GOP CONSULTANT SAYS GOP NOT HIP WITH YOUNGER VOTERS

Vincent Harris, CEO of Harris Media and Chief Digital Strategist for Kentucky Senator and 2016 Presidential candidate Rand Paul, says, “The old way of consuming media is dying” and “in some cases, it is dead.”

We are living in a post-television age for younger voters. This is an age where mundane aspects of life are shared with ones closest friends on Snapchat and where YouTube stars who film themselves eating cereal in their bathtubs are getting an audience with the President of the United States.

“While the media, academics, and pundits have all discussed at length the potential coming problems for Republicans with changing ethnic and social demographics, there has been little discussion of another basic issue in the party: we are dramatically behind in the ways we connect with voters. Put plainly: the Republican idea of online video content is largely predicated on putting a television ad on YouTube.”

While teenagers are thinking of YouTube channels as reality television, Republicans are thinking of them as a place for stale television interviews, scripted to-camera policy dialogues, and :30 second made-for-tv spots. Political video content has changed very little since President Eisenhower launched the first well-known spot in 1952. Focus groups and polls have certainly helped perfect the tone, message, verbiage, and presentation, but political video content has remained scripted, polished, and largely inauthentic.

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