Gen Y In The US Overwhelmingly Supports Liberal Economic And Foreign Policy

I think you're taking a general thing that young people are usually aligned with and just applying it to Gen Y. But that doesn't mean that Gen Y will always be aligned with liberal politics. It's not a hidden fact that the majority of young people are more liberal, and not just now. Look at the 60's. But as people get older and older, they lose some of their idealism and start to think more about what's the best for themselves and their families. They then align with the politics that help them out the most.

That being said, you're probably right about the GOP being dead, unless they change their policies and try to restart themselves for the new era. Which is something that they will do, since politics is never a black and white thing and always a changing process. How they'll do that? I have no idea, but I can bet that they will.

I am a millennial and am as conservative as anybody and even I would vote yes on most of these (not the global warming one or the health care one).

The way the questions are worded are simply ridiculous.

Saying I want the gov to invest in infrastructure, education and science is in no way an endorsement of liberal policy. The gov has ALWAYS invested in these things - even under conservative presidents/congress'. The question does not ask if I want MORE investment than before. It doesn't ask if I think we can improve our education system by throwing more money at it. Find me one conservative from any generation who says the gov should not spend a single penny on these three things.

Similarly, even if I believe we should eventually get away from oil, that doesn't mean I want the gov to be involved.

Your lack of insight and analysis is not shocking but truly is laughable.

All that being said, I don't disagree with your underlying premise that the younger generations are more liberal. They will either wise up eventually like younger generations have always historically done, or this country will become more like Europe, which is a very scary thought.

Brazen, This is the best we can do? Seriously?

Haha, I have nothing more to add to this conversation. Everyone else beat me to the points!

1. Questions are horribly worded and anyone would agree. (What I find laughable is the "strong government" term, they are trying their darndest to not say "big" or "socialism" aren't they?)

2. Absolutely right, they are not paying taxes and even if they are, they are not taking a close enough look. (Until I got married and had a kid, I never looked at the percentage taken out...over 35% and I don't even make $40,000 a year!!?)

3. This generation surely has grown up in a "safe" "me" environment. You don't get failing grades anymore, dodgeball singles out kids so it can't be played, trophies are given to 6th place winners (even if there are only 6 people participating), you can do anything and be anything, "yes we can" ring a bell?

4. I agree with the whole growing out of liberal mentality, if it wasn't true, the 60s' mentality would have run the republican party out of DC by the 80s', the only thing it has done is demolished our educational system

The only thing I have to add is that the GOP is not dead. What they need to do is stop with all the Reagan stuff, Reagan wasn't great because of who he was (though he was a great man), he was great because of what he stood for. They need to look past the man and look to the morals and values that he stood for. once they can do that and get back to what the party was based on, they will be in good shape again.

Sam, I disagree on one thing that I feel a lot of people tend to stray away from because it is a "sensitive" topic. I really believe that a lot of people, especially in the Gen Y range, voted for Obama to make the history of the first Black President and they did so under only that as their guiding political agenda.

I am not saying, at all, that ALL of Obama's supporters voted for THAT reason BUT you have to be honest and at least realize that a lot of those people will be up for changing their mind depending on the political wind the next time around.

I disagree with you on your changing parties as you get older, I have met enough in my lifetime that have changed from R to D or vice versa...both ways and it never seems to be a pocket trend.

Sam, this may come as a surprise to you but I am not at all stunned that people voted against the republican party for the reasons you listed. Unfortunately Bush tarnished the party's ideals, now people think republicans are the "big" government because of his policies instead of the Dems with their spending.

The point that drives that is the big brother idea about the patriot act. I can't believe the real story never came out on that, that the government wasn't listening in on phone calls like people were so paranoid about, it was analyzing number patterns of calls made outside the US. Once those patterns were deemed "questionable" they had to obtain a warrent for tracking...unbelievable.

Once again, I also agree with you on why they DID vote for Obama as well (besides the voting against thing for the republicans), he is young, a good speaker (with teleprompter) and a likeable person....none of which has to do with politics, maybe speaking a little, but to say speaking is a trait of a president means we can't have a mute that could lead by other means.

I don't think the wording of the questions is "ridiculous," as others have said, but I do think the conclusions drawn from these numbers might be. At least a few of these questions are no-brainers for most people.

I think it also makes sense to be at least a little bit skeptical of a study which claims to show that a demographic group supports a certain ideology, when the study is presented by a group that exists specifically to promote that ideology. The fact that the "Agree" responses are colored blue and the "Disagree" responses are colored red seems intentionally designed to make readers believe that all who agree are Democrats and all who disagree are Republicans. There probably is some correlation with this, but I suspect it is less dramatic than the graphics would lead you to believe.

The last pair of statements is particularly misleading, presenting a choice between "strong government" and no government involvement. Even most conservatives would not support the idea of zero government involvement in the economy.

The political momentum in the U.S. is shifting towards the left, but I think it's too early to say that this change is permanent. However, I do agree that the GOP is in trouble at the moment.

Hey guys,

Quick note to say thanks for the thoughtful comments! I think all of you raise some interesting points, I must admit I didn't look hard enough at the organisation running the survey and the legitimacy of the question wording. While I won't go so far as to say that they are worded 'ridiculously', I do see where the bias may be.

I would also like to strongly agree with Olivia about the way Milennials vote. I strongly believe that people our age, both in the US and in Australia, vote on the basis of issues rather than merely how much/little they get taxed, particularly in the US where voting is not compulsory (like in Australia).

I shall be more cautious in the future about think tank polls, the truth is I'm still familiarising myself with the US electoral/political landscape as it's not the country in which I'm a citizen.

So thanks for the thoughts!
Alex

@Miles, I was being honest, I took another look at my checks and refigured it out, made a little mistake and forgot to figure in the health care costs taken out. My bad BUT does that diminish the fact that the taxes are still TOO HIGH? I am still coming in at over 25% and most people take that number at face value instead of actually saying "wait a minute, at least 1/4 of my check is going to taxes?"

The fact of the matter is, when it comes to taxes, if everyone had 10% taken out, TOTAL, and the government spent our money wisely (that's the key), you wouldn't have to raise taxes and certainly wouldn't have to have them as high as they are.