The speculation is now over! Mitt Romney has selected Paul Ryan the Wisconsin representative to be his running mate. While Ryan has been having a good year due to his resurgence in Republican popularity due to his very conservative and somewhat controversial budget proposals. The things and actions though that make individuals in the conservative base embrace Ryan could turn on the Republican duo and complicate the Republican run for the presidency.
While Romney may have been seen as a diluted conservative selecting Ryan as a running mate seems to have bridged the gap between social conservatives and the financially conservative tea party in the far right. While bonding the GOP base is a good thing there are many aspects of the conservative approved budget may jeopardize some of the votes from older Americans as well as Jewish Americans in Florida, a group that Romney worked hard to solidify during his recent foreign trip.
With 29 electoral votes up for grabs, Florida has always been an essential swing state every Presidential election. However, many in Florida were hoping that Romney would select Marco Rubio to be his number 2. Not only is Rubio well liked but his connection to the Hispanic community would have helped in large cities like Miami. There is a much larger issue though besides perhaps giving up some of the Latino vote.
The Ryan budget would completely revamp Medicare something that worries older Americans deeply as well as the Jewish base. While the economy is still the number one issue for the majority of voting Americans selecting Ryan has caused a turn of topic to welfare reform and changes to Medicaid and Medicare. These issues are unpopular with older Americans of both parties a CNN poll recently found that citizens 35-58 found the Ryan proposal very unpopular as well as 74% of senior citizens and 54% of conservatives who thought the welfare change was an unfavorable shift in policy. While Ryan may be able to excite the conservative crowd he doesn’t seem to have the ability to reach out and bring in Independent voters. So while Ryan may be able to help amongst the base already voting for Romney he does little to help Romney with voters they need to snatch up crucial swing states especially with Florida.
