Under-30 voters: 'George, you're fired'

[question everything]

Under-30 voters: 'George, you're fired'

Big turnout by young voters could hurt Bush

Friday, October 29, 2004

By RUBEN NAVARRETTE

(snip)

In an ABC News poll of likely voters aged 18 to 29, 57 percent chose Kerry while only 38 percent lined up behind Bush. That's consistent with another recent poll of young voters conducted by a public affairs firm for Newsweek.com and The Associated Press. In that survey, Kerry led Bush 52 percent to 42 percent among likely voters under 30.

What in the name of MTV is going on here?

(snip)

But many of them are absolutely fed up with President Bush. Fifty-nine percent of young voters say they disapprove of Bush's job performance. Only 38 percent think he has done a good job. It will all come down to turnout. Young people are traditionally among the least likely to vote. In 2000, less than a third of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 went to the polls. This year, surveys show young people registering to vote in record numbers; that includes those in such battleground states as Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin... A lot of young Americans are sick of the war in Iraq, and many of them can't shake the fear that they may yet be dragged into it before it's done. There's the persistent talk of a draft, which only hurts the incumbent.


(snip)

Bush insisted that he never mentioned raising the retirement age. That's too bad. He should have. With Americans living longer, we should raise the retirement age. We should also apply a means test on Social Security benefits so that we don't subsidize the retirement of millionaires and billionaires. And we should at least partially privatize Social Security, allowing workers to invest a portion of their contributions in private investment accounts. If we don't do all or some of that, it is young people who will get soaked in the form of higher taxes for many years to come.

Had Bush said as much in this campaign, he might have been able to improve his standing with young voters. Instead, he missed his chance and made it that much easier for young voters to hit him with their generation's trendy new send-off: "George, you're fired."

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/syndicated/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_op_1029_navarrette.f2ea.html

[question everything]

1. No under-30 DUers to comment ?

;)