The good news for the GOP is only temporary

But the Republican Party has done more to alienate young, college-educated voters in recent years than ever before. A nationwide poll fielded in late September by College Pulse of more than 1,500 students at 285 different colleges and universities shows that nearly three-quarters of college-age voters do not think the Republican Party represents them in any capacity. Sixty-six percent of students today cannot imagine registering as Republicans in the next 10 years, when their voices may be even stronger. And a striking 43 percent of respondents think the Republican Party is flat-out racist; only 31 percent disagree. (The poll, which we co-sponsored, was conducted by College Pulse, a firm that specializes in student polling and frequently supplies data to researchers. Their online surveys are weighted and rebalanced to reflect the national population of college students.)

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Young, educated voters have favored Democratic candidates for decades, but the gap has grown much larger than before. Most revealing, perhaps: The survey showed the Republican Party has become directly associated with racist, unconstitutional attitudes that strike most students as beyond the pale. They perceive Republicans as a threat to their own future, and democracy in general.

There are some signs, however, that this damaging view is not irreparable — in part because college students don’t strongly identify with the Democratic Party.

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