Young Republicans disagree on many issues. But they're united on Trump
Jenna Benchetrit | CBC News | Posted: July 18, 2024 8:06 PM | Last Updated: July 18
Economy, national security, border issues top of mind for young people at convention
From the college Republicans to the social media personalities, when you talk to young people at the Republican National Convention about where they stand on election issues — and on the state of their changing party — you get wildly different answers.
As the GOP tries to appeal to younger voters — for example, by bringing in a 39-year-old vice-presidential candidate and inviting a controversial talk show host to address Gen Zs and millennials on its biggest stage — CBC News spoke with a range of young Republicans aged 17 to 34.
They diverged on LGBTQ+ rights and climate change, but many felt that Biden had failed the country on economic issues, foreign policy and border security.
What most agreed on is that they would share a party with people whose values contradicted their own if it meant getting Donald Trump back into the White House.
"I think the Republican Party is a big tent party," said Courtney Hope Britt, a 20-something from Virginia who is national chair of the College Republican National Committee and a member of the RNC's Youth Advisory Council.
"There's only two parties to pick from, and with 300 million Americans, we're going to have some dissent among the parties. There's got to be a little bit of diversity among both parties, so that everyone is well-represented."
Britt said that "in the last few decades, we haven't really seen Republicans do super well with youth. We're finally starting to see that shift a little bit." She attributed that trend to rising concerns over the economy, national security and the cost of living.
Concerns about 'breakdown of family'
Jaron Bragg, a 24-year-old delegate from Beckley, W.Va., said the environment is one of his top priorities. "At the same time, I think we have to open up America for business. And that means drilling for gas and digging up coal," he said.
Bragg, who describes himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative, was glad the party removed negative references to LGBTQ+ rights from its platform. That move has been widely seen as softening the national Republican stance on same-sex marriage.
Also attending the convention was 17-year-old Hannah Faulkner, a conservative content creator from Nashville. She was there with Concerned Women for America, a group founded by conservative Christian activist Beverly LaHaye in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.
"The biggest issue that I'm personally passionate about is the breakdown of the family," Faulkner said. "Christian families are the most persecuted, the most attacked in our country today."
She said this was the fault of "globalists" — a term popularized by Trump that some Jewish groups have said is an antisemitic dogwhistle.
"When it comes to the GOP, obviously there are some things I disagree with. I don't agree with them endorsing any part of the LGBTQ movement," Faulkner said.
Still, she said the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday had brought the party's separate factions together in the realization that "if we don't unite as a party, then we're going to lose this country."
Bothered by border crisis
Many of the young people who spoke with CBC News said they were concerned about the border crisis, and frustrated by what they perceived as the Biden administration's mishandling of it.
Vanessa Vasquez-Anderson, a 34-year-old alternate delegate from Tampa, Fla., said border security was her top issue this election, calling it a "threat on all sides for every single state in this country."
"As a Latina, we're the biggest, staunch[est] supporters of President Trump when it comes to illegal immigration. We believe that it needs to be done correctly, there needs to be security protocols at the border," said Vasquez-Anderson.
If re-elected, Trump has promised to enact the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. During his last administration, he separated thousands of children from their families at the border to deter migrants, and has not ruled out reinstating that program.
Vasquez-Anderson felt Trump was pushing the GOP in the right direction on immigration.
"We've seen time and time again weakness in the Republican Party," she said. "Securing our borders shouldn't be an issue. It shouldn't be hard to do."
Environmental policies
Twenty-six year-old Brian Martinez, a Wisconsinite now based in Washington, D.C., was attending the convention with a conservative environmentalist group called American Conservation Coalition.
The group's goal is to nurture an "America First" approach to environmentalism that sees the U.S. become energy independent and not reliant on Russia or China, according to Martinez.
When asked how he feels about those within the Republican Party who deny climate change — including Trump, who has referred to it as a hoax — Martinez said, "I think it's just a messaging thing. I think everyone here at this party wants clean air, clean water and a clean future."
Rocklin Youngstrom, a 20-something page for the Hawaii delegation, said her top issues are abortion, gun rights and the cost of living.
"I'd hope for a pro-life America all around. I think that's what most people in the Republican Party hope for and pray for," she said. "And for gun rights — we were given our Second Amendment rights for a reason. So use them."
She was glad to see that Trump picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, seeing him as a worthy representative of the party's youth contingent: "I think he's got great values and morals and he stands for Republican values and that's exactly what we need."
WATCH | Young Republicans react to selection of J.D. Vance as Trump's running mate:
What is a 'conservative'?
Most of the interviewees called themselves Republicans, but not all accepted the "conservative" label — sometimes as a matter of geography. As New York delegate Rusat Ramgopal put it, "I'm sure people in the Texas Republican Party would not consider me a conservative."
Ramgopal, a 24-year-old child of Guyanese immigrants, was at a non-partisan student voting workshop on Thursday afternoon. Events like this address the "echo chamber" issue in U.S. politics, he said.
He expressed concern with the Biden administration's foreign policy, particularly that ongoing wars overseas could escalate and result in a U.S. draft.
He also criticized what he called the current government's "incompetence" in handling immigration.
"As a kid of immigrants, I don't like any type of rhetoric that over-generalizes or demonizes immigrants," he said. But he felt that the Biden administration had gone too far to accommodate migrants seeking asylum.
"Someone who has not yet paid into the system is receiving that and then that ends up creating even more division, even between your new immigrants and immigrants, who have been here beforehand," he said.
Overall, Ramgopal felt that the Democratic Party had taken young and minority voters for granted, and that it was now hurting for their support ahead of the general election.
"And I think being taken for granted by the Democratic Party helps those voters then take a second look at the Republican Party," he said.
Wyatt Jeffreys, a 23-year-old delegate from Conroe, Texas, said that border security and gun rights were top of mind for him this election.
He said the GOP represents his values more now than it did before Trump was elected to office, partly because he felt that the anti-abortion movement had expanded under Trump, and partly because Republicans are "focused more on uniting the country and not fighting over small things," he said.
"We've really got to unite to get what we want — which is Donald Trump in office, above all else."