There Is Hope For The Youth Of America: Millennials Share Democrats' Values
Younger voters may not identify as Democrats, but they're committed to the same causes.
There a few new polls and surveys coming out that aren't good news for Conservatives, but great news for America. Pew Research just released their findings from a survey called Millennials in Adulthood that says when it comes to politics, millenials lean to the Democratic party.
Young adults like to think of themselves as independent, but when it comes to politics, they're more likely than not to lean to the left.
Half of American adults ages 18 to 33 are self-described political independents, according to a survey out Friday, but at the same time half of these so-called millennials are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party, the highest share for any age group over the last decade.
In addition, young adults tend to be single and churchless — turning away from their predecessors' proclivity for religion and marriage, according the Pew Research Center survey. Almost two-thirds don't classify themselves as "a religious person." And when it comes to tying the knot: Only about 1 in 4 millennials is married. Almost half of baby boomers were married at that age.
The youth of America are also turning against the old traditions of the greatest generation by being churchless and single. And it's interesting what the DLC, Third Way wing of the Democratic party has been doing to the Democratic brand as a whole. These groups have been abandoning core Democratic principles and millennials are noticing and not wanting to be classified in their camp.
This can especially be seen when it comes to politics. Fifty percent of the millennials identify themselves as political independents, while only 27 percent said Democrat and 17 percent said Republican. The independent identification for millennials is an increase from 38 percent back in 2004.
"It's not that they don't have strong political opinions, they do," Taylor said. "It's simply that they choose not to identify themselves with either political party."
When the self-identified Democratic millennials combined with the self-described independents who lean Democratic, half — 50 percent — of the millennials are Democrats or Democratic-leaning while 34 percent are Republicans or Republican-leaning.
"They don't choose to identify, but they have strong views and their views are views that most people conventionally associate with the Democratic Party," Taylor said. "They believe in a big activist government on some of the social issues of the day — gay marriage, marijuana legalization, immigration. Their views are much more aligned with the Democratic Party.
My advice to conservatives is to keep doing what you're doing. Keep letting the creepy CPACers dictate to you where your group is headed. That's the best thing all around for everyone involved.