Millennials Say One Thing But Vote Another? : Trend Lines Blurred

I have my doubts about what the next generation say and what they actually believe. It's one thing to say to someone this is what I believe right now, but it's entirely something else when one is faced with making decisions without outside interference, like that in the voting booth.

It is my contention, when it's crunch time, a whole host of things come into play that will influence a decision that does not impact you physically and immediately. Standing the voting booth and having to make the decision that will be beneficial to you in the near future as against making a decision for the long term are two different animals. One's history of education and ones exposures to life long trends will influence your decision. Where you where educated and who your friends are will make a difference.

So, standing in the booth to pull the right lever is something completely different then talking to someone on the phone or even in person. If you have always voted for the same party without understanding why, it's likely you will continue to vote the same way. It is what it is.

Making a change in your personal history is not something that happens easily or randomly when you are alone, it takes a willingness to change a habit that you understand is in conflict with what you have always believed to be the truth. You know the right thing to do but it's too difficult to make that decision right now, you'll think about later.

But the conflict sometimes doesn't change ones prospective enough to actually change one's history even after considerable contemplation. Case in point was the Scott Walker Recall in Wisconsin. A majority voted against the recall by even margins larger then when he was elected the first time, but when it came to the election for president, the majority voted by habit, by their history. The change was just to great to overcome even when the voter knew what was best for themselves and the country. They voted using common sense in the recall election but voted by habit in the next one.

Millennial Support for Big Government Wanes if It Means Higher Taxes
Source: "Millennials: The Politically Unclaimed Generation," Reason-Rupe 2014 Millennial Survey, July 10, 2014.

July 21, 2014

Millennials distrust political parties and are largely socially liberal but fiscally centrist, according to the latest Reason-Rupe survey. The survey gathered responses from 2,000 adults ages 18 to 29 between late February and mid-March 2014, finding that today's young Americans are largely unaligned with traditional political parties:

• While young adults have supported Democrat political candidates since 2004, one-third of millennials identify themselves as independents -- three times the number of Americans over the age of 30 who do so.
• Twenty-eight percent of millennials trust neither major party to handle the nation's issues. Fifty percent do not trust either party to handle privacy.

Notably, the poll found that millennial support for a government that provides more services declines when the costs of such services become clear and when millennials make more money and become more responsible:

• According to the poll, 54 percent favor "larger government with more services," while 43 percent favor "smaller government with fewer services." But after introducing tax rates into the mix, 57 percent favor smaller government.
• Similarly, of those millennials whose parents pay for their health insurance, 57 percent favor increasing health insurance premiums to provide the uninsured with health coverage. But of millennials who pay for their own health insurance, 59 percent oppose paying more in premiums, while just 39 percent are in favor.
• Of those making less than $20,000 annually, 53 percent support income distribution, while 39 percent oppose it. But among those making $40,000 or more, only 42 percent support income distribution while 54 percent oppose it.

The survey found mixed support for government action:

• Seven in 10 millennials support government guarantees for housing, health insurance and income, yet only 32 percent reported that they preferred a government-managed economy, compared to 64 percent who supported a free market over a state-managed market.
• A respective 70 percent and 64 percent of millennials have a positive view of competition and profit. More than half reported that they would like to start their own businesses.
• While just 42 percent of millennials believed that government was inefficient and wasteful in 2009, 66 percent reported thinking so today. Sixty-three percent said that regulators favor special interests over the public.

Significantly, only 16 percent of those surveyed could accurately define socialism, yet 42 percent reported preferring socialism to capitalism.

The survey also indicated that young American adults believe in personal responsibility and other free-market values. When asked to explain success, respondents listed hard work, ambition and self-discipline as the top three explanations for wealth. The most common explanations for poverty were poor life choices, lack of job opportunities and lack of work ethic.

According to the report, six in 10 want to live in a society that distributes wealth based on achievement, even at the expense of unequal outcomes.