It looks like the Republican spring of George W. Bush will have to wait another generation.
According to a new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll, Americans 18 to 24 years of age give President George Bush an approval rating of just 20 percent, with 53 percent disapproving and 28 percent having no opinion of him at all.
Much like Franklin Roosevelt attracted a new generation of voters with the New Deal, Bush had high hopes of drawing younger voters to his party. He has sought to do that through policy initiatives aimed at creating a so-called “ownership society,” and public relations tactics like a Youth Convention at the party’s 2004 national convention in which his twin daughters took to the stage and stood there like mannequins.
From social issues to the Iraq war, young Americans live in an entirely different universe than Mr. Bush, and his party is paying the price.