Conservatives flocked to Washington, D.C., last week for the Conservative Political Action Conference to rally behind conservative leaders and discuss their core ideological beliefs. Sadly, the week produced the same rhetoric spouted by conservatives — most of whom identify as Republicans — that many young Americans and minorities, more often than not, reject.
Conservative writers like Ann Coulter denounced any effort by the American government to reform its immigration system, decrying the “browning of America.” Yes, the woman said something that appears horribly racist on the surface, yet continually receives an invitation to speak at CPAC.
In a panel on minority outreach, a picture hit the Web that showed an empty room with hardly a soul in sight.
It’s pretty much a given that in order to win national elections, minority voters are key — especially Latino voters. Instead of courting them, we hear conservatives make seemingly racist remarks about immigrants and minority groups, and a minority outreach panel fell on deaf ears — or, more likely, no ears at all.
Although they might summarily reject them, studies show that conservative positions on major social issues look less favorable with each passing day. The Pew Research Center just released a study on the millennial generation and its political views. This generation tends to identify as independents but lean Democratic — the party most often identified with liberals. This generation is less religious than its older peers, and the majority of millennials supports gay rights.
Why is it important for conservatives change their tune — or at least adjust their tune — on many major social issues?
Votes.
Conservatives believe — as all ideologies do — that they have the right beliefs for our country to succeed; yet younger voters reject those core beliefs. If conservatives want to win the White House in 2016, they need a message they can sell to a majority of the country. Hoping the same trite message of social conservatism inspires enough voters to knock a more liberal, Democratic candidate like Hillary Clinton from her path to the White House, conservatives continue to bash the LGBT community, immigration reform and almost everything accomplished by President Barack Obama.
Based on what happened at CPAC, it appears that conservatives once again have a message that appeals to a significant group of voters but not one large enough to put a conservative Republican in the White House.
The portion of the American electorate comprised of millennials and minority voters continues to grow, and conservative messages are less appealing to those groups. Think about this: 80 percent of minority voters cast ballots for Obama in 2012. Their numbers in the electorate are only going to grow, and there is no way a growing portion of the electorate will ever cast a ballot in favor of a conservative candidate if large conventions of conservatives demonize minority groups.
A whopping 67 percent of the youth vote — who continue to trend Democratic and liberal — cast ballots for Obama in 2012, and 50 percent of eligible voters 18-29 years old, voted.
To my conservative friends: What’s your strategy for winning an increasingly important and growing portion of the American electorate?
From what I heard at CPAC last week, the strategy is stay the course, and the votes will come.
In gerrymandered congressional districts throughout the country, that philosophy may work quite well. A district made up of mostly conservative Republicans will certainly send conservative Republicans to Washington, D.C., but those conservative Republicans will end up having to work with — or against — a fairly moderate Democratic president.
Conservatives seem deathly afraid of a Clinton presidency in 2016.
If they continue this “stay the course” mentality and don’t adjust their views to meet a changing country, their worst dreams may very well come true.
[Joel Mendelson is a UF graduate student in political campaigning. His columns appear on Mondays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 3/10/2014 under the headline "Conservatives fail to accept changing US"]
