Tag Archive for 'Republicans'

Pew Research publishes a “daily number” each day on its site; given the wealth of data Pew generates annually, it has more than enough interesting statistics to provide an interesting one for every day of the year. Today’s daily number notes that

In the 2006 mid-term elections for Congress, young people, ages 18-24, voted overwhelmingly for Democrats over Republicans, by a 58%-37% margin, according to national exit polls… 48% of young people identified themselves as Democrats or leaned toward the Democratic Party, while only 35% identified themselves as Republicans – the lowest number recorded by Pew in its nearly 20-year trend. This makes them the least Republican generation.

This finding isn’t particularly surprising to me; Perhaps my left-wing tendencies bias me. Generation Y is consistently being credited with an expectation of greater corporate social responsibility. Money is not the end all be all for this generation, which wants work to be more than just a paycheck. Additionally, Generation Y has a greater sense of social responsibility than previous generations. USA Today’s Sharon Jayson reported in the fall of 2006 about some of the social issues that matter to Generation Y.

Two-thirds of college freshmen (66%) believe it’s essential or very important to help others in difficulty, suggests a survey of 263,710 students at 385 U.S. colleges and universities.

Watching the last 8 years of a Republican White House and the posturing of Republican leaders during the Clinton administration, the core beliefs of much of Gen Y don’t seem to fit with Republican ideals.