Overview of The Politics of Millennials (Now available):
The Politics of Millennials offers a first of its kind analysis of the Millennial Generation’s political attitudes and policy preferences. While many political studies have focused on the influence of group dynamics on political behavior, none have considered generational effects as the primary motivator. The Millennial Generation shares a set of characteristics that form its generational persona or framework; these include: racial and ethnic diversity and tolerance, economic struggles, liberalness, social justice priorities, cosmopolitan identity, and lack of attachment to traditional institutions. The book utilizes data from multiple original surveys, as well as from extensive, original focus group interviews, to explore how the Millennial Generation identity or frame affects this cohort’s political attitudes. Taken together, this mixed-method approach allows for a comprehensive examination of the Millennial Generation by comparing them to older adults and evaluating subgroups (e.g. African Americans and Latinos) within the age cohort. The surveys illuminate trends across a large, representative sample of individuals, and the focus groups offer nuanced substance to flesh out these relationships. The findings show that important and unique characteristics of the Millennial Generation significantly and substantively affect this cohort’s political attitudes, policy preferences, and levels of political engagement, which have meaningful implications for the current and future U.S. political landscape.
