The Progressive Generation: How Young Adults Think About the Economy

[marmar]

from The Center for American Progress:



The Progressive Generation
How Young Adults Think About the Economy
By David Madland, Amanda Logan | May 6, 2008



Young adults today—often known as the Millennial Generation—have decidedly progressive views on economic issues, possibly more so than any previous generation. According to the results of our first-of-a-kind analysis of Millennials’ views on the economy, a majority of 18- to 29-year-olds (our definition of this generation) believe that the government can be a force for good in the economy, and that increased investments in healthcare, education, and other areas are necessary to ensure strong and sustainable economic growth.

Our analysis also shows that Millennials mostly reject the conservative viewpoint that government is the problem, and that free markets always produce the best results for society. Indeed, Millennials’ views are more progressive than those of other age groups today, and are more progressive than previous generations when they were younger. This is especially true when compared to the conservative views of Generation X—men and women who are now in their 30s and early 40s.

Previous research on Millennials largely focused on their views about social issues, giving short shrift to their economic views. This study provides an extensive examination of the economic views of young adults today, finding that on a wide range of economic issues, from taxes to government spending, and from healthcare to support for labor unions, young people today have decidedly progressive views. Cases in point:

*Millennials are more likely to support universal health coverage than any age group in the 30 previous years the question has been asked, with 57 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds saying that health insurance should come from a government insurance plan.

* Eighty-seven percent of Millennials think the government should spend more money on health care even if a tax increase is required to pay for it, the highest level of support in the question’s 20-year history.

* An overwhelming 95 percent of Millennials think education spending should be increased even if a tax increase is required to pay for it, the highest level ever recorded on this question in the 20 years it has been asked.

* Sixty-one percent of Millennials think the government should provide more services, the most support of any age group in any of the previous 20 years the question was asked.

* Millennials are very supportive of labor unions, giving them an average ranking of 60 on a 0-to-100 scale (with 0 indicating a more negative view of labor unions and 100 being a more positive view), the second-highest level of support of any age group in the over 40-year history of the question.

These findings on economic issues hold great significance for politics today and into the future.

Millennials are already the largest generation in size, weighing in today at between 80 and 95 million people, depending on exactly how the generations are defined. This exceeds the number of baby boomers, and with time, Millennials will comprise an even larger percentage of the population as older generations pass away.

What’s more, Millennials are a large, politically active generation that cares deeply about economic issues. Studies have found that they are, for example, more likely to express interest in politics and elections, care a good deal who wins, try to influence others’ votes, and attend political meetings. According to a report by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Millennials “are not bashful about expressing their voice and are quite active in the civic realms of group membership and volunteering.”

And Millennials are voting at increasingly high rates. Though young people are less likely to vote than older people, Millennials are starting to close the gap. “In the primary elections held thus far in 2008,” noted a Pew Research Center paper, “voter turnout has been up sharply, especially among young people.” And the increases in voting for Millennials this year come on top of other recent increases. In 2004, “turnout among young voters increased 12 percent compared to 2000, the biggest increase in any single age group.” As the director of Rock the Vote argues: “2008 is set to become the third major election in a row with an increase in turnout among young voters.”

The economy is the most important issue for Millennials in this year’s election, and has been a bigger concern for Millennials than older generations. For example, in the 2006 election, 23 percent of voters under 30 years old cited the economy as the most important issue, compared to only 14 percent of the rest of the electorate. A 2003 survey of 15-to 25-year-olds found that “jobs and the economy” was the most important problem facing the country, nearly double the number that said the war in Iraq.

Research suggests that the political opinions and voting patterns of young adults are likely to carry forward throughout their lives. Political attachments attitudes formed in early adulthood often continue to be held later in life. As a result, the shared experiences of Millennials— like those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II—can form a lasting worldview that shapes their political views throughout their lifetimes. And evidence indicates that Millennials already have a distinct generational identity, with 69 percent of them thinking their age group is unique, compared to only 42 percent of Generation X and 50 percent of baby boomers, who are now between 43 and 62 years of age.

This study did not attempt to pinpoint the source of progressive opinions of Millennials, but our research points to a number of possible reasons why in time they may well become known in the future as the Progressive Generation. Young adults today face more significant economic challenges than have other recent generations, among them lower rates of healthcare coverage, worsening job prospects, and higher levels of student loan debt—all legacies of the conservative policies that have dominated in recent years. In addition, Millennials are more likely than other age groups to disapprove of George W. Bush’s handling of his presidency, which could be fueling a rejection of the larger conservative agenda and driving support for progressive policies.

The upshot: This Progressive Generation could well be poised to transform the American political landscape in 2008 and beyond due to their embrace of decidedly progressive positions on economic issues and the role of government in economy. The results of our analysis detailed in the pages that follow, and the methodology behind it, clearly indicate the strong progressive leanings of Millennials today, and the likelihood these trends will endure over the coming decades.


http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/05/progressive_generation.html

[PVnRT]

1. Gee, I thought they were all just a bunch of stupid, lazy kids

Dumbass idealists! :sarcasm:

[The2ndWheel]

2. "necessary to ensure strong and sustainable economic growth"

So keep doing exactly what we can't continue to do.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Key word - "sustainable".

What we are doing is NOT sustainable. Moving strongly into green power, sustainable technologies, sustainable energy is what this generation can do - what we boomers (at least some of us) wanted to do but failed.

I, for one, am thrilled at the idea of passing the torch to a big, progressive generation.

[The2ndWheel]

6. Harnessing and extracting more energy from the environment for a single species is not sustainable

We can tell ourselves that its green, or clean, or whatever, but it isn't. We'll have just as many environmental problems as we do today, they'll just be different. That goes for whatever we end up doing. We can live in caves and hunt with sticks, and we can all live in some windy solar uotpia, we're going to have problems. Sustainable does not exist. Life gets in the way.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Fine.

So let's let loose a virus that wipes out all humans, and let the earth return to nature.

Unless you want a massive die-off of the human species, we MUST use sustainable technologies. Doing nothing is not an option.

What other fucking choice do we have?

[The2ndWheel]

18. And I'm the pessimistic one

We have to destroy the habitat in order to save ourselves from it? We can't exist within the limits? Is our species the Exxon/Monsanto/Wal-Mart of life on Earth? I wonder why we all cry when those corporations do what they do. We do the exact same thing to the planet, which is like a government. As you said, we have to let the planet return to nature, as if we've extracted it from nature.

There is no such thing as sustainable technologies. The only question is one of scale. Since every advance in technology has led to an increase in the scale on which we play, and with a population that will increase before it doesn't, and with billions of people still not hooked into the global socio-economic system, you're right, we don't have any fucking choice. We just can't complain when our only choice fucks everything up, since we have yet to extract ourselves from physical reality.

I never said there was an easy answer. The momentum of the last few thousand years won't be stopped or slowed down voluntarily. Not on any type of global scale anyway. We're going to keep doing what we've been doing, and we'll see how things play out. If everyone can have everything, then we'll have finally gotten there, and beaten existence. If everyone can't have everything, then we'll have plenty of issues to keep everyone busy.

[Echo In Light]

19. Green power/sustainable technologies/energies are crucial

We've come to the point of no return mark, and in a very short time, entire populations will be faced with making unprecedented {for our era} decisions/choices re approach to living. Given that grim reality and all it entails, many of the younger gen simply won't have a choice but to think and act progressively on all counts.

[Juche]

3. yehaw

As Phil Collins said "my generation will put it right". Well probably not, but we can counterbalance the negative impact southern whites have on national politics.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/813/gen-dems

25 point democrat advantage bitches. And the number may still be growing.

The GOP has now officially alieanted and pissed off blacks, latinos, jews, asians, GLBT, young people, libertarians, moderates, independents, the disabled and probably a bunch of other demographics.

[Indenturedebtor]

5. Yeah Baby Here We Come!

We're gonna fight! And we're gonna win!

Perhaps things have sunk low enough that people can see the forest for the trees again. That and I don't think all the E hurt either :P

[Crunchy Frog]

8. Hey kids get offa my lawn!

[Indenturedebtor]

9. LOL you do hear that alot

My RW Rush Limbaugh fan of a neighbor was lamenting a couple of months ago that all three of his kids are Liberals and he didn't know what was wrong with them. "How can they think that, those liberal ideas don't make any kind of sense... they're completely divorced from reality. But they'll learn in time. Winston Churchhill said that there is something wrong with you if you're not socialist in your youth and conservative in your old age."

My wife and I looked at each other, and I got to speak before she did "Well I wouldn't count on it. Most people that I grew up with see the problems our country faces, and we see the right wing policies that played a large role in causing them and have no intention of continuing those policies."

He then chaulked it all up to rebellion against parents etc and my wife told him that "Just because your father hits himself in the head with a hammer, doesn't mean you're a rebel for deciding not to do so." :rofl:

We have to fight this war, we have to pay this debt, we have to start out in this horrible economy, we have to live in fear because we can't afford to flee to the suburbs, we have to deal with global warming, we have to look hard to find locally owned stores and businesses, we can't join unions, we will have to rebuild our reputation in the world, we will have to deal with the terrorists, we will have to restore the constitution, and so on. You get out of highschool and start paying attention to world affairs and it's like "HOLY SHIT did they screw EVERYTHING up?!?!?!" Then you start to learn about the how and why, and you become a liberal progressive.

I was raised to be a moderate puke. Then I actually learned a few things, and the transformation was complete when I graduated from college and came fully face to face with the "American Dream".

Republicans had better be very afraid. The millenials I know are ambitious, politically aware, and PISSED AS HELL! We all want to make a million dollars a year and pay 50% of it in taxes to live in a healthy and progressive country!

To the barricade!!!!!!

[knight_of_the_star]

11. Exactly!

Even the ones who just want to go into business and don't care so much about politics still want something better than what we've been given.

Looks like Rove's dream of a permanent GOP majority backfired horribly.

[Indenturedebtor]

10. Kick for hope for the future

Kick

[calimary]

12. Now THIS gives me hope! I always regarded my children as my best revenge against

the limbots and bushies and cheneys and other assorted liars, pirates, cheaters, corner-cutters, cheapskates, and schmucks. Both of them are green-thinkers, with some pretty impressive understanding about social issues, open and nimble minds, and an ability to think longterm. They have well-attuned bullshit detectors, and my son wants to run for office someday. He'll be a progressive Dem, too, from the way he talks, thinks, reasons, and debates with his classmates (and tends to win those debates, too). In grade school, surrounded by a load of wealthy bush-lovers, he was often hailed as the "President of the Democratic Party" (pretty much single-handedly - he was greatly outnumbered) at school because he'd take up the mantle and score with it. Interestingly enough, the loudest son-of-Neanderthal has since awakened about the war, the lies, and the bullshit.

I like to think my husband and I have each, individually, replaced ourselves with TWO. Two new and improved ones. If this is what the younger generation looks like, then I think we just might be okay.

MIGHTY GLAD to hear this!!!

K&R&Bookmarked.

:thumbsup:

[Leftist Agitator]

13. What do you expect?

All but the oldest of us came of age under Bush.

We've seen firsthand what conservative idiocy does to the country.

[reggie the dog]

16. I came of age under Clinton

then watched W. destroy the USA......Then I left the USA. I am 29. I do still vote in the USA, however.

[JanMichael]

20. There's another factor too--- cheaper airfares, and the economy

of the nineties made it possible for this generation to socialize either directly, or indirectly (through friends, or the internet) with kids from European countries. That type of transcontinental cultural drift has been incredibly good for the younger folks, and something previous generations didn't have across the board.

[H8fascistcons]

14. Cautiously Optimistic

Well; Kind of sounds like good news but these young consumers have never bought anything made in America, in their life, everything coming from China and Japan. Makes me wonder if they really "get" it or not, when it comes to a good paying job buying American is their best hope...

[Indenturedebtor]

17. I think we do

It's not that complicated of a concept really.

Take a look at some footage of an Anti WTO protest sometime and try to estimate the average age ;)

[reggie the dog]

15. damn it, I thought I was gen X

I was born in 1979, now I find out that I am part of the millennial generation.....

[Winterblues]

21. Let's see if they do any better percentage wise in the voting department

than that same age group throughout the last five decades. I can only hope so but somehow doubt it...