The Real Reason Young People Don’t Like Republicans

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republicanpresidential candidate, won among voters over the age of 30, butlost younger voters by 23 points. That statistic has gotten alot of attention from Republicans, especially since they havenow lost young voters in three presidential elections in a row.They worry that voting Democratic could be habit-forming forthis generation.

The party leadership’s postelection “autopsy” offered asuperficial take on its challenge with young voters: It’s justsocial issues, and particularly Republican opposition to same-sex marriage, that have turned them off. The College RepublicanNational Committee has just released a detailed report on youngvoters that goes considerably beyond this conventional wisdom.