Scott Walker blames young voters for GOP loss in Wisconsin, but offers few solutions to win them back

As the Republican Party faced heavy losses this week, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sought to shift the blame to young voters, but offered few solutions for how to win them back.

On Tuesday, the Democrats won a big victory Liberal candidate Janet Protasiwicz won the seat. In the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, they will be given the majority in that race Broken expense records. Protasiewicz beat conservative Dan Kelly by 11%, a stunning margin in a state where the last two presidential elections were decided by less than one point.

“The issue is young voters,” said Walker, who served as governor from 2011 to 2019. Early front In the year 2016 Republican presidential nomination; He said on Twitter. on Thursday.

Alongside a clip of a Fox News interview on this concept, it “comes from years of extreme indoctrination — on campus, in school, on social media, and throughout the culture. We must resist or conservatives will never win battleground states again.

Walker, 55, served as president of the Young America Foundation, a conservative group for college students, which he promoted on Twitter. The team’s recent focus on him website And social media Labels are promoting anti-trans speakers and highlighting campus protests against them.

Polling data shows that young voters favor Democrats by 2022, 2020 And 2018 Choices. But while Walker was quick to blame cultural factors for driving young voters away from the GOP, he failed to mention his own party’s experiments. To make it more difficult for college students across the country to voteor their attack by LGBTQ communityAn issue that can keep them away They could be millions of voters for years to come..

Walker has refused to offer solutions on how the party can attract young voters by promoting policies aligned with the issues the party supports.

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2022 Youth Poll by the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics It gives some indication that Republicans may be in trouble with 18- to 29-year-olds.

The survey, conducted last fall, found inflation to be the most important issue to young voters in the midterms.

Beyond inflation, the remaining issues listed as priorities for young voters suggest that Republicans may continue to lose to this demographic, barring a dramatic change in approach.

Abortion

The second most important issue to young voters, according to a Harvard poll, is abortion, and that played a A major role in the Wisconsin Supreme Court raceOn the Protasiwich campaign in support of woman suffrage. If the case over Wisconsin’s 19th-century abortion ban goes to the state Supreme Court later this year, as expected, Protasiewicz will lead it, a fact that has been highlighted during the campaign.

It is in support of legal abortion Very popular among young AmericansEspecially young women. However, last summer Walker’s party completed a decades-long project to overturn Roe v. Wade and strip abortion access to millions across the country. Republican governors and lawmakers are enacting more and more extreme restrictions. Idaho is passing legislation this week. Making adults who help minors seek abortions liable to criminal charges and jail time.

Abortion could be an issue when Republicans try to retake the White House next November. The current leading candidate is former President Donald Trump. During the 2016 campaign, he made good on a promise to overturn Rowe’s Supreme Court justices. His closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, is set to sign it. A strict ban on abortion after six weeks In a state with only 34% support nationally, According to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll It was held last month.

Protecting democracy

For voters under 30, the next most important issue after abortion is preserving democracy, the poll found. As mentioned above, the Republicans have been trying to do this Hard to vote for college students In several regions, including the proposal Prohibition of polling places in campuses. Presidential frontrunner Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 race has sparked riots in Washington, D.C., resulting in several deaths and hundreds of arrests. In August 2020, Trump a Big coronavirus relief package to make voting by mail difficult.

In the year After the Voting Rights Act was struck down by Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices in 2013, Republicans at the federal level refused to move forward with the new voter protections. Presented by Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va

Democracy was also an important issue in Protasiewicz’s victory. A map of the Wisconsin Legislature is one. The most extreme gerrymanders in the country, Map Walker helped when he was in office and he said defended For years. For years, voting rights activists have blamed Republicans in the state. It is working to suppress low-income voters and voters of color..

Climate change

The fourth most important issue for young voters is climate change, because they want to protect the planet as a home for themselves and their children. Republicans have long denied the existence of an average global temperature Raised by 2 degrees Fahrenheit Since the Industrial Revolution, as well as the Scientific consensus This is caused by increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.

Trump has called climate change a “hoax invented by the Chinese.” In Trump’s first year in office, he pulled the country out of the Paris climate accord, a move that also took place. Most voters It was not accepted..

Polls show that younger voters are more likely to vote. Support the Green New DealA policy package to tackle climate change Laughed at by the Republicans. When President Biden announced his 2021 climate goals, several Prominent Republicans spread misinformation. Stating that he wants Americans to stop eating meat.

Gun control

The fifth most important issue for young voters was gun control, as they have to deal with the threat of school shootings throughout their lives. Top Republicans are longtime opponents of new gun safety reform, regularly speaking at National Rifle Association events. Some elected officials have taken it Wearing an AR-15 pinHonoring the assault rifle used in several high-profile mass shootings over the years.

Walker’s comments came a week after DeSantis, who is currently seen as the party’s top choice for the 2024 nomination, signed on. It allows you to carry a concealed weapon in Florida without any license or training. Republicans in Tennessee on Thursday The Legislature voted to impeach two Democrats He joined students calling for new gun safety laws Mass shooting at Nashville elementary school last week.

Justin Pearson, one of the expelled lawmakers, said: “There were thousands from outside who wanted us out. He told Yahoo News. “I come from a community. [deals with gun violence regularly]. We want action, so we don’t have this issue. This signifies his silence.”