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California GOP not attracting minorities, young voters

November 12, 2013

californiaDespite suffering a supermajority defeat in the legislature in 2012 and losing control of the governorship two years prior, the worst years may have yet to come the California Republican Party. [LA Times]

A newly released USC/Los Angeles Times poll shows that the California Republican Party is not making progress in attracting young and minority voters, two key demographics in the future outlook of the state.

About 40 percent of registered white California voters are each Democrats and Republicans, but only 14 percent of minority voters and 23 percent of voters under the age of 50 are registered Republican.

Fifty-four percent of minority voters are registered Democrat.

Fifty-five percent of Latinos are registered Democrat, with only 15 percent registered Republican. Seventy-six percent of blacks are registered Democrat, and only 4 percent are registered Republican.

Among voters under the age of 50, 52 percent describe themselves as liberal, and 40 percent describe themselves as conservative.

About 60 percent of white voters in California are over the age of 50, while 64 percent of Latinos are 49 and younger.

Currently, Governor Jerry Brown has a 51 percent approval rating among white voters, 61 percent approval among blacks and 67 percent approval among Latinos. Brown’s overall approval rating is 55 percent.

 


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The reason for this is Republicans have become nothing but wingnuts.

They are ideologues who have no interest in humanity. Only what is in their best interest.


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Big Mystery…Thats why they have to Gerry Mander districts and peel away the voting Rights act …because they will continue to LOSE LOSE LOSE on hard right social issues…idiologues all the way without ANY policy ideas…Just NO- They are building their own casket-


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The only reason I would ever vote for a Republican is because they are just slightly LESS “wingnut” than their democrat opponents. Usually… and if that was the only other choice.


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We have had some decent to good Republicans representing us in Sacramento and I have voted for them on that basis. However, nationally, I pretty much agree with you except that I don’t think the GOP is any better than the Dems.


The best GOP candidates have been condemned in the media and within the party power structure as “nuts” (Ron Paul) and RINOs (Huntsman). (They are not faultless, but both are an improvement on “mainstream” candidates from either party and seem to be more honest as well.)


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ya can’t explain away wingnuts by pretending to be “fair” and including both

parties. wingnuts, and the big problem, dives in from the right wing.

pure and simple.


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Irony?


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Um..gee…really wonder why Moon beams rating is up there in the mighty handout & vote for me state of Ca? Regarding youth not voting Rep, they are living an “entitlement” delusion. This comes from expecting a $25 a hour job to start while sitting on their ass playing with a computer. Add in no decent jobs to afford our over priced, over regulated, small business made goods, compliments of our greedy government and its “made in China” foreign policy, and its just a matter of time before we become a third world country.


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Keep ’em comin! It’s the media’s fault. The chickens will come home to roost. THEY all want $25 minimum wage. It’s just a matter of time. Wah, wah!


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And yet, here you all are, living in Cali.


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I didn’t like the “Love It or Leave It” slogan aimed at protesters in the 60s and 70’s. Your comment here seems to imply a similar point of view from the other side.


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An even handed news industry would go a long way to change the current dynamic.


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The problem with that is that “even-handed” treatment of news is boring for most people and would be result in the news source slowly failing. Even-handedness is usually complex and can’t be presented in the “sound bites” that our society has come to demand. It can also require a knowledge level in a particular field that is not present in the average citizen. I suspect that America’s mindless addiction to emotional stimulation is a major factor in both our misinformation on many issues and our political divisiveness.


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Well OTOH #1 my preferred phrase and first thought was fair and balanced but that phrase seems to raise hairs. So I went with even handed. After I figure out what you said I’ll get back to ya…lol


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Journalism has always been that way. Whether it is “media bias” or “yellow journalism” it has been with us. What we need to do, as a society, is learn that media is likely just a propaganda arm of one ideology or another. However, since both controlling parties do not like the apple cart upset, they both work to keep education suppressed – at least as critical thinking skills go – to maintain their stranglehold on whatever power we give up to them (often in exchange for a shiny bauble).


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One cannot ignore the fact the the Dems control the state and therefore own all that is wrong with California. Those chickens at some point will come home to roost and at that time, the tide will turn.


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If the GOP keeps offering unappealing alternatives, the coop may burn down before the chicken comes home to roost.


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These initial comments illustrate exactly why California Republicans are becoming irrelevant. Excuses, blame, whining. Us vs. Them. Zero solutions.


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Some of the conservative points are valid. There is a naivete about fiscal responsibility in government that is too common in young people. Even many intelligent young people are fooled by well-crafted political propaganda because their optimism hasn’t yet been beaten down by enough exposure to the manipulative natures of those producing it.


However, many conservatives have similar problems with reactionary mindsets. They have learned the harsh realities of the flaws in many liberal policies and react by switching sides without examining the realities of the conservative alternatives. They make the same mistakes in accepting their propaganda without thorough questioning.


You are partially right in that the GOP doesn’t seem to offer much for solutions other than a return to an entire platform of rigid adherence to conservative traditions. Some of these traditions are out-dated — and obviously so to the younger generations. Unwillingness to listen and seriously consider some changes is what gives the GOP its deserved reputation as an uncompromising (and slowly dying) political party.


The fact that the Democrats are just as bad in many ways are masked by their more upbeat tone and promises of “change” which are more elementally appealing to youth. It will take a long time for young optimists to see through the emptiness of many of those promises and realize that change is not always for the better even if the idea behind it is good. The damage that is being done to the ideas of individual freedom and a UNITED States of America may be irreversible before this awareness takes hold.


If the GOP wants young and minority votes, it will have to learn to compromise on at least some principals that it currently rejects so that it does not turn off those voters. Additionally, it needs to provide a more upbeat and optimistic platform on issues that will attract those voters. Criticism of new ideas will not win voters — except among the curmudgeons who comprise a decreasing percentage of the population — unless accompanied by equally novel ideas for change. Going back to policies with numerous flaws does not qualify.


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If the GOP wants young and minority votes, it will have to learn to compromise on at least some principals that it currently rejects so that it does not turn off those voters. Additionally, it needs to provide a more upbeat and optimistic platform on issues that will attract those voters.


In other words, become the Democrat party. So much for platform difference, alternate ideas, and standing with what you believe in. There is already very little difference between the R’s and D’s as it is now. You (and others) have said the R’s must become like the D’s to win certain groups. I say that is horsecrap, because why would I ever vote republican if they’re “just now” offering what the democrats have been offering? What do people do who ARE mature enough and wise enough to follow the democrat offerings to their logical conclusions? People who KNOW what will happen when there is only one party. People who know history. People who have experience and wisdom… what is left for them?


What you are describing (and others have elsewhere) is that we become a banana republic (officially) and have one ideology achieved through multiple parties. Political parties exist to have different platforms and opinions. This is why Libertarians never do well, because they have no platform or unified (or close enough) opinions. It is their strength as individuals, but their weakness as a collective.


Everyone wants Republicans to compromise, to change. I have never heard anyone talk about democrats compromising or needing to change. It always seems to be the republicans, why? The only answer can be: to win votes. Well, if we’re only voting so “our side” can “win” then we have already lost. This isn’t a horse race or a football game, but too many people think it is, and the low-information crowd loves those analogies because it is easy for them (again, lack of critical thinking in education brings us here).


By the time the middle class knows what has been done to them, they will already be destroyed and gone, leaving a vast low class and small upper class – both dependent on the tyrannical central party for sustenance and survival. Anyone who studies nations and history know exactly what happens when there is little to no middle class, too.


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I understand your point but I think that they can compromise on SOME points without abandoning their philosophies. Immigration would be a good example.


Why not seek a compromise (not complete surrender) and allow those already here illegally to become citizens subject to good behavior, the usual citizenship requirements and perhaps some financial penalties. If continued improvements in border security are part of the agreement, I don’t see how this is a serious compromise of the GOP philosophies. (The position that “illegals” must be punished severely just for crossing the border without documentation is one reason many consider the GOP “extremists.” It also ignores the fact that our immigration quotas are extremely low for legal immigration from Mexico and Central America.)


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Didn’t they do that under Reagan? I remember it was a “one time only” thing, a compromise. So much for one-time only.


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Propoganda is about Control, Control is about Your Money, Your Money is about funding a Democracy, a Democracy gets abused by Socialism, Socialism works best according to the Communist. There you have it.


Sure, if I wanted someone else to fund me, they would get my vote too. Back to Propoganda.


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FREE = DEMOCRATS


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*free as in, someone else works and pays for you, not free as in freedom and liberty.


Just wanted to add the proper footnote to your comment.


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Well, you have to ask yourself what the GOP has to offer?

Illegal immigration status?

Protection from the Feds?

Early prison releases?

Illegal Driver’s licenses?

45th ranking in education among the states?

Highest poverty rate in the nation?

Illegal law degrees?

A welfare system second to none?

How can the GOP compete?.


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What do the Repubs offer across the nation, (more to the point of there just being fewer Repubs in California; who wants those policies imported here? Let’s face it, national politics makes more news than the local, California stuff, remember that government shutdown?):


National Platform:

Taliban treatment for women;

Fight off immigration reform;

Restricted voting for minorities, students and women.


I guess if you are an old, conservative white guy, this looks pretty good.


So what happened to moderate Repubs? Where are they? Tea party tail wagging the Republican dog? Repubs need to get their big house cleared of all this crazy stuff before their sane, fiscal ideas can even be heard over the noise.


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Yes, the republicans need to clean out all those threats to the single-party system we’re so close to having. Yeah, those tea partiers must be the ones advocating the TALIBAN treatment of women, oh wise one.


They must also be the ones suppressing voters, because they have a long history of abusing minorities and cheating at elections! Finally, as you so wisely pointed out, they must also be the ones fighting off immigration “reform” (whatever that is).


Your words are so wise and true, we all now know how absolutely BRILLIANT you are!


We should all wish the republicans become more like the democrats, heck maybe one day in our perfect utopia, we can just have the RD party! Republocrats! Then all will be well, and we’ll all share in the abundance of milk and honey we’ll all be surrounded by.


Good job, Lynette, as always.


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Exactly why is it, Roy, that the GOP wants government out of our workplaces, out of our schools, out of our churches, and most certainly out of our gun lockers… yet wants government in our bedrooms, regulating exactly how we do it and with whom? How can my vagina possibly be so threatening?


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If you honestly think that young minorities are too stupid and greedy to see through the lies of a party offering free stuff, you shouldn’t have to wonder why the GOP attracts only middle aged white guys with anger issues.


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Hard to compete with Santa Claus.


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