Now that the election dust has faded only weeks into the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, the Republican Party is beginning to assess its future after President Donald Trump.
For many young Republicans, Trump’s loss signals an openness to new directions within the party. Many interviewees said they want the party to become more tolerant and inclusive while upholding its conservative values.
“The Republican Party has a lot of really good politics, a lot of winning politics, but it seems like we can often get caught up in the losers and fight like hell for them,” said Cameron Adkins, a sophomore and vice president. Republican colleges at Columbia University. “When in reality they are losing trouble with the American people.”
Thirty-one percent of voters aged 18 to 24 supported Trump In November, according to opinion polls, it’s down from 37 percent in 2016. Generation Z mass, born after 1996, makes up at least 10 percent of the US population, according to a report by Brookings InstitutionIt will only grow as the next election approaches.
Adkins, 19, said he hopes the party can expand its reach by continuing to prioritize core social issues, such as firearms and abortion, while embracing a rapidly diversifying electorate by toning down its rhetoric about racial injustice, which research shows. That young people tend to be More.
“We should try to expand our ranges, even if it costs us,” he said, to some of the more traditional Republican voters. “I think I’m willing to lose as long as we do the right thing.”
Clay Robinson, one of the Republican college leaders at Arizona State University, has also said he wants the party to focus more on inclusivity.
Robinson said, “Our generation cares more about social issues than, say, economic issues or anything different. I think it’s a sign that we really care about the societies and the well-being of our people, not just their money.” 19. “This is a more holistic approach to what constitutes the health of everyone in the nation.”
Several young Republicans specifically highlighted LGBTQ rights and climate change as essential to leverage the Generation Z block, because Gen Zers are aware of these issues.
That’s why Isaiah De Alba, 19, said the Republican Party needs views as diverse and young as it. De Alba, who grew up in Los Angeles in a Cuban-Mexican home, is the political director of Republican College at the University of Oregon. He voted for Trump but he hopes to lead the next party that realizes that the country “is not the same place it was 30, 40, 50 years ago.”
“I think the term“ conservatism ”has been given this really bad actor for a long time, he said, and he expected the party spirit to develop into, for example, less religious and more progressive thinking.
“I feel it has to change in some way, so people can understand it a lot more than just a” bunch of old white racist folks “as they like to see it, you know, but actually, it’s a lot more than that.”
But not all young conservatives hope for radical change. While most see the future of the party after Trump’s presidency, Sydney Salato expressed her frustration with lawmakers who she said had turned their backs on Trump after his loss.
As he continued to fight the election results nearly two months after they ended, Republican officials began to crumble With Trump On its spread Unfounded allegations of voter fraud And he refused to recognize Biden as the winner.
“I want to see a lot of people qualify to break away from their roots,” said Salato, 22, president of a conservative women’s organization at the University of Tampa. “I think they’re as bad as the Democrats.”
Download NBC News app For breaking news and Politicians
Salato said the party was no longer a “one cohesive group” and that lawmakers distancing themselves from Trump “were not serving” their constituents.
However, despite the discord, all young voters said Trumpism is here to stay.
Robinson said that while he supports Trump’s “America first” policies, it may not be better for them to be supported by Trump himself. He said the party needed someone who “doesn’t necessarily alienate people like Trump”.
They are looking for new faces to lead the country.
“It will be difficult to stay relevant and be re-elected,” Robinson said. “People talk at the polls, and if they are unwilling to address these issues, they will pay a price.”
