GOP pins its hopes on Vance for younger voters

Republicans believe 39-year-old Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) will appeal to younger voters as part of the GOP’s new presidential bid.

Former President Trump named the millennial as his running mate this week during the Republican Party Convention.

While Democrats argue that Vance’s platform is out of sync with the views of younger voters, GOP members believe Trump’s vice presidential pick could appeal to several key groups.

“It’s a breath of fresh air,” said Kyle Schroeder, the 28-year-old chairman of the Wisconsin Young Republicans, when asked what it was like to see someone from his generation at the top of the presidential ticket.

Trump capped months of speculation Monday with his pick. Vance had largely been seen as one of three finalists in the race for the role, which also included Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

In some ways, Vance is limited in the kind of additions he can bring to the Republican presidential ticket: He hails from Ohio, which has become redder in recent years, and his ideology appeals mostly to the GOP’s loyal core base. While the Republican Party is trying to appeal to voters of color, the GOP presidential ticket includes two white men.

On the other hand, Vance is much younger than Trump or the Biden-Harris ticket. Vice President Harris is 59, Trump is 78, and Biden is 81.

GOP members believe his youth will appeal to young voters, a group that will play a crucial role in determining which candidate returns to the White House in November.

“I think this was a great choice for young people across the country,” explains Mason Morgan, 28, co-founder and executive director of the conservative youth group Run Gen Z.

“Regardless of your ideology, I think Senator Vance’s story and success, both his personal and public life, shows young voters that one of these candidates is looking to the future.”

Run Gen Z supports young conservatives running for office. Morgan explained that he believed Vance’s candidacy could inspire young people who want to enter politics.

“This is opening the floodgates now that we have a millennial on the presidential ticket for the Republican Party, for many young people, and so we are excited to point to Senator Vance as an example to these young people as they run, as a reason to get started early instead of waiting for their turn in line, as young people are often told,” he explained.

Arizona-based GOP consultant Chuck Coughlin called Vance the “embodiment” of the MAGA movement and said he represented the kind of people Trump said have been forgotten.

“There was always the assumption that it was just political rhetoric and not very sincere,” he said. “By choosing Vance, he’s choosing someone who is actually that type of person, who comes from that background and is young, smart, successful, a veteran.”

Vance rose to fame as the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” which chronicled his upbringing and illuminated white working-class America. He detailed his story in his speech at the RNC, vowing to be “a vice president who never forgets where he comes from.”

He also made sure to note that he is much younger than the current president. In another part of his speech, he said, “Joe Biden has been a politician in Washington as long as I have been alive.”

Vance will make his first campaign appearance alongside Trump on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

While recent polls show Biden doing better than Trump among young voters, surveys also show he is doing worse than he did in 2020.

For example, a Harvard Youth Poll released in April by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics (IOP) found Biden with an 8-point lead among adults aged 18 to 29 — a far cry from the 23-point lead he felt in 2020.

While the April poll looks at likely voters under 30, Biden leads Trump by 19 points. By comparison, Biden led Trump by 30 points among likely voters under 30 in 2020.

Questions remain about the fate of Biden’s presidency as more Democrats have called on the president to drop out of the race, particularly this week. But the Biden campaign has repeatedly said the president is not going anywhere.

Democrats also believe that the more young voters learn about Vance, the more likely they are to be turned off. They have pointed to his opposition to student loan forgiveness and his comments on abortion, for example.

“… Despite being a millennial, J.D. Vance does not represent the values and priorities of young voters. His conservative positions on all of these issues are more in line with older generations of voters across the country than with the more progressive attitudes of young voters,” noted Andrew Muth, 24, communications director for the Pennsylvania College Democrats.

Party members also argue that Vance is not attracting new young voters.

“I think the young voters he’s bringing in are young voters who were already inclined to vote for Trump regardless of who Trump chose,” said Miami-based Democratic pollster Fernand Amandi.

Despite Democratic skepticism, Republicans see Vance as a smart choice.

Vince Galko, former executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said it was “presumptuous” for Democrats to say Vance’s views were out of sync with those of young voters, noting that not all young people think the same.

“Whether you’re 18 or 88 years old in this country, I think you want to have a strong economy, you want to feel safe when you walk down the street. You want to know that there are opportunities for you and” your children and grandchildren, Galko explained.

“His life itself is a story of hope,” he added. “I mean, even if you hate Republicans, even if you hate Sen. Vance, you can’t reject his story.”

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