[9/7/16] It might be time to rethink the millennial voter.
A new paper suggests that Americans are more politically polarized now than they’ve been in the past 46 years, and millennials are guiding this trend.
The young adults, who were born between 1980 and 1994, are currently more politically polarized than Generation Xers and Baby Boomers, according to the paper, which was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin on Wednesday.
Additionally, millennials are more likely to identify as conservative than either Generation Xers or Baby Boomers were at the same age, said Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and lead author of the paper.
“High school seniors are more likely to identify as political conservatives now compared to 10 years ago. Most surprising, more identify as conservatives now compared to the 1980s, presumably the era of the young conservative, such as the character Alex P. Keaton in the 1980s show ‘Family Ties.’ That goes against the common view of millennials as very liberal,” said Twenge, author of the book about millennials titled “Generation Me.”
“So the current view of millennials as liberals might be due to their age — young people are more likely to be liberal. But if you compare young people now to young people in previous decades, those now are more conservative,” she said.
More politically polarized than ever
The new paper reviewed data on about 10 million American adults, collected from 1970 to 2015 as part of three separate surveys: the national Monitoring the Future study, the Higher Education Research Institute’s American Freshman survey, and the General Social Survey.
The researchers examined and analyzed data from each survey, which included respondents’ political party affiliations. They compared millennials’ responses with those from Generation Xers and Baby Boomers.
The researchers discovered that overall twice as many adults had “extreme” political identifications in the 2010s compared to in the 1970s.
For instance, 1.6% of Americans identified as “extremely liberal” in 1972 compared to 3.7% in 2014. About 2.4% of Americans identified as “extremely conservative” in 1972 compared to 4.2% in 2014, according to the new paper.
“We were not really sure what to expect because [separate] research looking at Americans’ responses to specific issues — such as, government spending, taxes, military — consistently shows that Americans are not polarized on the vast majority of the issues,” said Ryne Sherman, associate professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University and a co-author of the study.
“However, our research does show increasing polarization in terms of political identification,” he said. “This is intriguing because it suggests that Americans are becoming increasingly divided over a relatively small number of differences.”
Why have American adults shifted over time to becoming more polarized? Follow-up research is needed to find a definite answer, but there are some correlating factors, Sherman said.
“Small differences between groups can give rise to polarization as leaders repeatedly emphasize these small differences and members rally around them,” Sherman said.
For instance, Twenge said, “We know from other research that millennials are more supportive of LGBT rights, gender equality and racial equality compared to previous generations. Given that, it suggests that millennial conservatives may be focusing on issues other than these, for example, economic issues, gun rights.”
A focus on these issues might be perpetuated in the media, Sherman added.
“The rise of 24-hour news networks, the internet, and social media allows even greater control over the kinds of information, and from who we access information, making these social identity processes even more powerful,” he said. “Interestingly, millennials spent nearly their entire lives with 24-hour news and the internet. Thus, this group has been most exposed to the ‘echo chamber’ sort of effect.”
Millennials, as compared to Generation Xers and Baby Boomers
The data showed that millennials are the most polarized political group that the United States has seen in some time, given their age, Sherman said.
Furthermore, “they are not the extremely liberal and Democrat generation that many anticipated,” he said, as the researchers found that the polarization that has emerged in the millennial generation may be driven by conservatives.
Millennials, as compared to Generation Xers and Baby Boomers
The data showed that millennials are the most polarized political group that the United States has seen in some time, given their age, Sherman said.
Furthermore, “they are not the extremely liberal and Democrat generation that many anticipated,” he said, as the researchers found that the polarization that has emerged in the millennial generation may be driven by conservatives….CONTINUE READING