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RainDog

(28,784 posts)
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 02:50 PM Dec 2012

Millennials are more liberal than the politicians they elected

This is the voting bloc for the future. It's not concerned with making nice with Republicans. Millennials want real change - not cuts to their grandparents social security nor medical services provided by govt. programs. They are the voters Democrats should be thinking about as they create the reality of who they are by the policies they endorse and the compromises they make.

According to Pew -

They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. They’re less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history.


Higher levels of education equate with less religious belief so there goes that one for the conservatives. Already one in four are unaffiliated with any religious belief. With fewer in the military, they won't see it as a personal bread and butter issue and will be more willing to cut out a lot of the fiscal irresponsibility from defense contractors, who are like Napoleon the pig at the govt trough.

But at the moment, fully 37% of 18- to 29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce, the highest share among this age group in more than three decades. Research shows that young people who graduate from college in a bad economy typically suffer long-term consequences — with effects on their careers and earnings that linger as long as 15 years.


This is the age cohort that would benefit from federal jobs programs that was part of climbing out of the last depression forced upon the American public by the parasitic "ownership class" that's always too big to fail. or jail.

More so than other generations, they believe government should do more to solve problems. (See chapter 8 in the full report).

Well, there's a loser for Republicans and conservatives who pretended they wanted govt out of people's lives.

Politically, Millennials were among Barack Obama’s strongest supporters in 2008, backing him for president by more than a two-to-one ratio (66% to 32%)

Yet

...the political enthusiasms of Millennials have since cooled -for Obama and his message of change, for the Democratic Party and, quite possibly, for politics itself. About half of Millennials say the president has failed to change the way Washington works, which had been the central promise of his candidacy. Of those who say this, three-in-ten blame Obama himself, while more than half blame his political opponents and special interests.

To be sure, Millennials remain the most likely of any generation to self-identify as liberals; they are less supportive than their elders of an assertive national security policy and more supportive of a progressive domestic social agenda. They are still more likely than any other age group to identify as Democrats. Yet by early 2010, their support for Obama and the Democrats had reced
ed, as evidenced both by survey data and by their low level of participation in recent off-year and special elections.


They are also the largest segment of the population to favor legalization of marijuana. but again we see that D.C. lives in a bit of a bubble and can't move the bureaucratic ship that is bad policy in this regard... which is one of the most disappointing things to mils about politics.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/

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RainDog

(28,784 posts)
2. Democrats need to pander to Democratic voters, not Republican legislators
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 02:58 PM
Dec 2012

Democrats would have full control of the legislature if not for gerrymandering.

Democrats need to stop pretending that conservatives have anything useful to offer when their economic, military and social policies have been failures - and bring even more millennials into the Democratic tent by standing up to those who continually favor the rich over the middle and lower classes.

So few Americans bother to vote in the first place - and one reason is because it seems that no matter what the vote, conservatives still think they get to decide everyone's future.

They should not have this much influence when they are dismissed by so many.

tabbycat31

(6,336 posts)
3. if they vote that is
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 03:01 PM
Dec 2012

This is a generation that I am on the cusp of but identify with. (I was born in 1980 and was a very late bloomer). They came through big time in 2008 and 2012, but were absent in 2009 (NJ and VA had governor's races in which the GOP swept), 2010 (need I say more), and 2011 (NJ and VA had their entire statehouse on the ballot).

THey need to vote in the same pattern that their grandparents do.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
4. You have to give people a reason to go to the polls
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 03:05 PM
Dec 2012

When banks are bailed out or given inconsequential fines for criminals acts (the recent money-laundering scheme and the deal made with the Justice Dept.) people grow to think it doesn't matter if they vote b/c they see the same corruption among the powerful.

The overwhelming numbers that voted for Obama voted for Change in 2008.

Obama has a mandate with this last election.

He needs to use it to put conservatives in their place - in the dust bin of the 20th c.

tabbycat31

(6,336 posts)
5. Trust me, it is not without trying
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 03:17 PM
Dec 2012

I'm a field staffer for campaigns and I know all about voter turnout. In 2009, we gave them the "they're counting you out, prove them wrong" speech and sometimes it worked, but it was only the ones we got to.

Another issue is that younger people's voting history fails to put them in the 'likely voter' models you hear a lot from pollsters. With the exception of when I had groups of younger people, I barely did any youth outreach. Instead I talked to 'likely voters' who had voted in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 presidentials and tried to get them to vote for our candidate. (I was with a congressional campaign in a swing state, and OFA was very aggressive about voter registration and going after voters on the two large college campuses in my district, so I left that to them).

NYC Liberal

(20,132 posts)
8. And when they don't vote then the same people get elected,
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 07:51 PM
Dec 2012

which means they'll continue to be disappointed.

Also, people's civic duty doesn't stop with voting. Too many people think that they can go out every 2 or 4 years, cast their ballot, and then wait for things to change. Voting is only the beginning; it's the first step, not the last.

Not voting is probably the absolute dumbest thing one could do. My takeaway from many people who don't vote is that they seem to want to be disappointed. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. "We don't like the people in power! So we're going to let them stay in power!"

WCGreen

(45,558 posts)
7. Yea, you know, whatever....
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 07:47 PM
Dec 2012

What my hipster nephew said about voting in 2010...

They will when they start to settle down.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
6. This has been the case for decades, yet Republicans and conservative Democrats continue to control
Sat Dec 29, 2012, 04:18 PM
Dec 2012

the federal government. Together. When polled about issues, the views and desires of the American people have almost always been more progressive than laws and policies would indicate.

TheKentuckian

(24,943 posts)
9. The only time we the people get anything is to relieve pressure
Sun Dec 30, 2012, 07:20 AM
Dec 2012

when "the mobs" are on the verge of "burning everything down".

I think the mob should ever be mobilized, orchestrated, and have the ability to be well equipped should the need arise.

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