be Presidential nominee, but I think it looks interesting.

It was created in Smartboard and so the scale is not exact. However it will help to whet your appetite in time for the results of the Florida primary; will Romney beat Newt?

Enjoy.