By Michelle Blackston
They rocked the vote in 2008, but will they come out again in 2010? While the answer remains to be seen, state legislators can gain some insight on the politically astute, younger generation of voters that is credited with sweeping President Obama and Democrats into office on a platform of change.
Just this week, the Pew Research Center released its findings of a three-year survey of young adults in America. Called “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next,” the report compares the values, attitudes and behaviors of 18 to 29-year-olds with that of their older counterparts. Millennials, born between 1980 and 1992, are among the largest voting bloc in the United States next to their Baby Boomer parents.
At a meeting in Washington, moderated by PBS Newswoman Judy Woodruff, policy experts, social science researchers and representatives from a cross section of business, nonprofit and political action groups were all ears to learn more about these Millennials. The briefing of the Pew report included representatives from Google, the New York Times, MoveOn.org and the conservative-leaning New America foundation.
Study authors and other researchers shed some light on this Internet-savvy, connected generation. And if you weren't there, you could follow along via Twitter, Facebook and a video web stream of the meeting.
Millennials, it turns out, vote differently than their older counterparts: They tend to be more liberal and vote Democratic than even their nearest age cohort the Generation Xers.
“It’s not clear if the liberal, Democratic and activist tendencies of this new generation will stay with them throughout their life cycle. The troubles faced by the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress have already taken a toll on the Millennials’ attitudes about the party and the president,” according to the report.
The research sought to better understand the attitudes, beliefs and demographics of Millennials. So, what makes up this generation? One word: Technology.
By and large, they identify themselves through technology. From social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace to text messaging and pinging, these young adults are connected with their respective networks in the workplace, at home and school. Now that doesn’t mean they don’t have face-to-face interactions, to the contrary, according to the researchers. They are using these social media sources to keep tabs on their friends in their network.
This demographic is also old-fashioned. Millennials say they have the same work ethic and family values as all three of the previous generations: Xers, Boomers and the Silent generation, those over the age of 65.
Also, more of these individuals are college bound or see college in their future compared to other generations. As many as 40 percent indicate they plan to attend college or are enrolled in a post-secondary institution. This group is more ethnically diverse, with 19 percent of this generation identified as Hispanic. Yet these are not immigrants, but the children of immigrants. They have grown up in the United States and identify with American culture.
Reflecting the nation's ongoing economic strife, some 37 percent of this generation is unemployed. The study found this to be the highest rate of unemployment in a demographic of this age since 1972 when Gallop did a similar survey of young adults. But yet they remain optimistic. They believe they will have good economic future and are upbeat about the way things are going for them. And this jobless recovery is going to be most disruptive to this generation but they aren’t pointing fingers as they believe it’s their future to make. And that translates into voting trends.
The needs of the Millennials are different, too. They need to be on Facebook and connected to an online audience. They are affectionately also called the “Look-at-Me” generation. They tell every detail from brushing their teeth to walking the dog on their social media status updates and expect people to care. Three-fourths of those surveyed have an online social network. That’s more than any of the other demographics surveyed. They have at their fingertips a cyber soap box where they post videos, send text messages and share photos. And it isn’t too unrealistic to consider we might someday soon have the first Facebook president.
On the other hand, there are similarities between Millennials and the previous generations: they value family. Millennials say they believe it’s important for parents to play an active role in their children’s lives. They also believe their parents have better values than they do and they see family as the ultimate social safety net. However, only 21 percent of this group is married.
“Generations, like people, have personalities, and Millennials – the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium – have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change,” according to the report.
And if the 2008 election is any indication, the Millennials could have a significant effect on the course of elections in the states and the nation.
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