Generally speaking,
younger voters are
distrustful of large
institutions,
whether the federal
government or
behemoth
corporations. "Where
Democrats may have
it wrong is that
activist government
doesn't mean they
want New Deal
bureaucracy and the
traditional liberal
approach to things,"
said Michael Hais...
He added: "In the
economic sphere
Millennials are not
convinced totally
that either party
has an answer yet.
Both parties will
have to figure out
how to appeal to
this generation."
"The millennial
generation is coming
of age in a digital
world, raised on
technology and rapid
social change, and
they are
twentysomethings
with an attitude
unlike any other
generation before
them. NBCs Ayman
Mohyeldin reports."
" Millennials,
born between 1982
and 2003, are in
favor of an activist
government that
delivers more,
rather than fewer
services, by a 53
percent to 39
percent margin, the
exact opposite of
older generations."
"Scholars Michael D.
Hais and Morley
Winograd, the
co-authors of two
books on the
millennial
generation, say that
the vulnerability
that many young
people experienced
on 9/11 has largely
informed their
political beliefs as
young adults."
"This is still
a young generation.
It may take time for
it to get moving,
but it is also a
very well-educated
generation compared
to others, and once
the economy turns
around, their
education may allow
them to catch up
faster," [Hais]
says. 'It does not
necessarily mean
they're doomed for
all of their lives.'
"Generational
chroniclers Morley
Winograd and Mike
Hais, in their book Millennial
Momentum: How a New
Generation is
Remaking America, suggest
that the younger
generation is as
family-oriented as
their elders, albeit
with a greater
emphasis on shared
responsibilities and
more flexible gender
roles.
"Millennials
are growing up at a
tough time. They
were sheltered in
many ways, with a
lot of high
expectations for
what they should
achieve. Individual
failure is difficult
to accept when
confronted with a
sense you're an
important person and
expected to achieve.
Even though, in most
instances, it's not
their fault the
economy collapsed
just as many of them
were getting out of
college and coming
of age that does
lead to a greater
sense of stress,"
[Hais] says. .
"They will be
the conformist
generation, with an
optimistic group
attitude that's
tempered by the
social and economic
events of their
youth," says Hais.
"I was of the 'duck
and cover' crowd in
the '50s, and in a
sense every
generation finds
their bogeymen,
finds the fears they
need to react to.
There's no saying
which generation had
it worse, because
for each, those
particular fears are
very real.
"Like most of
the public,
Millennials believe
that politicians
should not interfere
with women's health
care. And in turn,
Millennials have
joined efforts to
defeat Mississippi's
"personhood"
amendment, to
protect funding for
women's health
services and to
reject anti-choice
candidates in the
2012 election.
"There are lots
of public opinion
surveys out about
what the overall
opinion of the
public is, but they
don't make it
personal or specific
to the individual
legislatures and
districts, Winograd
said. Potentially
the opportunity here
with Twitter is to
have people tell
their
representatives how
decision will
represent them
personally.
"...according
to Winograd and
Hais, the
willingness and
speed with which
this generation will
use technology to
impact the world
would have been
unimaginable even
five years ago.
"'When you have a
younger generation
with a different set
of ideas, and a
changing demographic
in the country,
theres going to be
a tipping point; and
during that tipping
point, the two sides
are roughly at
parity, says Morley
Winograd,...coauthor
with Michael Hais of
two books on the
millennial
generation. 'But at
some point, that
parity goes away and
the direction
becomes very clear.
We think this
coalition is not
only ascendant but
will be dominant.'
"'...while
their optimism in
the rock star Obama
may have diminished
when he got to the
business of
governance,
millennials feel
like were still
headed in the right
direction,' Mr. Hais
says."
"Morley Winograd,
coauthor of two
books on the
millennial
generation, says
that the new math of
the Democratic
electoral coalition
will compel party
leaders to shift
spending from
senior-oriented
entitlements to
programs, like pre-K
education and
student-loan relief,
that benefit younger
(and heavily
minority)
generations."
"Why did this
happen? Generational
theorists Mike Hais
and Morley Winograd
attribute this to
several factors. One
is the intrinsic
optimism of
millennials, even in
the face of very
difficult economic
challenges. This
blunted Romneys
main argument. Other
issues such as gay
marriage, favored by
most millennials, as
well as a more
tolerant attitude
toward immigration
drove them away from
the GOP and towards
the President."
"Winograd...maintains...
a young generation
of "civic-minded"
voters who favor
"collective
solutions" to our
problems is
supplanting baby
boomers as the
country's core
constituency."
"This year, 61
percent of
Millennials are of
voting age, meaning
that 58 million of
them will be
eligible to vote,
nearly 20 million
more than in 2008.
If only half the
eligible Millennials
vote in 2012, 29
million of them, and
as they are
predicted to vote
two to one for Obama
again, the president
will have a national
margin of 10 million
votes (3 million
more votes than
2008)."
"'The next key
component is the
giant 'millennial
generation,'...Nearly
60 million
millennials will be
eligible to vote
this year, up from
40 million just four
years ago, according
to Morley Winograd
and Mike Hais,...
authors of two books
on the generation.
Obama carried
two-thirds of voters
under 30 in 2008,
and although polls
show fissures in
that support, he is
still running much
better with younger
than with older
voters."
"Morley
Winograd, author
(along with Mike
Hais) of the best
selling book
Millennial Makeover
was the first to
describe this
generation and what
it would mean for
politics. As he told
me last night, 'In
2012, 19 million
more members of the
millennial
generation became
eligible to vote and
made up all of the
18-29 year olds
surveyed in exit
polls.'"
"Morley
Winograd is
co-author of two
books on the
Millennial
generation. He says
by about age 25,
peoples world views
tend to solidify and
its hard to change
their minds. Despite
their fickle
reputation, he says
Millennials are
fiercely loyal to
brands they trust.
He says the only
hope for the
Republican party is
to rebrand itself.
"
"Ryan is part
of a 'reactive' GenX
demographic that
'fell in love with
the Reagan
presidency and
(have) been trying
to whittle down
government ever
since.' Millennials,
by contrast, are a
'civic' generation
who believe
government can solve
problems, Winograd
said in explaining
why he thinks Ryan
will have little
appeal."
"Eighty-five
percent of both
Millennials and
Boomers say it is
important that their
work make a positive
impact on the world,
as compared with
only 75 percent of
Gen Xers, Winograd
and Hais maintain,
A 2010 Cone Cause
Evolution Study ...
found that the vast
majority of
Millennials (85
percent) were
willing to switch
brandsproduct price
and quality being
equalif the second
brand was linked to
a good cause "
"Morley
Winograd said the
study confirms the
importance of social
connections in
working to increase
voter turnout.
Contacting voters
blindly doesnt do
much at all because
there is no social
component. What is
fascinating here is
that social media
could be used to
make that social
connection. "
"Michelle Obamas
speech generated
almost twice as many
tweets per minute
(28,003) as it was
being delivered than
Romneys acceptance
speech (14,289).
President Clinton
came close to the
First Lady, with
more than 22,087
tweets per minute at
the peak of
conversational
activity. And on
the final night of
the Democratic
convention,
President Obamas
tweet-per-minute
rate doubled that
achieved by the
First Lady."
"No doubt the
prospects for
homeownership will
be tough in the
years ahead. But
its delusional to
believe Millennials
dont desire the
same things as
previous
generations, note
generational
chroniclers Morley
Winograd and Mike
Hais."
Guests:
David
Leonhardt,Washington
bureau chief, The
New York Times.
Karlyn Bowman,
resident fellow at
the American
Enterprise Institute
Morley Winograd,
senior fellow,USC
Annenberg Center on
Communication
Leadership & Policy
"According to
Winograd, the hard
data shows that
while baby boomers
have fought bitterly
over values, the
Millennials, the
generation soon to
be in charge, are
more like their
great-grandparents
generation, the
Greatest one. They
are the least
polarized population
cohort when it comes
to social issues,
from abortion to gay
marriage. They
communicate and
learn across social
networks, not
through TV news.
"The economic situation (of young adults) is completely parallel and analogous
to the (Depression-era) GI generation raised in relative affluence, and then
just as they are to start in that affluent world, it all comes crashing down,"
says Morley Winograd, ... "And so they have to find new ways to persevere. They
just have assumed that everything that came before them was a mirage that it
was false, built on unsafe foundations."
'Despite the economy,
Obamas message
resonates with this
generation. Winograd and
Hais say that, by 55
percent to 39 percent ,
Millennials prefer an
activist government to a
smaller one that
delivers fewer services.
'In the 2008 election,
Millennials provided
somewhere between 70 and
80% of President Obamas
winning margin, even
though they were only
17% of the electorate'
Winograd told Current
TVs Jennifer Granholm.
Morley Winograd,
co-author of
Millennial Momentum: How
a New Generation Is
Remaking America,
views hitting the like
button as comparable to
putting up a traditional
political yard sign. So
when a friend visits
your Facebook page, as
when dropping by your
house, theyll see who
and what you support.
Millennials, the
largest generation
numerically at 92
million, lean left on
many issues, which would
seem to favor Democrats,
Hais said. But not all
of them have begun to
vote yet, so its
difficult to know how
they will ultimately
split.
Data collected by
Morley Winograd and
Michael Hais, who have
studied Millennials,
show not only the same
trends but also a
changing mind-set. The
number of college
freshmen who believe
that it is "essential or
very important to help
people in need" soared
to its highest level,
70%, since 1970.
Politic 365
From Your
Point Of View
Will the Pro-Choice
Movement Step Up?
By Alicia Menendez
While [Millennials]
believe in a womans
right to choose, they
also see the potential
ethical problems with
having an abortion,
says Morley Winograd,
Millennial Generation
expert and co-author of
Millennial Momentum.
They consider the issue
to be much more personal
as opposed to political,
to paraphrase a Boomer
feminist slogan.
US News
& World Report
Romney Is Winning Young
Voters ... For Obama
By Brad Bannon
"According to
Morley Winograd and Mike
Hais in their book
Millennial Makeover,
the Republicans will pay
an even higher price for
their right wing social
policies when the
growing Millennial
Generation becomes the
dominant force in
American politics over
the next decade."
'Me' or
'We': A generational
debate
By Stacey Burling
"...old-fashioned
wording of the survey
questions may have
underestimated modern
students' interest in
the environment and
community improvement.
Hais said surveys that
focus on actions
rather than attitudes
show Millennials "are
actually a very
participatory
generation."
PBS Newshour
How
Civically Engaged Are
Millennials?
By Judy Woodruff
"Mike Hais and
Morley Winograd, authors
of two books on the
under-30s, are even more
dismissive. The former
political and survey
research experts take
Twenge to task for what
they call faulty
interpretation of data,
and for stressing
psychological
methodology..."
Domemagazine.com
Move Over Boomers,
Millennials Gaining
By Bill Castanier
"Hais says there is good
reason to be optimistic
about the future and
that its not pie in
the sky. He says
research shows that the
Millennials will force
the country to address
long simmering problems
such as race,
immigration, financial
security and income
distribution. "