Look North to See How the GOP Can Attract Young People

 

America’s Republican Party has a big problem.  Republicans do well with older voters.  But Republican politicians go over like a lead balloon with voters under the age of 40. 

Exit polls show that by a two-to-one margin, young people preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump in the 2020 election.  Democrats captured the support of younger voters by similarly large margins in every election since 2004. 

Because individual party preferences are formed early in one’s adult life and tend to persist, the failure to attract younger voters to the Republican cause bodes ill for the future of the GOP. 

So how can Republicans attract younger voters?  Canada’s new Conservative party leader shows how its done. 

Pierre Poilievre is Canada’s new Conservative Party leader.  Poilievre is a huge hit with young people.  He’s attracting large numbers of young people to his party and to conservative positions. 

Polling shows that the Conservative Party is now the most popular choice of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29. 

So what is Poilievre’s secret to attracting young people to the Conservative Party?

According to the Canada’s National Post, Poilievre’s popularity is doe to the fact that he’s actually addressing issues that young Canadians care about.

“Poilievre’s growing popularity among young voters is likely due to how he’s seized upon an opening by providing coherent messaging that addresses the general state of dissatisfaction and the economic anxieties that are weighing on young Canadians.  That includes continuing frustrations about the inaccessibility of home ownership, income instability and inflation.”

Poilievre offers a mix of populism and libertarianism. 

He blames deficit spending by the ruling Liberals for inflation.   Poilievre is proposing implementing a pay-as-you-go law which requires any new spending to be offset through cuts elsewhere. 

Poilievre seeks to address high housing costs by reducing restrictions on development.   

Poilievre believes that Canada needs to address climate change but wants to reduce CO2 emissions through technological solutions, not by impoverishing Canadians. 

Polievere is a moderate on most social issues.  He supports gay marriage and does not want to make changes to abortion policies in Canada.  In Canada abortions are generally not available after the twenty-third week of pregnancy. 

Poilievre is a strong supporter of free speech.  He’s an opponent of woke authoritarianism in academia, the media and government. 

He supported the right of the Canadian truckers to protest.  He also opposed the use of Canada’s Emergencies Act to crack down on COVID dissenters.   

Pierre Poilievre’s plain-spoken, solutions-oriented mix of conservatism and libertarianism might be just what the Republican party needs to attract young voters,