Rand Paul walks a fine line between attempting to court the “Young Outsiders” (fiscally conservative and socially liberal millennials) voting bloc and outright contradicting himself, saying he is “100% pro-life” but “supports the morning-after pill.”

Christopher White at The College Fix has the story:

Prolife Rand Paul to college students: ‘I am not opposed to the morning-after pill’

After a recent speech at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Sen. Rand Paul fielded questions from the crowd, and he answered them with the poise expected of an experienced politician.

But then one woman stood up and asked Paul whether he is opposed to Plan B, commonly known as the morning-after pill. Paul, who states on his website that “I am 100% pro-life” and introduced the Life at Conception Act in 2013 that essentially extends Constitutional rights to the unborn, was visibly stumped at first by the question.

The Republican senator from Kentucky ended up answering the question in the negative, telling the woman: “I am not opposed to birth control.” After a long pause, he added: “That’s basically what Plan B is. Plan B is taking two birth control pills in the morning and two in the evening, and I am not opposed to that.”

While he answered the question forthrightly, his trepidation was understandable.

Social conservatives have bridled at the likely presidential candidate’s stances on abortion in the past. During an interview earlier this year, Paul said that he is not in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, which left some social conservatives rankled.

He is in a difficult position. If Paul is to make a serious run at the presidency in 2016, he is going to have to find a way to court the conservative base while keeping the libertarian crowd he inherited from his father, Ron Paul.

While social conservatives are unsure about some of his stances, the college libertarian crowd is still fully in Rand Paul’s corner.

Some might beg to differ. Natasha McKenzie, president of the College Democrats of America, wrote an op-ed in The Hill recently that suggested Paul is a brand millennials aren’t buying.

“Rand Paul’s policies may please folks like the Koch brothers, but they’re wildly detached from the needs of young Americans,” she stated. “Democrats win young voters because we fight for their values, and if Rand Paul is the best the GOP’s got, that contrast will only be clearer.”

But perhaps it’s McKenzie who is out of touch. Paul won admiration from many young people when he famously filibustered in 2013 against drone warfare.

What’s more, a newly coined voting bloc called “Young Outsiders” has two major attributes – they are socially liberal and fiscally conservative. These “Young Outsiders” – named by the Pew Research Center in its recently released political typology report, make up about 13 percent of the voting population and could very well swing future elections in Republicans’ favor, research finds.

It’s a voting bloc that fits within Paul’s polemics.