This might come as a surprise to many because the media only celebrate the youth vote when it's a liberal vote. Did you know that, in 1984, the youngest voters were Reagan's greatest asset? In a pre-election poll taken for Time magazine, voters ages 18 to 24 said they were backing or leaning toward Reagan by a margin of 45 points -- 63 percent to 18 percent -- a lead nearly 10 points wider than in any other age bracket.
Recent Pew surveys show that even after 20 long years, these Reagan Youth voters remain the strongest supporters of GOP candidates. While other age groups show a strong identification with the Democrats, Republicans still match the Democrats among fortysomethings.
Since 2002, the Republicans have trailed badly among younger voters, Karl Rove's alleged genius notwithstanding. CNN exit polls after the 2000 election showed George W. Bush trailed Al Gore by only 2 points, 46 percent to 48 percent. But since then, young voters have swung dramatically and solidly toward the Democrats. CNN exit polls in 2004 showed that John Kerry beat Bush only among voters under 30 (by a 54 percent to 45 percent margin). In the 2006 elections, young voters gave Democrats a whopping advantage of 60 percent to 38 percent, far more than any other age group.
What was the Reagan magic with the young? Two crucial factors were patriotism and optimism, two themes that clearly distinguished him from the Carter-Mondale-Dukakis malaise message. Reagan boldly stated that government was the problem, not the solution. But that message was stated positively, as a tribute to all that We the People could do in all of our "private sector" strivings.
Internationally, Reagan did not merely state that America was great because it was expansive and prosperous, our country was great because its founding ideas of liberty and representative democracy were great.
These messages are still awaiting any Republican contender eager to inspire the young in an era when liberals have cast America in a harshly negative light, as oppressing our citizenry and the world while fighting an allegedly nonexistent terrorist threat. Republicans would do well not just to revisit these ideas but then also to learn how to deliver them to the young. It was good to see conservatives and CNN-YouTube resolve their differences.