Interesting post on the demographics of the new generation.
Generation Y is extraordinarily diverse in a race-ethnic sense. Only 61 percent of Geb Y adults are white; 15 percent are black, 4 percent are Asian and 17 percent are Hispanic.
Generation Y is more secular and less Christian. Almost a quarter (23 percent) have no religious preference or are agnostic/atheist, 4 percent are Jewish or Muslim and another 7 percent are other non-Christian; only 62 percent identify themselves with some Christian faith.
Gen Y is at the leading edge of what Chris Bowers has pointed out is an extremely fast-growing demographic: the non-Christian coalition. Between 1990 and 2001, according to CUNY’s American Religious Identification Survey, non-Christians grew by 84 percent (from 20 to 37 million adults), including an astonishing increase of 106 percent (from 14 to 29 million) among seculars.
Generation Y is very liberal on social issues. A majority (53 percent) flat-out support allowing gay marriage. And 63 percent say women shoudl have the legal right to choose an abortion.
Generation Y is unusually liberal in an ideological sense. More Gen Y adults say they are liberal (31 percent) than say they are conservative (30 percent). (my comment: in the general population right now, only 23% self-identify as liberals, for comparision: http://www.umich.edu/~nes/nesguide/toptable/tab3_1.htm).
Generation Y leans strongly Democratic. Gen Y adults give Democrats an 11 point edge on party ID (39-28).
I guess they could all turn into old republicans, but it’s interesting, especially the high growth rate of non-christians.
Could? I’m mostly an optimist, but you only need to look at the flower power generation’s outcome to see what this generation’s outcome will be.[/quote]
I learned in Govt class in high school that the trend is to become more conservative (or more aligned with the conservative party, they were used interchangeably) as you age. Makes sense, really, as you transition from having little and valuing freedom to having much and valuing what you have.
I like the fun spin on calling it the “non-christian” coalition because only 62% identify as Christian. Nice doublespeak there, really!
(Of course, I guess that’s what happens when fundamentalist Christians co-opt the idea that they represent all Christians, but it strikes me as ludicrous for one side to say they do represent that as the other side to be labelled non-Christian because they don’t.)
You’re confusing two sets: the “non-christian coalition” refers to eople who aren’t christian - that’s the 84% growth number. Generation Y is a different set, but has some overlap.
Could? I’m mostly an optimist, but you only need to look at the flower power generation’s outcome to see what this generation’s outcome will be.
Less annoying than their parents? Obviously they’ll get old and cranky, but probably just like their parents they’ll be less so.
Exactly why does republican = christian? I was a republican for nearly 13 years and an atheist for most of that time. The business ethic of republican’s and atheism go quite well together. I do realize that the party is being infested with extremist christians and its one of the reasons why I “switched.”
It’s more like Christian = Republican, with the caveat that we’re only talking about Christians who vote Christian, i.e. those who can’t tell the difference between religion and politics.
Not very ;P Of all my friends, the last election here in Canada I think only I voted, and that was mainly to make sure that the Tories didn’t end up winning.
Young people don’t vote not because they don’t want to, but because we have a different perspective on politics than older people. We look at it like “either way, whoever wins will still fuck things up one way or another”. Coupled with the fact that their platforms have almost no issues that young people find that important, and voila, what’s the point?
Sure people like to say well if you don’t vote than you don’t deserve to vote and all that other rubbish. Why the hell would we vote when there’s no reason to(from our view)? To replace one muppet who fucks us over with a different one? yawn
Heh, on a side note though, if we had of been american in the last election, everyone I know would have gone to vote against bush.
Young people don’t vote not because they don’t want to, but because we have a different perspective on politics than older people. We look at it like “either way, whoever wins will still fuck things up one way or another”. Coupled with the fact that their platforms have almost no issues that young people find that important, and voila, what’s the point? [/quote]
I’ve got news: middle-aged people think we’re screwed regardless, but we still vote. Partly that’s because we have more to protect, and partly its because we’ve learned that small differences do matter. I didn’t like Kerry, but he would have been better than Dubya.
