Running head: MILLENNIALS AND POLITICS

Do Millennials Affect Politics?

Sadie Martinez
Salt Lake Community College

MILLENNIALS AND POLITICS

Do Millennials Affect Politics?

We, as a society, dont see change from a day to day basis. However, when we look back
we can see we have evolved greatly. Some people might argue and say every day that goes by
we are harming our society with the decisions we are making by passing certain policy and laws.
Generally, we can say we have evolved in great ways: in technology, education, medical
application, and much more. We have gone through many generations throughout the years and
with each generation we have seen substantial change in the way society is carried out.
Generation baby boomers, generation jones, generation X, generation Millennial are just a few of
the generations weve had over the past years.
I was born in 1994, therefore under vague date lines; I am a part of generation
millennium. What exactly does the term generation mean? According to Roberts, Newman, and
Schwartzstein (2012), a generation is a particular age group of individuals who share common
experiences, values, communities, and sense of identity, all of which are shaped by a major
national and/or world events, or social trends. In addition to that the characteristics of
millennials are described as sheltered, team oriented, confident, achievement orientated, and
technology savvy (McAlister, 2009). Before taking this course I was never really informed or
tried to educate myself about politics and how they worked. The majority of my peers have the
same ideology as me. However, as I grow older, I see that knowledge on how the politics and the
government works is an important thing to know. Every policy or law that passes changes our
lives one way or another. I will be reviewing how millennials affects the state, Utah, the identity,
and the interest. Why do I provide all this basic information? Its to give you an idea on how
generation millennium might differ from its previous generations. That leads me to my research
question: do and how do millennial influence politics?

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3
The State

Analysis.
For my analysis of the state, I decided to use an article with the title MillennialGenerated Change to American Governance by Christina Gagnier. In this article Christina
surveys a group of millennials to inquire their opinion of politics and government. In the first
portion of the survey she asked and collected on the perceptions millennials had of American
government, specifically identifying areas where they perceived the government was properly
serving, or failing to serve, and the public interest. As a measure of general sentiment, 43 percent
of the survey respondents said that society was somewhat successful at addressing its most
important problems, while 44 percent said that society was not not very successful. (Gagnier,
2008). In addition to that the she also saw three issues that emerged regarding the success of
American government: public education, national security, and democracy. She then asked the
question, How do those characteristics position our generation to help our society address its
most important problems? A few respondents said that the characteristics dont help while
others noted that these characteristics enabled the millennial generation to bring attention to
issues, bring diverse solutions, and allow the generation to network, make connections
faster, and break down barriers. (Gagnier, 2008).
Discussion.
How do millennial affect the United States? Based off this article, we can infer that
millennials are not too trust worthy of the government. The percentages are somewhat
frightening. 44% answered that the government is not very successful at addressing important
problems. However, with that being said, Millennials also answered that because of the
characteristics they carry, they can try and better the government and its policies. If Millennials

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get more involved and interact more will politics, than we can come closer to having a more
diverse and strong government. Like I mentioned earlier we are said to find better ways to
network, make connections, and break down barriers. If we do all these this in a great and
positive manner then we can certainly build a stronger government. Therefore, millennials do
affect the United States, and for the better. Although millennials might not trust or have too much
faith in the government that provides motivation to be able to fill in the gaps and holes and
build a robust government.
The Identity
Analysis.

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How does the identity of millennials differ from other past generations that makes them
different? Like I mentioned before, they are described as team oriented and therefore, while
millennials are clearly informed and highly vocal about the political and economic realities they
face, they tend to see political involvement as something best accomplished through community
and volunteer activity, rather than voting. In addition to that, according to Michelle Diggles
(2014) she stated over the past decade, the number of Independents has grown significantly. But

the percent of Millennials describing themselves as political Independents has skyrocketed

compared to other generations. Since President Obamas election, the number of self-identified
Independents among the Millennial Generation has increased by eleven pointsnearly double
the pace of change among all other generational cohorts (Diggles, 2014) This shift, means that at
least half of younger voters now refuse to associate themselves with either political partyand it
suggests that their allegiances cannot be assumed.
Discussion.
If allegiance cannot be assumed in a political party then how will future election look
like? We have held so close to our two party system but could there possibly, in the near future,
be a third type of party? Millennials, in my opinion have more open views and are less
conservative and less religious as well. We are aware that political parties are already weak, but
with a generation like Millennials and their distinct points of views, we can assume their political

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attitudes dont map neatly into traditional liberal democrat or conservative republican ideologies.
Therefore, in my opinion, I believe that there can be a third party and it would have a mixture of
conservative and liberal views and be a strong party because millennials will influence their
children to have somewhat the same views.
The Interest
Analysis.
Every day we are discovering new ways to talk, write, and communicate. This idea plays
a vast role for millennials. So what is probably the most major interest of millennials?
Technology and social sites. Not surprising but, millennials fall behind other generations when it
comes to the interest of politics and government. A reason behind this might be because
millennials dont listen to the same type of news older generations have. Millennials have heard
of 18 at substantively lower rates than both Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. These sources include
three major newspapers (USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal), four radio
programs and networks (NPR, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Glenn Beck Program, The Sean
Hannity Show), economic sources (Bloomberg) and sources whose audiences tend to lean to one
side of the ideological spectrum (Drudge Report, Breitbart, Slate, The New Yorker) (Mitchel,
Gottfried, & Matsa, 2015). That begs the question, then where do they, if they at all, get their
political and government information? Unfortunately its probably not the most reliable
Facebook. According to Mitchel et al. (2015) among Millennials, Facebook is far and away the
most common source for news about government and politics.
Discussion.
Being part of the millennial generation, I probably could not agree more with the findings
of the study. However, I believe there can be real down falls to the findings of the study. The

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difference between getting your political information off of Facebook differs greatly from getting
your information from The Wall Street Journal. The first thing that I see that is wrong is the
validity. How valid can information be that is on Facebook? Yes there can be direct links that
will take you to the article in Wall Street Journal, but that is not always the case. When it comes
to the validity of the three major newspaper sources mentioned earlier we can assume they have
a little bit more legitimacy to them. So how does this affect politics? I believe that if politicians
and the government dont see the same interest as the majority of the voters, which are
millennials, they can miss a large number of votes. Instead of going on CNN and Fox News, they
should perhaps find a way to post ads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Therefore they can
reach out to a majority of voters.
Conclusion
In recent discussions of politics, a controversial issue has been whether millennials play a
positive or negative role in politics. On the one hand, some argue that the millennial generation is
one of the greatest generations that could have happened to politics. On the other hand, however,
others argue that they have ruined how politics are overseen. In the words of Andrea McAlister
(2009), one of this views main proponents, characteristics of millennials are described as
sheltered, team oriented, confident, achievement orientated, and technology savvy. According to
this view, millennials can be a very helpful and inspiring politics. In the sum, then, the issue is
whether people see this as good or bad. My own view is that millennials are truly an amazing
generation that have a lot to offer. Though I concede that they might not be as politically correct
as previous generations, I still maintain that they can aspire great things. For example, the new
ruling on same sex marriage, that ruling would have never been passed a century ago. People
were so closed mined, religious, and conservative. Although some might object that this new

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ruling is an abomination, I would reply that its not its us as a society becoming undogmatic
and diverse. The issue is important because it shows that every day we are changing the way we
see the world and its norms. In addition to same sex marriage, the fact that millennials are more
permissive can be a beneficial and useful when it comes down creating foreign, social, and
economic policies. My initial question was whether or not millennials affect politics. As you
have read through my analysis of the state, identify and interest you can infer that millennials
do indeed affect the political structure of the government in a constructive and encouraging
manner.

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9
Reference

Diggles, M. (2014, March 20). Millennials: Political explorers. Third Way Fresh Thinking.
Retrieved from
http://www.thirdway.org/report/millennials-political-explorers
Gagnier, C. M. (2008). Democracy 2.0: Millennial-generated change to American governance.
National Civic Review, 97(3), 32-36.
McAlister, A. (2009). Teaching the millennial generation. American Music Teacher, 59(1), 13-15
Mitchell, A., Gottfried, J., and Masta, K. E. (2015, June 1). Facebook top source for political
news among millenials. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from
http://www.journalism.org/2015/06/01/facebook-top-source-for-political-news-amongmillennials/
Mitchell, A., Gottfried, J., and Masta, K. E. (2015, June 1). Political interest and awareness lower
among millennials. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from
http://www.journalism.org/2015/06/01/political-interest-and-awareness-lower-amongmillennials/
Roberts, D. H., Newman, L. R., Schwartzstein, R. M. (2012). Twelve tips for facilitating
millennials learning. Medical Teacher, 34(4), 274-278.
DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.613498.