Dollars & Change: Young People Tap Brands As Agents of Social Change
2018 Survey of Young People and Social Change
Young people are having a moment. Parkland survivors are demanding a national conversation on gun violence and are refusing to back down. The International Indigenous Youth Council, which grew out of the Dakota Pipeline protests, works to inspire, organize, and empower young leaders. Black Lives Matter youth groups have spent the last six years fighting for justice for young people of color.
So much for the cliché of the lazy, self-centered kids worried about their avocado toast and hardwired to their smartphones. (A myth we blew out of the water in our 2016 report).
So, who are they and what’s their plan for changing the world? That’s what we set out to find in our 2018 Survey of Young People and Social Change. Young people — we’re talking 13–25 year olds — are the most racially and culturally diverse generation in American history. They refuse to be bound by the traditional ideological boxes. Nearly half of our survey respondents said they identify as independent or unaffiliated and 50% view themselves as moderates. While young people may be considered “liberal” on many social issues, those positions reflect more of a societal shift than a political philosophy.
For example, even a majority of our respondents who identify as conservative support universal background checks for gun purchases and believe that the government has a responsibility to ensure health coverage for all.
Engaged, Yet Disenchanted
Not surprisingly, then, young people don’t see themselves represented on the national political landscape, either demographically or philosophically. The stereotypical old, white congressman is a stereotype for a reason. Women and minorities each make up less than 20% of lawmakers in the 115th Congress. The average Congressperson is 57 years old — that’s among the highest average in recent history. Congress is the most polarized it’s been in over one hundred years with “nuance” and “compromise” seemingly seen as dirty words. Radicalism prevents even the most agreed upon national issues from resolution.
Young people don’t see themselves represented on the national political landscape, either demographically or philosophically.
Faced with such entrenched and unflinching ideologues, only 28% of Gen Z believe the government even cares about them and only 17% of 18–29 year olds trust Congress to do the right thing all or most of the time. Which may be why so many voting-age young people haven’t voted. Only 46% of 18–29 year olds voted in the 2016 presidential election, compared to over 60% for those older than 30.
Interestingly, our latest survey of young people reveals that 80% of those not yet old enough say they plan to vote; but young people also tell us that after one or two election cycles of voting eligibility, enthusiasm drops. Nothing changes, nothing gets fixed, so what’s the point?
But young people aren’t disengaged from society at large. In fact they’re desperate to make a difference and want to see real change in their lives and communities. As we’ve reported before, they volunteer at incredibly high rates. They are well aware of the myriad problems facing our nation and the world. Growing income equality, soaring healthcare costs, and gun violence impact them directly. And they consider their generation the key to fixing these and other problems.
So, if not politicians, to whom are they turning? Increasingly, Corporate America.
Click through for Part 2 of this Report.
Research & Editorial Team
Meredith Ferguson, Managing Director, DoSomething Strategic
Charlotte Horseman, Data and Research Analyst, DoSomething Strategic
Irene Pedruelo, Director of Research & Insights, DoSomething Strategic
Sohaib Hasan, Director of Analytics, DoSomething.org
Jess Li, Survey Research Analyst, DoSomething.org
Methodology
This survey recruited young people aged 13–25 living in the United States. Data were collected between March 1st and March 23rd, 2018 and the median time to complete the survey was 17 minutes. Prior to analyses, the data were cleaned and weighted as follows:
–Individuals with completion times under one-third the median time to complete were excluded from the results
–Individuals younger than 13 years of age or older than 25 years of age were excluded from the results
–Individuals living outside of the United States were excluded from the results
–Post-stratification weights were applied to reflect young people in the general population (based on gender, age, race, and parental level of education)
The final sample includes 2,461 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting to help ensure a nationally representative sample with respect to core socio-demographic variables. Assuming a population size of approximately 56,500,000 13–25 year olds nationwide*, a sample size of 2,461 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 1.98% margin of error (based on the assumption that data are normally distributed).
*Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division
About DoSomething Strategic
DoSomething Strategic is the data-driven social impact consultancy arm of DoSomething.org. We help brands and organizations engage young people for positive social change. We combine proprietary data with a deep understanding of what young people care about to help clients build relationships with this unique demographic and activate them for social good. Our expertise is grounded in moving 6 million DoSomething.org members — ages 13–25 in every area code in the United States and in 131 countries worldwide — to take social action, and we’ve been doing this work successfully day in and day out for over 25.
