Obama’s Popularity with Younger Voters

Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com.

According to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, Americans under the age of 30 favor
President Barack Obama over Mitt Romney by almost a two-to-one margin. This is a
startling statistic. What explains the lopsided support for President Obama
among younger Americans?

I think the two main reasons are ideological and personal.

It’s no revelation to say that young people tend to be more liberal about issues
like the redistribution of wealth. You may have heard the old adage, "Anyone who
is not a socialist when he is 20, has no heart; anyone who is still a socialist
when he is 30, has no mind." I lived that adage. I was a young socialist 40
years ago who voted for the likable-but-too-conservative George McGovern. Then,
after emerging from the collegiate cocoon, weaning myself from financial
dependency on others, and seeing the real-world devastation wrought by
socialism, I embraced capitalism.

The fact of the matter is that our intellect develops more slowly than our
feelings. In my case, my youthful concern for [4]the poor never left me. I
simply recognized that [5]free markets, however imperfect, are far more
effective at reducing poverty than government programs and socialist dystopias.
Likewise, today’s youth generally have good intentions; they just don’t always
perceive the optimal means to attain their goals. When you combine that
intellectual immaturity with the barrage of leftist indoctrination that many
colleges inflict on them—plus their support of certain Obama social policies—it
is no wonder that the under-30 segment of our population favors President Obama.

As significant as the ideological factor is for explaining the millennials’
support for him, the president’s personal attractiveness to them looms equally
large. Indeed, the young are not unique in voting in response to a presidential
candidate’s likability. We have known at least since the Kennedy-Nixon race
(JFK’s fresh-faced handsomeness contrasted with Nixon’s off-putting jowly, 5
o’clock shadow during their televised debates) that many Americans vote for a
president on the basis of the wrapping rather than the contents of the
package—the triumph of image over substance. This may not speak well for our
country’s political maturity, or perhaps even for democracy itself, but
personality often trumps policy.

I have spoken to several under-30s recently, and I was struck by how often they
referred to President Obama as cool or "hip." Indeed, he can be very winsome. He
has that charismatic, incandescent smile; the ability to project gravitas and
dignity in one moment and then to be disarmingly informal and down-home normal
in the next; the talent for delivering a text in tones that are alternately
inspiring, warm, soothing, or fired with passion; and a knack for coming across
as level-headed, genuine, reasonable, quietly confident, and so very accessible
in his well-crafted television commercials.

If young Americans want to vote for President Obama because he is cooler than
Romney, that is their right and privilege. It is sad, though, that they seem
oblivious to the high price they are paying for "coolness." Underneath the hip,
attractive surface is a president who says many of the "right" things about
helping America move forward, and then cynically acts in ways that hamper
progress. Many young Americans (and not a few older ones) who find Obama
attractive have a hard time connecting the dots and comprehending just how
harmful his policies have been for young Americans.

Do the under-30s really want a president who has tried and succeeded in raising
the price of electricity and gasoline; who has hastened the day of Social
Security’s insolvency by cutting the revenues to that program; who has raised
future taxes on young Americans through the reckless addition of trillions of
dollars to the national debt; whose policies have pushed food prices higher; who
has tried to keep home prices from falling to levels that would make them
affordable to younger Americans?

Do they want four more years of an aggressively antibusiness, hyper-regulatory
administration that has squelched job growth and employment opportunities?

Do they want to continue down the path to a European-style welfare state like
Spain, where close to half of young adults are unemployed?

I think not, but that is the kind of country they may vote for. Too many young
Americans don’t connect the current economic stagnation with the president’s
policies. They are charmed by his personality while being harmed by his
policies. Because I too was once young, I understand that President Obama is
like the Pied Piper wooing, attracting and seducing the young, who merrily and
blindly follow his bewitching tune. I hope they veer off this path before it
reaches its inevitable tragic end, a future they don’t want to experience.

— Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson is an adjunct faculty member, economist, and fellow
for economic and social policy with [6]The Center for Vision & Values at Grove
City College.

© 2012 by The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. The views &
opinions
expressed herein may, but do not necessarily, reflect the views of Grove City
College.

[7]www.VisionAndValues.org | [8]www.VisionAndValuesEvents.com

References

1.
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2. http://www.visionandvalues.org/2012/08/obamas-popularity-with-young-voters/
3. http://www.VisionAndValues.org/
4. http://www.visionandvalues.org/2011/12/the-rich-are-getting-richer-so-are-the-poor/
5. http://www.visionandvalues.org/2010/10/voluntary-exchanges-and-the-free-market/
6. http://www.visionandvalues.org/
7. http://www.VisionAndValues.org/
8. http://www.VisionAndValuesEvents.com/
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