Is the conservative movement collapsing?

[Asian Nazi]

"Preserving the status quo" is not conservatism. Reagan and Thatcher effected fundamental transformations of their societies.

Regardless, the point "there have always been temperamentally conservative individuals" is irrelevant to the question "is the conservative movement collapsing?".

lolk time to go back to your playpen dude

[Statilius the Epicurean]

"Preserving the status quo" is not conservatism. Reagan and Thatcher effected fundamental transformations of their societies.

Regardless, the point "there have always been temperamentally conservative individuals" is irrelevant to the question "is the conservative movement collapsing?".

lolk time to go back to your playpen dude

Excellent point.

[hopper]

True, but the Democrats dominated those positions in the 1970s and 1980s, when liberalism was collapsing. A lot of it is just gerrymandering and geographical favoritism (e.g., more widely spread voters).

Well it is interesting because if you subscribe to political trends based on generational replacement and the views of that generation, the Republican party is about to hit a wall of losses across the board in the coming decade or two as a natural result of losing the youth vote by large margins year after year (and what appears to be another cycle of large, expected 60%+ democratic youth/Millennial vote). I think it's by 2020 that the Millennial generation is supposed to comprise 40% - 45% of the actual voter electorate, and this generation has been voting Democratic in large majorities for a long time now.

So as for as the party, they are likely to be on the decline under its current platform (just like what eventually happened to New Deal Democrats) As for the ideas itself - Millennials are out of step with the older generations on a lot things, as polls have been showing for a long time now.

So I think it's more accurate to say that the movement is running out of voters.

Well yes and no. Overall yes Millennials do disagree with older Generations on issues but withink the Democrat Party older and younger voters don't disagree on the issues that much per Pew Research.

[Asian Nazi]

The supposed values gap between Millennials and older generations is seriously overhyped.  There is a much smaller gap between Millennials and their parents than there were between the Baby Boomers and their parents.  The overwhelmingly explanatory reason for the partisan gap is race. 

[IceSpear]

Conservatism is a gut feeling. It's a culture. It's a way of being. Policy and specifics don't matter.

And that is why conservatism will never die or collapse. It hasn't been about anything substantive for quite a while. Trumps knows this and has been exploiting and exposing it for the last half a year.

[Virginiá]

Well yes and no. Overall yes Millennials do disagree with older Generations on issues but withink the Democrat Party older and younger voters don't disagree on the issues that much per Pew Research.

Perhaps. It's probably fair to say that on a number of important issues, the gap isn't massively substantial but it isn't insignificant, either.  Off the top of my head, I would say that the gap isn't as large within the Democratic party itself because Millennials hold more favorable views on issues that are part of the Democratic party agenda. This means the Republican party will lose out when these voters age, and the conservative movement will have to endure a period of hibernation until it comes to relevance again (which it surely will at some point, but probably in a different form)

The supposed values gap between Millennials and older generations is seriously overhyped.  There is a much smaller gap between Millennials and their parents than there were between the Baby Boomers and their parents.  The overwhelmingly explanatory reason for the partisan gap is race.  

I suppose by that you mean party affiliation or ideological leanings? You're right that Millennial votes for Democrats are inflated by highly Democratic minorities, but the Millennial white vote is still more pro-Democratic than the older generation. In 2008, 54% of white Millennials voted for Obama, and in 2012, 44% of white Millennials did. That's a substantial increase over, say, the national white vote average in 2012 - 39%. It will be more than enough to sway a large number of elections when combined with the non-white vote. I also wouldn't consider 44% a ceiling, either, considering the recession was still hard on people in 2012 and as seen in 2008, they are far more open to voting Dem than older folks. So instead of a hard limit of 44% it could sway back and forth, which is not something the white vote does a lot at this time with people aged 40+.

http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/26/young-voters-supported-obama-less-but-may-have-mattered-more/

[Asian Nazi]

I suppose by that you mean party affiliation or ideological leanings? You're right that Millennial votes for Democrats are inflated by highly Democratic minorities, but the Millennial white vote is still more pro-Democratic than the older generation. In 2008, 54% of white Millennials voted for Obama, and in 2012, 44% of white Millennials did. That's a substantial increase over, say, the national white vote average in 2012 - 39%. It will be more than enough to sway a large number of elections when combined with the non-white vote. I also wouldn't consider 44% a ceiling, either, considering the recession was still hard on people in 2012 and as seen in 2008, they are far more open to voting Dem than older folks. So instead of a hard limit of 44% it could sway back and forth, which is not something the white vote does a lot at this time with people aged 40+.

http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/26/young-voters-supported-obama-less-but-may-have-mattered-more/

I'm talking about votes.  Party affiliation and "ideology" are generally unreliable.  And yes, white millennials have leaned a few points more Democratic over the past couple election than their parents, let's wait and see if that can hold up over the long run.