New media can't overcome old message, GOP's digital strategists say Republicans now have the iPhone apps, rapid-response tweets, Facebook likes, and microtargeting that put them on par with Democrats. But the digitally fueled push to capture new voters is also a reminder of how much ground the GOP still needs to make up in terms of drawing younger and more diverse supporters into the party. As social media and digital tools have become increasingly mainstream and no longer the domain of the young and the hip, the early stages of GOP's digital revolution have tended to do more to revive its traditional base of support among older, white voters than expand and diversify the party on a grass-roots level. Republican strategist David All, for instance, had imagined that tech-savvy, young "Netflix Republicans" would flock to a revived GOP that had created a new community and a bigger party tent through the Internet. Another GOP strategist, Mindy Finn, similarly described the digital push as part of a bigger transformation. "The Republican Party cannot reboot if it's viewed only as a party of old, crusty white guys," she told The Washington Post in November 2008 as she was launching a new digital platform to "Rebuild the Party." Youthful enthusiasm has fallen off for President Obama since 2008, but that doesn't mean that young people are flocking to Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Among eligible voters under 30, an October poll from the Harvard Institute of Politics found that approval of Romney is at 36 percent, compared to 55 percent for Obama - only a few points above John McCain's performance with the same age group, which he lost by a margin of 32 percent to 66 percent. Romney has also failed to make inroads with minorities, drawing a full 91 percent of his vote from white voters, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll. That poll showed that the racial gap between the two parties has grown bigger than in 2008. The GOP's new digital prowess could still help the party prevail on Tuesday as the Romney campaign makes its last-minute push to generate enthusiasm and get out of the vote. But that victory may be in spite of the country's changing demographics, not because of them. The digital divide Finn and All were among the young Republican consultants who've spent much of the past decade urging their own party to catch up. Finn help to found the first new-media department at the Republican National Committee in 2005, working together with eCampaign Director Patrick Ruffini. All led the push on Capitol Hill, helping then-Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) start the first congressional blog in 2005 and launching a conservative equivalent to ActBlue, a progressive PAC, in 2007.