Juan Williams: GOP Can Win Over Youth Vote

While young voters helped propel President Barack Obama to the White House in 2008, they are now starting to shift toward Republicans, says Fox News commentator Juan Williams. And that could boost the GOP in coming elections, he writes in The Hill.

A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of voters ages 18-29 identifying themselves as Democrats dropped to 54 percent at the end of 2009 from 62 percent in 2008. And those identifying themselves as Republicans rose to 40 percent from 30 percent.

“Republicans also have younger politicians,” Williams writes. “There are 32 members of the House who are 40 or under. Of those, 22 are Republicans and 10 are Democrats. The 10 youngest congressmen … are all Republicans.” In addition, the three youngest senators are Republican.

“The failure of young Obama supporters to vote in the midterms has put a youthful face on the GOP,” Williams notes. “President Reagan attracted young voters by offering a ‘Morning in America’ vision of optimism. Now there is another opportunity for Republicans to reach out to the young again if they can define a pro-youth agenda.”