Millennials prepare to destroy GOP

[kpete]

Millennials are the leftiest generation since FDR



There are a lot of interesting nuggets in the Pew breakdown of generational voting patterns above, but the one that’s most striking to me is the sharp division between Nixon-era Boomers and Ford/Carter-era Boomers. The former are more Democratic-leaning than the public average, whereas the younger cohort leaned right, 2006 excepted. But the finding of most significance going forward is that both Millennials and younger Gen X-ers are turning out to be pretty reliable Democrats, the most reliable since the “Greatest Generation” that came of age under FDR. If that sticks, it could have big ramifications going forward.



MORE:
http://knowmore.washingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/millennials-are-the-leftiest-generation-since-fdr/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/11/1261904/-Millennials-prepare-to-destroy-GOP

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. K&R

[polichick]

2. Let's hope they consider Dem principles and vote in the primaries!

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Provided they actually get their asses to the polls and vote. . .

. . .even if there are times when they may have to put clothespins on their noses.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19833-william-rivers-pitt-decisions-are-made-by-those-who-show-up

[doc03]

4. From the polls it looks like the ACA may reverse that trend n/t

[1000words]

5. Don't count on it

As life circumstances change, so too does priorities.
I know countless folks, who in their youth were ultra liberal, have now "gone to the Dark Side."

[Kurovski]

7. Except that...

the dark side is darker than ever, PLUS it offers far fewer JOBS than previously.

Very few people are going to make it to the top 2 percent. Everyone else is being tossed under the bus by the repub party. The Repubs have lost control of the wheelhouse to the nuttiest, most extremist levels in religion and economics.

[1000words]

11. The GOP ranks have always been filled with non-2%ers

When we are young and working to find our niche, we are far more open to change and creative alternatives. After some time, family/career advancement/financial circumstances change our posture to protecting what we have been able to achieve, even if it is not very much.

[Kurovski]

14. ...and the party is tossing them overboard with gusto.

That's new. Asking for people to vote against their own self-interests is getting harder and harder. AND We have the internet now. The evidence is there for anyone to examine. The stock market always does better under Dems is just one reality.

"Career advancement"? Like working at a bookstore while carrying crippling debt for your degree in biochemistry?

I'm not saying it won't happen, I'm saying it won't happen at the rates it might have in the 80s and 90s.

[1000words]

15. Americans are notorious for their short memories and attention spans

By every right, the GOP should have gone into deep hibernation after the BushCo heist. Yet, it simply didn't happen.
Furthermore, look at the Catholic Church: A change at the top, a successful re-branding and suddenly many are adopting a conciliatory attitude toward an institution that will never really pull itself out of the Dark Ages.

My point is, the two-Party scam needs to have two "viable" choices. Neither side wants to see the other side go away, because they need each other. Classic "Good cop/Bad cop" scenario.

[Kurovski]

17. The internet is a great reminder.

Everything right there. Whether people care to keep up with reality and their choices remains to be seen.

The young generation will decide. but yes, the powers-that-be will do their best to keep the shit rolling down hill.

[jeff47]

10. Actually that's pretty rare.

Political positions usually solidify in early to mid 20s and remain the same throughout the rest of one's life.

If you're talking about people who were "ultra-liberal" while still in high school, well their brains weren't done yet.

[grantcart]

22. There is considerable research that shows that if somebody votes for the same party in three

straight national elections that they are 80% likely to maintain that party affiliation for the rest of their lives.

[YoungDemCA]

34. +1

A famous exception to the rule: Ronald Reagan.

[SheilaT]

6. What the hell is going on with all those Boomers

voting Republican? Makes me a little ashamed of my generation.

I have only rarely voted for a Republican, and never for President. I have a couple of times for a Senator because I thought the R was the better choice. But that was back in the 80's, so I'd say it's been thirty years since I've even done that.

[Kurovski]

8. many still don't like blacks, gays and immigrants.

Voting ones dislikes is very satisfying to folks.

[Arugula Latte]

12. It's also the "old" Gen Xers like my cohorts

We were young teens in 1980. I can tell you that there were a bazillion mor-ans in my rich, white high school who just loved them some Ronnie. We came of age in prosperous times, and many of my peers are snot-nosed douchebags (picture the kids who wore Raybans, penny loafers and pink Izods with collars flipped up in the early 80s) who have an enormous sense of entitlement and greed.

[JanMichael]

33. Yep

and at age 50, they are even bigger jerks. I keep hoping their kids turn out to be raging liberals.

[YoungDemCA]

35. The Boomers were never uniformly liberal

Even in the 60s and 70s, there were plenty of Boomers who were supportive of the war in Vietnam. Not saying they were a majority, of course.

[SheilaT]

38. I am honestly appalled.

I'd thought that we, the Boomers, *were* uniformly liberal.

Goes to show what I know.

I can recall being in a college classroom in about 1980 with 19 year olds, and being completely horrified at how conservative they were. And that was, at that point, the younger generation.

At least my two sons, now 26 and 30, are reliably liberal.

One thing that helped me change, was that in the early 1980's I was able to read old Life Magazines in sequence, starting with the first issue in November or 1936. It was the single most educational thing I have ever done. I feel as if I remember the late 30's to March of 1945, even though I wasn't born yet. I learned a host of things from both the articles and the advertizements. I will say, especially in response to your post, that I finally understood why the older generation had been so appalled by our generation's opposition to the war in Vietnam. There's was such a different war that I just didn't understand until I read the old Lifes.

[RainDog]

9. To keep them, Democrats need to focus on economic inequality

Economic inequality - derived through the tax code changes enacted by Republicans and neoliberals, is the biggest issue facing this nation - and OVERWHELMING it's the biggest issue facing millennials.

Democrats appear to be the only party in this nation that is willing to look at environmental issues, as well.

Personally, I cannot understand why anyone who is not brainwashed by religious fundamentalism votes for the Republican Party.

Even the wealthy cannot survive in a world in which the U.S. fails to address issues like climate change.

[MisterP]

13. how's "Dem-voting" lefty?

[phylny]

16. Dammit, I'm a boomer (55)

and I'm embarrassed as hell about us!

[Brigid]

37. I'm the same age.

This chart is a shock to me. And an embarrassment.

[RBInMaine]

18. ONLY if they VOTE !! They need to get the heck out and VOTE in EVERY election.

[Motown_Johnny]

19. Gonna pick one little nit that has nothing to do with the outcome of this poll.. but.....

...this thing says that if you were 49 in 2012 then you are Gen X.

I believe this to be in error. If you were 49 in 2012 then you were born in 1963 (as I was). Most every source on this subject has the baby boom continuing until 1964.


http://www.55places.com/blog/10-interesting-baby-boomer-facts-stats

^snip^


Born after World War II, between 1946 and 1964, Baby Boomers represent our largest-and most talked-about-generation. Baby Boomers are typically characterized as those who grew up watching TV, swooning over The Beatles, protesting the Vietnam War and ushering in social change. Here are 10 facts you may not know about Baby Boomers today:





I just hate when simple facts are wrong. How are we supposed to believe these people know what they are talking about when they can't even get the basics right?

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Oh, too cool to be lumped in with Gen X, huh John?

Your loss!

[Motown_Johnny]

29. I do this a lot

I noticed it because it seems to have misclassified me, but I always mention errors when I see them.


Part of the reason I self identify as a Baby Boomer is because my father served in WWII and both my parents went through the depression. They had me late in life (45 and 46), but I really am of that generation. I am betting you don't know any Gen Xers who's parent served in WWII.


It has nothing to do with being cool or not. It is simply that my experiences,. my upbringing in particular, are more in line with that generation.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. I'm kidding, man! You know, it's that Gen X snark thing.

It's how we express affection- through smart-assedness.

I think a case can be made for a 1st or 2nd cohort of Baby Boomers, or "Generation Jones". I notice a distinct difference between people born in '63 and those born in '46. Of course, I notice a difference btw people born in the late 60s and 1980, too.

YMMV.

[Motown_Johnny]

31. I could tell, I't not THAT old!

The baby boom thing was an "after WWII" thing. I identify with it since my parents were f that generation.

No big deal either way. As I said, I was just picking one little nit.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. I skew hard towards boomer music.

guilty.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. But they "twerk"! And swear! and wear skimpy clothes!

GET OFF MY LAWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

[bvar22]

23. Destroying the GOP won't do much good if....

...the Democratic Party keeps moving to the Conservative Right to occupy the empty space as it has done for the last 30 years.

I hope the Millennials know who FDR was,
and are familiar with the New Deal/Great Society programs that built the largest,
wealthiest, and most upwardly mobile Working Class the World had ever seen.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be [font size=3]established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.[/font]

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
--FDR, 1944

Please note that FDR specified the above as Fundamental Human Rights,
and NOT as Commodities to be SOLD to Americans by For Profit Corporations.

If the Millennials understand that difference, then there is hope.
If they believe that simply Voting for the Democrat makes one a Liberal,
then not.


[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center] [center] [/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]


You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS,[/font]
not by their promise or excuses.

[sendero]

41. Right...

.... the issue is not destroying the GOP, they are doing that just fine. The issue is taking the Democratic party back from the Third Way faux Democrats.

[bvar22]

42. Exactly!

Worth repeating.

[font size=3]" the issue is not destroying the GOP, they are doing that just fine. The issue is taking the Democratic party back from the Third Way faux Democrats.[/font]

[Jesus Malverde]

24. bump... nt

[starroute]

25. Early Boomers were hippies -- later ones were yuppies

Last edited Wed Dec 11, 2013, 09:22 PM - Edit history (1)

The conventional labels miss a lot of what was actually going on -- and this chart misses even more by trying to combine them with when people turned 18.

Of the three groups labeled "Boomer" on the chart, the first covers 1944-51 and includes a lot of Silent Generation types. Even the first few years of Boomers (1946-49), consisted of a minority who were leading edge and a larger number who were still joining fraternities and dreaming of that house in the suburbs and being freaked out by the counterculture.

The second Boomer group, which is most heavily Democratic, is the people who came of age in the late 60's and early 70s -- the peak hippie years. And the third is the people who came of age in the late 70s and were influenced by stagflation and the rise of free market economics.

This is why the claim that the hippies all cut their hair and turned into Reagan voters is so ridiculous. It just never happened.

[westerebus]

26. Exac-a- mundo.

TV in black & white vs TV in color.

[Dawson Leery]

27. kick

[Penicilino]

28. What will make Millenials become the first wave of young people to vote en masse in House elections

Or is this destruction limited to the Presidential elections?

[bluestate10]

36. Boomers are a fucking disappointment. Millenials are far more real. nt

[quaker bill]

39. Nixon era straight ticket D

happy for the new support.

[Raine]

40. Interesting, thanks! nt