What were your political leanings at 18 years old?

[MadMonkey]

Conservative with some minor "kiddy liberal" leanings I didn't recognize.

My politics have evolved since then and continue to do so, but at this point its mostly rooting out conservative and liberal tendencies that would make me want to restrict freedom and liberty.

I had a major libertarian awakening over the last few years.

[anygunanywhere]

Conservative from the start. Never liked the dumbocrats.

[jason812]

I was 18 in '97 and Libertarian.

I don't know what I am now. More of a Constitutional Originalist I suppose.

[Oldgringo]

I would've voted for Kennedy in 1960 but I wasn't old enough; however, when I was old enough, I voted for Barry Goldwater and have voted for every Republican since then. My parents, bless their hearts, were both children of 'The Great Depression'. They always voted for Roosevelt and his party.

The voting age should never have been lowered EXCEPT for active military!

[crazy2medic]

My first presidential election I voted for Ronald Reagan!

[strogg]

I wasn't terribly political in high school, but I was definitely leaning left. By senior year, I was very much drinking the neo-socialist coolaid. I went into college very political with that mentality, which served me well because I attended and somehow graduated from UC Davis. Something weird happened to me during the last couple years there, though. I went through this enlightenment phase where I started using this piece of fat between my ears that seemingly no one else there knew about. By the time I got out, I was pretty much a conservative libertarian of sorts. Now things have evolved a bit more, and I'm more of a constitutional libertarian, if that makes any sense.

[Redneck_Buddha]

Conservative. I was 18 in 1980 and voted for Reagan, but had long hair and some of the proclivities of a long hair at the time. Definitely an odd mix.

[The Annoyed Man]

I was raised in a liberal democrat family, and I was a straight ticket democrat voter from when I first registered in 1970, until sometime in Bill Clinton's first term. I cast my first vote as a republican for Bob Dole.

[talltex]

I grew up in the 60's and 70's...had my draft card and turned 18 my freshman year of college. In your poll, you have the choices as Democrat ( Liberal) and Republican (Conservative) and the others. Anytime between 1836 and 1978, voting Democrat was NOT considered "liberal". If you wanted to get elected to an office in Texas you ran as a Democrat. There was only ONE Republican Governor in Texas from 1836 (Elisha M Pease who was listed as a "republican" or "Unionist" from 1867 to 1874 during Reconstruction following the Civil War and he was appointed by the Federal government), until Bill Clements took office in 1979 as the first elected Republican Governor of Texas. John Tower in East Texas was the only Republican Senator for a long time, and he was considered an anomaly because the people didn't vote for him because he was Republican, but in spite of it. It was very difficult to get elected to any County office if you didn't run as a Democrat until it began to change in the latter 80's. Once the shift started, the same people that had been running as Democrats started changing over to the Republican party not because their veiwpoints had changed but because that was what you had to do if you wanted to stay in office. They were never liberals to start with, but the perception had changed. Even then, there were two Democratic Governors elected between Clements, Briscoe and Bush -- Mark White and Ann Richards. Back then there was not the polarization between the parties we have today, and the parties didn't control and demand strict adherence to the party line as they do now, which allowed the legislators the ability to vote their own conscience on most issues. Nowdays, you either vote the way the party leadership tells you to, or you will not stay in Austin more than one term.

[imkopaka]

I was too uninformed about politics to understand much at 18, but I knew liberals wanted to take my guns, so I voted republican. I was on the bus to MCRD San Diego when I heard over the radio that Obama had won. Talk about bad timing.

[crazy2medic]

Ann Richards only got one term, she vetoed the first CHL bill and lost her reelection bid! She admitted that vetoing that bill cost her a second term!

[Redneck_Buddha]

Ann Richards only got one term, she vetoed the first CHL bill and lost her reelection bid! She admitted that vetoing that bill cost her a second term!

But she was one tough grandma!

[03Lightningrocks]

This poll was not really to determine the changes in the party platforms. Democrats may not have been liberals by today's standards but they were still liberals as compared to Republicans. Many found the word liberal an insult back then, so they resisted the label. But they were still liberal in their viewpoints.

[n5wmk]

I pretty much aligned with the Republican party when I was 17/18, because - well, Mom and Dad were Republicans.

I continued that leaning as I read more and saw more what was going on in the country/world. I joined the Young Republicans during my first semester of college.

I couldn't vote yet at 18 - the 26th Amendment was passed about 15 months after. But I was eligible for the draft before I could vote.

I got my draft notice when I was 19 and I went to basic training on my 20th birthday.

I've stayed with the Republican party ever since. Do I agree with everything? No, but more of this party than any of the others.

[TxRVer]

I was apolitical until my third year in the Air Force when Carter became president and stopped the B1 bomber. I've been a conservative ever since.