"I guess I pick you."

     Picking a candidate is hard, and you never really want to walk into the voter's booth with the thought of, "I guess I pick you."
    Many of us grow up and attain the same views as our parents, but around this age now, we know enough to make our own decisions. Perhaps the shift occurs because we don't want to be "just like our parents" and want to have our own independent views. The liberal shift at a young age could be due to the word free. Free education, free healthcare, and free this and that attracts a large group of people who are young and love something they don't have to pay for. We are all smart enough to realize nothing is truly free, but that's not true for everyone out there.
    As for choosing a candidate, I think its a mix of both charisma and policies. You wouldn't want a timid naysayer with really good policies because other countries would take advantage of a weaker leader. Also, we wouldn't want someone with good policies and a lying or inflammatory charisma. You gotta have both pieces of pie to attract the largest groups of support.