Why Politics is a Game Young People Don’t Want to Play
What Happens When the Party Lines Are Blurred
Did you miss Part Three? Check it out.
The Myth of the College Experience
Most of what is discussed around young people and politics is framed around what college students believe or do. Media and pop culture generally depicts the quintessential college experience spent in dormitories at sprawling, tree-lined campuses. Common portrayals and perceptions include frat house antics, tailgating, and high-energy political engagement, including highly publicized debates about a new frontier of identity politics and social justice. In one episode, South Park even lampooned school debates on trigger warnings.
This view, like so much of what is assumed and written about young people, is not based in facts and represents, at best, a minority experience. Research shows that less than 1 in 5 young people will attend four-year residential colleges.
Let that sink in. The primary cultural touchpoint for a generation is based on the experience of just 18% of them.
So, while these emergent issues are certainly hot topics at places like the University of Chicago, Yale, and Oberlin, they reflect a reality that could not be more removed from the dominant experience. This mass delusion regarding the typical collegiate experience has led to general ignorance about the opinions and stances of today’s college-aged citizens.
The Parties Are Over
In the DoSomething Strategic’s 2016 Survey of Young People and Civic Participation, we asked timely questions in relation to the upcoming election. A total of 2,122 individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 responded to the survey, with the largest cohort failing to identify with either of the mainstream parties. About 40% of respondents claimed to be unaffiliated, independent, or of another political ideology.
So is this a generation of unaffiliated, politically-jaded young people in artfully torn jeans? Not quite. Millennials don’t necessarily know where they fit in. Of those who identified with either mainstream party, 78% said they plan on voting in the 2016 presidential election. The others? Well, only about 50% of them are going to vote this November, and only 60% of them are even registered to vote (versus nearly 80% of 18- to 25-year old Republicans and Democrats).
The problem isn’t that young people don’t understand the parties’ respective ideology. It’s that those ideologies are too extreme for young people, who are generally centrist. The only demographic group that definitively identifies with a party is African-American young people, who overwhelmingly identify as Democrats.
Take, for example, the problem of racism in our society today. While the majority of Democrats agree it is a big problem (53%), the minority of Republicans (30%) agree, and the Independents/Others fall somewhere in the middle (42%).
On other issues, a large portion of these Independents/Others choose not to take a stand, especially when the line is blurred. One of the most prominent examples here is in regards to gender. You can see in the chart below that Republicans err on the conservative and traditional belief of two genders, while Democrats are more progressive in recognizing gender fluidity. The Independents/Others, however, have not come to a consensus and a large proportion of them have no opinion.
These Independent/Other individuals are also less likely to promote causes they care about on Facebook, perhaps because of their lack of mainstream party identification. Being a young person and not necessarily conforming to societal parameters is difficult, despite their personal feelings, so voicing that on social media is unlikely. The same trend holds true for Twitter.
Not surprisingly, these individuals are also less likely to have attended a political campaign event or speech in the past year and slightly more likely than Democrats or Republicans to say they would never consider doing so.
Logically, if they don’t feel attached to a particular mainstream party they wouldn’t be attending those events, which occur more frequently than an Independent or unaffiliated political rally. In fact, more than 70% of Independents/Others feel the government is run for the benefit of only a few groups of people, which is the same sentiment as 56% and 60% of Democrats and Republicans respectively. They don’t feel like the government is for them, because they can’t figure out where they fit in.
The Fault Lines Have Changed
On other issues, it seems the other viewpoints do align with a party, but not consistent as to which. For example, while 59% of Democrats and 60% of others agree dealing with immigration should be a priority for the government this year, 73% of Republicans say the same. When it comes to gun control, however, 47% of Republicans and 50% of others agree it should be priority for the government this year, while 74% of Democrats see this as a priority. When it comes to strengthening the military, Independents/Others seem to take their own middle path, as 65% believe it should be priority for our country (as compared to the 51% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans, a clear divide).
All of this reinforces the idea that these individuals who do not identify with a mainstream party are looking for compromise — on some issues they don’t feel strongly either way and on others they agree with one party, but not consistently a single one. And so there is nowhere for them to turn.
Certainly the stereotypical “Ivy League liberal youth” are present and active, however, conservative young people are also quite present; but they are not the staunch Republicans they’re deemed to be. One of the most telling facts: ask a young Republican their view on gender fluidity and nearly 30% will agree that gender is a spectrum, not binary. A question like this would not have been fielded a decade ago, and now even some of the most conservative young people are progressing across what we thought to be party lines.
And while we see high levels of engagement in causes surrounding women’s rights, environmental justice, and racial justice, we know that cause doesn’t necessarily matter. When surveyed about different initiatives the government should prioritize, almost every topic surveyed was ranked as important by young people. It’s cool to care, and they care about everything. What is more enticing is the way they are taking action. (Check out more on that here.)
Keep in mind just how diverse young people are. While media drives our perceptions about them, there is a majority out there that isn’t being recognized as a ‘typical’ 13–25 year old. Yes, times are changing and young people may not be out on the streets protesting — but that doesn’t mean they don’t care. And that doesn’t mean they don’t impact social change.
Young people are looking to be heard, they are looking to make change, but but they are doing it smartphone in hand, on their own terms.
Next up — Conclusion: A Generation To Believe In
Research & Editorial Team
Jeff Bladt, Chief Data Officer, DoSomething.org
Nick McCormick, Data and Survey Research Analyst, DoSomething.org
Ben Kassoy, Editor-in-Chief, DoSomething.org
Keri Goff, Creative Director, DoSomething.org
Meredith Ferguson, Managing Director, DoSomething Strategic
Irene Pedruelo, Editor, Director of Research, DoSomething.org
Methodology
The survey was distributed to individuals ages 13–25 across the United States and its outlying territories. Prior to analysis, the data was cleaned and weighted as follows:
• Individuals with completion times of under 5 minutes were excluded from the results.
• Individuals younger than 13 years of age or older than 25 years of age were excluded from the results.
• Weights were applied to create equal representations across gender and age.
The final sample includes 3,305 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting, meaning that the opinions and actions of 13-year-old females are just as well represented as those of 25-year-old males.
Assuming a population size of approximately 45,000,000 13–25 year olds nationwide, a sample size of 3,305 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 1.7% margin of error.
About DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org is a global movement for good.
We’re activating 5.4 million young people (and counting!) to make positive change, both online and off. And it’s already happening in every area code in the US and in over 131 countries! When you take action with DoSomething.org, you join something bigger than yourself. You team up with the young people who’ve run the largest sports-equipment drive. And clothed over half of America’s teens in homeless shelters. And cleaned up 3.7 million(!) cigarette butts around the world. You’ve got the power and the passion to make a difference on any issue you want — we’ll help you get it done. Welcome to DoSomething.org. LET’S DO THIS.
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.
