You know those American University students who couldn’t name a single US senator when asked on camera by the Media Research Center — even though their school sits just a few miles from the US Capitol? Apparently, they are now up for grabs.
Only a few years ago, we were told President Obama and the Democratic Party had them locked up forever. But thanks to new data from the Pew Research Center, that’s not the case. Still, it doesn’t mean they are becoming Republicans, either.
According to a Pew survey this month, half of millennials — people ranging from 18 to 33 years in age — now classify themselves as political independents. That’s up from 38 percent of those who classified themselves that way in 2004.
In addition, nearly a third are unaffiliated with any church. Pew says millennials are “at or near the highest levels of political and religious disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the quarter-century” Pew has been polling these topics.
It makes for fascinating reading. Despite the alienation from parties and churches and high levels of social distrust, they are arguably the most optimistic about America’s future. But not so for government: They think Social Security won’t be there for them, and even though they say government has a responsibility to ensure people have health coverage, most disapprove of ObamaCare.
One caveat seems worth noting. When comparing this to earlier polls of millennials, we have to remember the cohorts have changed.
The youngest millennials, for example, were only 12 years old when Obama was elected in 2008, while many of those who were in college then have graduated and are now in the workforce.
We don’t know what the social scientists call this, but we call it “growing up.” It’s just one reason to be skeptical any time people tell you how people will vote as adults by how they vote when they were 18.