Public Opinion Snapshot: Millennials Are a Progressive Generation

[DrToast]

Last November’s election was the first in which the 18- to 29-year-old age group was drawn exclusively from the Millennial generation, and they gave Obama a whopping 34-point margin, 66 percent to 32 percent. This compares to only a 9-point margin for Kerry in 2004. Behind this striking result is a deeper story of a generation with progressive views in all areas and big expectations for change that will fundamentally reshape our electorate.

How big are these expectations for change? Consider these results of a national survey on "The Political Ideology of the Millennial Generation," by John Halpin and Karl Agne, that was released by CAP at the same time as my new report. The survey included a battery of 40 statements, each of which was a positive expression of either a conservative or progressive argument, with an even mix between conservative and progressive arguments.

Overall, Millennials expressed far more agreement with the progressive than conservative arguments. Indeed, of the 21 values and beliefs garnering majority support in the survey, only four can be classified as conservative. Moreover, six of the top seven statements in terms of level of agreement were progressive statements. These statements included such items as the need for government investment in education, infrastructure, and science; the need for a transition to clean energy; the need for America to play a leading role in addressing climate change; the need to improve America’s image around the world; and the need for universal health coverage.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/opinion_0518.html

Change is coming...

[Odin2005]

1. "only four can be classified as conservative" but the Boomer Purists will focus only on those 4...

...issues and declare my generation worthless and go back to their rants about how Twitter and text-message-speak prove that we are stupid. :eyes: