Millennials are a political wild card.
Their beliefs stretch from pro-gay marriage and marijuana legalization to supporting capitalism and less government. Millennials hold their views on social issues as more important than their views on fiscal and foreign policy issues, which makes the Democrat Party much more inviting. Democrats have been able to capitalize on this in presidential elections since 2004.
Despite this, the catastrophic presidency of Barack Obama has forced millennials to realize that Democrats are not any more capable of leading the country than Republicans. In fact, “28 percent of millennials trust 'neither' party to handle any of the [top] issues” facing the country.
No matter how poorly Democrats have run the country the last six years, the George W. Bush presidency left such a bad taste in the mouth of most millennials this powerful generation continues to push the default button and vote Democrat.
A counter-protestor holds a sign supporting immigration outside a US Border Patrol facility in Murrieta during an anti-immigration protest in Murrieta, California, on July 7, 2014. Democrats are catering to millenial voters ahead of the midterm elections by painting the immigration and amnesty as a social and humanitarian issue. ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
On most social issues, such as immigration, millennials default to Democrats by a margin 37-18. However, it is worth noting that in a recent Reason-Rupe poll Democrats were not able exceed more than 40 percent in trust by millennials to handle any issue.
Unfortunately, Democrats have been able to craft the issue of illegal immigration into a social and humanitarian crisis making anyone who opposes it a "heartless individual" and/or "racist." By painting illegal immigration as a social issue Democrats have been able to enlist the political powerhouse of millennials, scaring Republicans into possibly supporting amnesty and potentially destroying the possibility of another Republican president.
Millennials are the most diverse generation in American history. The Pew Research Center has found that 14 percent of millennials were born outside the U.S. and 11 percent claim to have at least one parent who has immigrated to the U.S. This far exceeds the 5 percent of baby boomers that had at least one parent as an immigrant.
Former Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy’s immigration reform of 1965 was designed to cater to Asians and Hispanics, the two largest U.S. immigration groups. It is no secret that the former senator crafted this law to build Democratic support. This law was not enacted to help individuals looking for a better life but solely to help Democrats win at the polls.
Today's Democrats and President Barack Obama are doing the same thing by supporting amnesty. Most of them could care less about the humanitarian issue with the border crisis. The only thing they see is an influx of Democrat voters.
(AP Photo/The Wilmington Star-News, Mike Spencer, File)
Millennials are a very compassionate generation. In fact, in 2012 75 percent of millennials gave to charity and 63 percent spent time volunteering.
Unfortunately, for Democrats, only about 5 percent of millennials see immigration as an important issue. So Democrats had to create a crisis to get their attention to distract them from the failed economy, lack of jobs, and rising costs of health care and education.
Enter the Obama administration-induced crisis: By issuing the executive order DREAM Act and simply not responding to the Border States pleas to handle the influx of illegal immigration, a humanitarian crisis was born.
Thanks to the excellent marketing by Democrats, millennials now think amnesty is the only and right solution to this Obama administration-induced crisis. Democrats know that to win a political fight they must have millennials on their side. They know they are in danger of losing the Senate this November, so creating chaos and drama is all they have left to fight with (they certainly cannot run on their record.)
Only about one in four millennials plan to vote in the coming midterms and when millennials do not vote, Republicans win. Manufactured chaos is all Democrats have to get millennials to the polls.
Republicans have an excellent opportunity to work on their image with millennials. When it comes to issues, immigration barely makes the list, it ranks 10th on their list of priorities.
A member of United We Dream hold banners in front of the office of US Republican Representative from California Darrell Issa on Capitol Hill during a protest with immigrant youth to 'take over GOP offices' and 'call out Republicans on anti-immigrant remarks' in Washington on June 27, 2014. The Democratic-led Senate has voted for immigration reform but the Republican dominated House of Representatives has yet to act, with Republican leaders loath to expose their rank-and-file to the fury of conservative primary voters. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM
The key to win the argument is to use the facts of the horrid Obama-economy.
Total youth unemployment at 15.8 percent, Hispanic youth unemployment is at 16.6 percent, and African American youth unemployment is at 23.8 percent. The staggering average student loan debt amounts to $30,000 and there is a $1 billion bubble in outstanding student loans.
There is an outstanding number of millennials still living at home with their parents. Entitlement programs, like Social Security and Medicare will not be around for their generation to use. And lastly, the devious Obamacare provision that rests the sole solvency of the entitlement program on the back of millennials.
Millennials have been used and mistreated by this administration and now the president and his Democrat cohorts want to legalize 11.7 million illegal immigrants. It doesn’t take a Harvard professor to realize that adding 11.7 million likely very poorly educated works will quickly drain the entitlement programs, bankrupt hospitals, increase insurance premiums, raise taxes, and over crowd public schools.
Furthermore, the president has asked for $3.7 billion to address the influx of child migrants at the U.S. border. He has never asked for federal money to ease student loan debt, ease high youth unemployment, work on a plan to stave off the collapse of entitlement programs, or work on the nearly 16 million U.S. children who go hungry every year.
Republicans needs to work on a piece-by-piece immigration overhaul to appeal to millennials. Our elected officials and government are incapable of doing any kind of comprehensive overhaul as seen by the disastrous implementation of Obamacare. By Republicans offering a simple bill-by-bill approach they will be able to expose the hypocrisy of Democrats.
Republicans have a chance to reach out to millennials and create a test run for 2016. This illegal immigration crisis at the border needs to be changed to an issue involving millennial’s financial future as well as one of compassion. It is perfect opportunity to reintroduce millennials to the Republican Party by showing them they have a plan to handle the crisis strategically and compassionately.
Salvator La Mastra is an expert in millennials and the youth vote. For media inquiries EMAIL: Sal.LaMastra@gmail.com. FOLLOW @SalvatorV
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