The College Fix

In the aftermath of the so-called Republican Tsunami, young Republicans around the country are already starting to consider 2012 — and who the GOP nominee for president will be.

Recent polling by the Harvard University’s Institute of Politics put President Obama in a statistical dead heat against the generic Republican nominee in 2012 with voters under 30. Obama pulled 31 percent, and the unnamed Republican 30 percent, leaving 39 percent of respondents undecided.

“It’s a hard question because many GOP prospects would be good for other offices,” said Ethan Hollenberger, a junior at the Marquette University. “Sarah Palin should be in the Senate. She should have run for Senate. Bobby Jindal and Paul Ryan are both too young — they have plenty of time to be president.”

Hollenberger, who has organized Tea Party events in his hometown and conservative events on campus, said Jindal would still be his choice for vice president.

“I like Romney. He is a great CEO. We need a business guy with government experience,” he said, acknowledging that Romney’s Mormon faith could hold him back in a general election. “I was with Romney in 2008. If he stays positive, he will be the next president.”

Notre Dame College Republicans President Joshua Varanelli also offered up Romney as an immediate response.

“Making predictions from Tuesday, it’s tough to say who might win the nomination, but someone like Mitt Romney may prove the top choice during the primary,” he said.  “He’s younger, conservative and was elected in Massachusetts — a very blue state.”

In the Harvard polling, however, Obama held a 25-point lead over Romney (43 percent to 18 percent) among voters under 30 — the same margin between Obama and Sarah Palin (48 percent to 23 percent).

Exit polling from Tuesday showed voters aged 18-29 returned to more pre-Obama levels of partisan support. Voters aged 18-29 favored the Democratic Party 56-40 on Tuesday, comprising 11 percent of the electorate — far different statistics from 2008, when Obama carried the youth demographic 66 percent to 32, and youth turnout surged to make up 18 percent of the electorate.

With Tuesday in mind, others are taking a more grassroots approach.

“I believe Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina will be the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2012,” said Charles Markman, a junior at the University of Michigan and the outreach director of the school’s College Republicans.

“He’s a principled conservative that has stuck by his values, even if that means voting against the rest of the GOP when they stray too far left.”

Markman said he believes the timing is right for a candidate like DeMint.

“Americans want a more limited government, with reduced taxes, reduced spending, a reduced national debt and a health care system that is privatized, rather than government-run,” he said.

Fiscal conservatism appears to be the uniting thread among younger conservatives.

“For the past six months, the CRs have been focusing on getting Republicans elected this cycle,” said Charles Bogren, chairman of the University of Michigan College Republicans. “Whoever (the nominee) ends up being, it will be a fiscal conservative who will return to traditional American values and limited government.”

Bogren wouldn’t name a specific candidate for 2012.

Youth voters, in general, are still largely undecided about the Tea Party movement (11 percent said they supported the movement, 34 percent saying they did not), and appear to be keeping their options open about candidates. According to the Harvard poll, in a generic ballot, more than half of young Independent voters claim to be undecided (58 percent) and those who state a preference prefer a Republican (26 percent) over Obama (16 percent).

“All of our expectations were fulfilled Tuesday,” Vasalli said. “We think America spoke in this election. The ’08 promises of change and hope have rung hollow, and, smartly, Americans took their anger to the ballot box.”

Claire Gillen of the Irish Rover and Stephanie Wang of the Michigan Review contributed reporting to this article. They are both members of the Student Free Press Association.

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