YOUNG PEOPLE: STILL NOT REPUBLICAN, AND APPARENTLY QUITE READY FOR HILLARY

This new national poll from Quinnipiac is getting attention mostly because it shows a drop in Chris Christie's standing in a head-to-head 2016 matchup with Hillary Clinton:

In the wake of "Bridgegate," the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, several measures of New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie's 2016 presidential prospects are down, as he trails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 46 - 38 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

This compares to the results of a December 11 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University showing Gov. Christie at 42 percent and Secretary Clinton at 41 percent. The December results were almost identical to those of a November 13 survey.

But what's interesting to me is that Hillary Clinton utterly smokes Christie, and all the other Republican contenders named in the poll, among 18-to-29-year-olds. This matters as a snapshot of young people's attitudes now -- never mind 2016.

Clinton-Christie:





Clinton-Rand Paul:





Clinton-Ted Cruz:





Clinton-Jeb Bush:





Are Barack Obama's declining poll numbers among the young a sign that young people's party loyalty is up for grabs? Apparently not. Does Rand Paul's libertarianism represent a fresh path that young people might find enticing? Not so far. Is Hillary Clinton too old to appeal to the young, or too much a name from the past? Doesn't seem that way. Is Hillary too centrist and establishmentarian for the young? Obviously, if the alternative is one of these guys, that's not a problem.

No, the young aren't rejecting Hillary because she had a health care plan and later served in the cabinet of a guy who also had a health care plan that actually passed but wasn't initially implemented very well. And no, shockingly, the young aren't up in arms about BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI!

Back to the drawing board, Republicans. What you're doing isn't working, at least with regard to 2016, and beyond.