RUSH: I’m gonna tell you something, folks: If the Republican Party bases its principles and vision on what kids in college or recent college graduates think after they’ve been indoctrinated by left-wing teachers and professors, then they’re gonna have big problem, the Republicans are.

This notion that you win the youth vote by endorsing whatever the youths support is like parents running their households based on what their kids demand. Parents can’t do that, and neither can a party. Maturation, experience, and knowledge gained outside of classroom all combine to turn people away from leftist professors. You have to have principles rock sold that you stand for that people can gravitate toward after you constantly explain them and make them available. It’s just like you can’t get the Hispanic vote by all of a sudden saying, “You know what? We’re for amnesty!”

It’s not gonna work. You can’t make your kids love you by doing stuff like that.

You can only hope to buy them, and what good is that?

‘Cause that doesn’t last, then you have to keep buying them after that.

It’s a disaster.

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RUSH: Let me tell you what — if the Republicans are gonna win — it’s gonna be on the economy. That’s what needs not be forgotten here. All this other stuff is passing, social stuff, and it is what it is. This economy is where this election will be won.

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RUSH: CBS News: “Eighty Percent of Americans are Unhappy with Washington,” and this is a second article on this poll from CBS. Also found that support for gun control is waning. That was yesterday, and that was big. And that’s why Obama is out big-time today trying to move the public opinion back to majority gun control position, which he hasn’t been able to pull off.

But yesterday CBS did have a poll that found support for gun control is waning. You know what they found? As gun control is talked about less, so is support for it. So the less it’s talked about, the less there is support for it, which makes total sense. That’s why Obama’s back out there today. But the second part of the poll is that 80% of Americans are unhappy with Washington. It’s actually more than two-thirds are unhappy and 30% are angry. So if you add the two quintiles, you come up with 80% total.

That’s the highest number recorded since they began polling this question in 2010. And across the board, Obama’s numbers have plummeted since February. At CBS they’re chalking that up to the sequester gambit not having worked. But there’s also troubling news for the country here. “Most Americans do not see a clear connection between a lower deficit and an improved economy.” So 80% are unhappy with Washington, but they were asked, “Well, do you think lowering the deficit would help?” Nope.

“Fewer than half believe cutting the deficit will make the economy better. Thirty-nine percent say they weren’t sure about that. On the other hand, just 6% say it would make things worse.” It’s fascinating stuff if you happen to be a political party that wants to win elections on the basis of the economy. I, frankly, believe that that’s where the Republican Party is gonna have to end up succeeding. I don’t care what else is out there, that is where the Democrat Party’s a sitting duck, and there’s no question they’re a sitting duck.

The challenge here is to find a way to beat the Limbaugh Theorem. There has to be a way to attach Obama to what’s happening to the country. Now, the way Obama continues to escape that attachment is by always campaigning, never appearing to govern, and thereby he never seems to be in charge of anything that’s gone wrong. Of course, we’ve talked about what’s happening to news business and who accesses news and how they’re being informed in the first hour of the program.

The simple fact of the matter is that Obama has an agenda and people disagree with it but they do not associate it with Obama. They do not link Obama’s agenda with the bad things happening in the economy. They hear Obama say, “Health care premiums are gonna come down 2500 bucks!” They hear Obama say, “I care what I do, I’m not raising the deficit by a dime and if a program does I’m not gonna do it.”

So they hear Obama say all these things; because he’s president, they believe him; and, as such, they’re not attaching or associating any of his agenda items, policies, with the direction of the country which they don’t like by a total of 80%. So it’s clear what the Republicans’ job is here. They have got to find a way to overcome the Limbaugh Theorem. They have got to find a way to attach Obama to his parties.

It’s gonna be very tough for them because they don’t really want to be critical of Obama because they think that that’s not gonna work. They think that they’ll only be criticized. They think they’ll be called racists or bigots or what have you. I know that the gay marriage argument has a lot of people worked up, but I don’t think it’s as many as you would be led to believe. I think the economy is what has people really, really concerned. Back pocket. There’s no question. You can have gay marriage all day long.

If you can’t buy gasoline or food or if you’re not confident that you’re gonna be able to hold onto your house — or worse than that, if you’re not confident that the government’s not gonna come and take the money out of your bank account — you don’t care who’s marrying who. If you see what’s happening in Cyprus… Now we don’t know how many people are; probably very few. Until ESPN does a story on it, the sports crowd won’t know. Until TMZ does a story on it, the Kardashian crowd won’t know.

‘Til E! Entertainment network does it, the Justin Bieber crowd won’t know. Until Roger Friedman does a piece on it, the Justin Timberlake crowd won’t know. So we don’t know how many Americans know what’s happening in Cyprus. But those who do are scared to death that it could happen here and they’re running around asking if it could. The answer is, yes. A statist is a statist, no matter where the statist is. An elitist, or a series of them who have run their own countries into the ground, are gonna do everything they can to avoid the blame for it.

They’re also gonna make a beeline for the money and wherever it is, and if it’s yours, they’re gonna come for it. It’s a legitimate fear to have. I’m telling you that there are some very wealthy and powerful money-manager types that I know, banking people that I know. They’re terrified that what’s happening in Cyprus could in fact happen here, and that in fact we have in place the very kind of people who would do it — and would get away with it, with their voters, the low-information crowd.

Try this: “The US economy grew at a moderately faster rate at the end of last year than previously reported, but the pace of growth remains sluggish, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. In the final quarter of 2013, the US economy expanded at an annual rate of 0.4%. That was slightly better than the previous estimate of 0.1% growth.” Do you believe this? We’re actually… This is AP trying to make good news out of economic growth of less than 1/2 of 1%. “Oh, 0.4%! Hey, it’s better than what they predicted at 0.1%.”

Jobless claims: “The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but probably not enough to suggest that the labor market recovery was taking a step back.” No, of course not! Because the new normal is 8% unemployment. We have an absolute economic disaster on our hands, and it doesn’t matter what’s happening with gay marriage or DOMA or any of that. Those things are bad, and I’m not trying to distinguish them. Like the Boy Scouts are being bullied by gay rights activists, story on that here.