WASHINGTON (AP) — Visions of Republican elephants and Democratic donkeys are out. Today's young adults don't think red or blue either when they describe the two major political parties.

To them, Democrats and Republicans are about bleeding hearts, no souls, opportunity for the future.

A YouTube video posted Thursday by Medill News Service catalogues an informal political attitude check of 18- to 29-year-olds, and invites their input on the Internet.

There's plenty of attitude — with descriptions like ''dead weight,'' ''gay bashing'' and ''my parents'' among the responses. Young viewers can post their own short films at http://youtube.com/watch?v=C-xRYqIT_4M.

The initial participants — two dozen young people who were stopped on the sidewalks of Washington, D.C. — were asked to play a simple word game: Blurt out the first five things that come to mind when hearing the word Republican, then Democrat.

The off-the-cuff interviews sparked references to economic status, geographic locations, race and moral character — or lack thereof — to describe the parties.

''Moral'' and ''closed-minded'' were among the adjectives used to describe Republicans. Democrats were pegged as ''liberal'' and ''elitist.''

Daniel Hoefling, a 19-year-old politically unaffiliated student from Glastonbury, Conn., used the word ''bleeding'' to describe the Democratic Party. Allison DeMartino, a 21-year-old politically independent student from Hopewell Junction, N.Y., said Democrats ''need to get their act together.''

Laura Minicucci, a 21-year-old independent from Syracuse, N.Y., said Democrats have led a ''pathetic Congress'' and Republicans are ''closed-minded.''

Others associated a specific person with a party. Democrat Martha Hanna, 18, of Buffalo, N.Y., said former White House political adviser ''Karl Rove'' when asked to respond to Republican. Marissa Friedman, 22, of Denver, an independent employed in marketing, said ''Bill Clinton'' for Democrat.