YOUNG PEOPLE LEAN LEFT. IS THIS NEWS?

This morning's NY Times reports that a poll they did in conjunction with MTV and CBS News proves that young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage. I can't say any of that surprises me. Winston Churchill may be endlessly quotable but one of his best remembered aphorisms was:

"If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no head."

He was half right. Keep in mind that Churchill had a deep-seated aversion to democracy; he was an elitist and a right-wing bigot who is also famous for having said that "the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." The wealthy often share this aversion to the less wealthy.

Today's Times makes the point that young people are drifting away from the GOP. It doesn't explain why they aren't stampeding through the exits.

More than half of Americans ages 17 to 29 — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.

Sensibly-- and confirming the inevitability of marriage equality-- 44% of young people (as opposed to 28% of the general population) believe same-sex couples have the right to marry. Similarly, 62% support a universal, government-sponsored national health care insurance program, while only 47% of the general public is smart enough to have figured that out yet. "And 30 percent said that 'Americans should always welcome new immigrants,' while 24 percent of the general public holds that view."

In one potential sign of shifting attitudes, respondents, by overwhelming margins, said they believed that the nation was prepared to elect as president a woman, a black person or someone who admitted to having used marijuana. But they said that they did not believe Americans would elect someone who had used cocaine or someone who was a Mormon... By a 52 to 36 majority, young Americans say that Democrats, rather than Republicans, come closer to sharing their moral values, while 58 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, and 38 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans.

This all makes sense although I wonder what would happen if they were introduced to a normal Mormon and not a power-mad, grasping monstrosity like Romney.

And when it comes to the current batch of presidential hopefuls? Well, they were asked if they are enthusiastic about any of them. They were enthusiastic about two: Obama (18%) and Hillary (17%). The only other who had any discernible support at all is Giuliani (4%) And 58% say they are paying close attention to the presidential campaign, far more than in the past.