The Republican Party & Good Ol' Fashion PR

I read an opinion article on CNN (written by a Republican woman who also works for the American Unity PAC) about the Republican parties' need to reassess their demographic appeal. We discussed this issue in class and debated about whether or not the Republican Party needs to reassess their “target audience.” The Republican writer and politician of this article claims that change is mandatory if the Republicans want to get back into the oval office.

Essentially this article argues that the Republican Party does not need to change their platform issues, but change how Hispanic and younger voters understand those issues. The article said that Republicans missed out on the “millennial” and Hispanic vote. We are the millennials. Millennials are our generation. The Republican Party is concerned that they missed out on our generation. By the next presidential election, all millennials will be of age to vote, which adds up to 90 million voters. Clearly, this is a number that political parties want on their side.

Republicans are also concerned that they missed out on the Hispanic vote, specifically with millennial Hispanics. The DREAM act was an important deciding factor for many Hispanic millennials. For those of you who watched the second debate, you might have been equally as disappointed as I was with Romney’s response about the DREAM act. Romney admitted that it is not the child’s fault for living undocumented in the United States. He then went on to disappoint millennial supporters of the DREAM act by essentially saying his immigration policy is to have undocumented residents “voluntarily” turn themselves in. Why would a person ever do that? Because he will make conditions so unbearable for undocumented residents that they will not want to live in the United States anymore (not once did he mention that those undocumented residents probably fled their own country for unbearable living conditions and therefore will have no where safe to go). I digress…the point is that Romney most certainly did not win that vote.

So what should the Republican Party do? Improve their image and reputation with those voters of course (aka some good old fashion PR work…something we can understand very well as communication students)! I look forward to seeing how the Republican Party refocuses their message about the economy and the deficit to target younger voters. Republican politicians want to make millennial voters see how voting Republican would be good for their personal future. The Republican Party doesn’t have to change their platform issues and values, but instead change how younger voters and Hispanic voters understand those issues.

The writer of this article states that "'partisan self-identification' forms in new generations like cement – settling softly and hardening over time.” In my senior comp research I have learned that the political opinions formed during a student’s college-aged years are the political opinions that last a lifetime. Political parties would be wise to gain the support of this young demographic because they are most likely to have their support for the rest of their voting lives.

The question remains. Will Republicans make the necessary “marketing” changes to their party’s millennial and Hispanic voter appeal? I guess we will have to wait and find out.