Written by Rachel Hoff on September 28, 2009

There’s a lot of talk these days about what the GOP can do to appeal to young voters. In the wake of Barack Obama’s 2-to-1 victory among voters under-30, the diagnosis seems to be that the Republican Party just isn’t “cool.” How can the GOP get our hip replacement? Everybody has their own answer… tweet more, redesign the RNC logo, move the Party to the center, take the Party back to true conservative principles – and the list goes on.

The simple truth is: there is no silver bullet solution to making the Republican Party “cool.” Sure, technology and branding and ideology are important, but they will not make or break a candidate or a Party’s ability to appeal to young people.

Unfortunately – or maybe, fortunately – winning our generation of voters is far more complex than having a great logo and running a candidate under the age of 50 who knows what Twitter is. (In fact, recent reports show the GOP may actually be better at Twitter, so it must be deeper than that.) If the Republican Party wants to win the hearts and minds of young voters, they must do three things: engage, empower, and deliver.

First, we have to engage young voters. Simply put, we have to ask.

CHICAGO – Young Americans showed their collective power when they helped vote President Obama into office. Inspired by his message of “change,” they knocked on doors, spread flyers, voted for him by a 2-1 margin, and partied like rock-the-vote stars when he won.

Since the election, though, that fervor has died down — noticeably. And while young people remain the president’s most loyal supporters in opinion polls, a lot of people are wondering why that age group isn’t doing more to build upon their newfound reputation as political influencers.

“It’s one thing to get excited about a presidential candidate. It’s another thing to become a responsible citizen,” says Jennifer Donahue, political director for the New Hampshire Institute Of Politics. She and other political analysts thinks they have yet to prove themselves.
Professors and students themselves also are noticing the quiet on college campuses, which were hotbeds for “Obamamania” during the campaign.

“They’re supportive, but in a bystander kind of way,” says Laura Katz Olson, a political science professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Erin Carroll, a 19-year-old sophomore at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, blames the lack of engagement on her generation’s short attention span. They want change — right now, she says — and haven’t gotten it. Read more!

The Right Idea, Episode 22 – The Youth Vote from The Winston Group on Vimeo.

YCC President, Christopher Malagisi, was interviewed on “The Right Idea” with host Kristen Soltsis from The David Winston Group, and Tyler Harber from Wilson Research Strategies. They discussed the youth vote and how polling can help determine what youth care about and how to do outreach with them.

Fellow Conservatives,

If you have not already heard, the Obama Administration is trying to eliminate the private-sector based Federal Family Education Loan program – you know, the program that helps millions of families send their children to college! This will be replaced entirely with the government Direct Loan program — the so-called government “option,” which will no longer be optional.

This is an extreme invasion of the federal government trying to encroach upon the private sector and our family’s ability to get loans to send our children to college – if not ourselves fellow young conservatives!

ACTION ITEM:

Please contact your elected officials and tell them to allow our children to go to college and allow parents to seek loans wherever they want and no be mandated by government!

Parcbench & the Young Conservatives Coalition (YCC)
Friday September 11, 2009
5:00pm – 9:00pm
Capitol City Brewery
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC
View map…

Fellow Freedom Lovers!

Come join Parcbench.com as they host their official 9/12 weekend happy hour along with co-sponsor Young Conservatives Coalition (www.TheYCC.org)!

Specials (from 5-9pm):
$3 Drafts
$5 Appetizers

Then on Saturday, join the taxpayer march from 10am-6pm. For more details, visit – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134485781625#/event.php?eid=87720071984

(From Freedomworks’ Website)
It’s time to take the tea party movement directly to Washington, D.C. Please join thousands of local organizers and grassroots Americans from across the country as we gather in our nation’s capital to deliver a message to the politicians: Enough!

We’ve had enough of the out of control spending, the bailouts, the growth of big government and the soaring deficits. And we reject the future tax increases to pay for all of this spending and debt down the road. We are gathering on 9-12-2009 to deliver our message in person that we’ve had enough!