According to exit polling data, in both the 2008 and 2012 elections, Millennials (young adults 18 to 33) were a reliably leftist demographic, both in their voting and their views. Now, it appears that – even though they remain decidedly liberal on political and social issues – this influential group of Americans is up for grabs in the 2014 and 2016 elections. That is to say that no specific politician or ideology can count on their support.
The Pew Research Center’s just-released survey reveals that as they move into adulthood, the Millennial generation is “at or near the highest levels of political and religious disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the quarter-century that the Pew Research Center has been polling on these topics.” In fact, Pew reports that half of that age group claims to be politically independent, and almost a third see very little difference between the two major political parties. The growth of Millennial independents is disturbing to both parties because only 38 percent were politically independent in 2004, meaning, as NPR puts it, “both parties have lost ground among young people.” So much money spent targeting Millennials by both parties, and yet the voting bloc considered most vulnerable to political advertising and rhetorical manipulation is not falling in line on the issues. The left is losing them on gun control, ObamaCare, and the environment, while the right is losing them on abortion (at least in this Pew survey, in contrast to concessions by the abortion groups and other polls that show Millennials as more pro-life than their parents). One of the troubling findings in the survey is that “about three-in-ten (29%) say they are not affiliated with any religion.” Coupled with their lack of political affiliation, this rootless generation, with little grounding in historical knowledge or moral...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
