I guess that OC isn’t such a Red County afterall. From the OCRegister on Friday.
As changing demographics transform political map, young voters are at center of battle for county’s political future.
By JESSICA TERRELL and KEEGAN KYLE
The Orange County Register
To understand the challenges facing the Republican Party in Orange County, all you need do is look at the party affiliation of young voters in the 2008 election.
While the turnout of Republicans in the 18-25 year old age bracket decreased 9 percent, their Democratic counterparts surged by 55 percent – leading to a Democratic majority among young Orange County voters. (Click here to see county maps showing voter registration by age groups.)
To view the whole article click here.
Young voters are the new base of the Democratic Party. More young Democrats cast a ballot than young Republicans in nearly every state this primary season – even in staunchly "red" states. Democrats have a 21 point advantage in party identification. We saw it in 2004, 2006 and now 2008 – young voters are the margin of victory for Democrats.
The real problem with the Republicans in The Real OC as well as the rest of the state, is that they are not realistic. Neither are the Democrats. What neither party central sees is that the vast majority of people in this state are MODERATES. Get that? Moderates. They vast majority of people in this state/county/country want their guns, want to be able to choose if they can have an abortion, and want them to leave us the hell alone with our drugs.
Dems don't get it. Reps don't get it. The people get it. But they don't care enough yet to make their voices really heard at the polls. Young voters are lazy and most of the young voters don't. That is why they will not make a difference. It is why the Republicans still dominate the BoS and the rest of the elected offices in this county. .Most of them are lazy and would rather whine after the fact rather than actually do something.
Will young voters actually turnout?
Turnout in recent elections tells us yes. Youth turnout (18 – 24) jumped 11 percentage points in 2004. In 2006 young people once again voted in greater numbers, and in 2008, 6.5 million young people cast ballots. Youth turnout in the primaries doubled nationally, and in some states, youth turnout tripled and quadrupled turnout from recent primary elections.
The increase in young voter turnout is not a myth or "fuzzy math." Young people are engaged and paying attention to the elections.
According to whose statistics? The Young Democrats? Well, of course they think that. What really put Obama over the top is not the young dems, it was the old guard republicans and libertarians like myself who voted for Obama because they can't trust their own party any more.
I think lefities here might be a tad impatient. This map shows huge strides for Democrats in OC. The Republicans still dominate voter registration but these statistics show change is happening. Do we really think the DPOC is goping to instantly transform OC from Red to Blue. This is excellent progress and with time on our side, the map will get bluer and bluer.