The New York Times reports today that:
More than half of Americans ages 17 to 29 — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.
Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage.
By a 52 to 36 majority, young Americans say that Democrats, rather than Republicans, come closer to sharing their moral values, while 58 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, and 38 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans.
The poll, conducted jointly with CBS and MTV, interviewed 659 individuals. The critical question is “why?” As someone once said, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.”
If fact, this poll doesn’t really tell us much other than the fact that young people have opinions and that young people are just that, “young.” I worked for a Ralph Nader environmental group when I was 20 because I was naive, idealistic, and uniformed. Fifteen years later, I’m a totally different person. The real question is how will this generation vote after life weathers them a little and they attempt to reconcile the fact that government takes and squanders over one-third of their income mostly on programs and policies that don’t work.
