6/11/2023 0 Comments Broken age act 3![]() That might sound vague, and I’m sure some people’s initial response will be to say, of course that’s the problem, but diagnosing it tells us nothing about a path forward. Ultimately, the reason that so many young people have become disenchanted with the Democratic Party is simple: the party has grown distracted by an unpopular progressive agenda and failed to deliver on its promise of economic and social progress. Does anybody really think that substituting Hakeem Jeffries (age 52) for Nancy Pelosi (age 83) as Speaker of the House will make any difference in how young people look at the Democratic Party? No, probably not.īy focusing on these relatively superficial issues, Democrats end up missing the forest for the trees. These things may well be true and worth addressing, but they’re also marginal-Democrats aren’t going to solve their youth problem by tinkering around the edges. When people try to answer this question, they often point to more surface-level concerns-that the party is too old or too out of touch or too (allegedly) corrupt. To ensure their long-term health as a political party, Democrats need to first understand why it is that so many young people-even young progressives-are reluctant to identify with their party. If young people don’t develop a Democratic identity now, there will be little to stop them from abandoning the party in future elections as their own personal incentives change and the country’s political dynamics shift. ![]() ![]() Above all, it’s a potential long-term political liability: political identity often forms and solidifies when people are young, impacting their voting behavior for decades to come. The fact that one of their key constituencies is willing to vote for Democrats but doesn’t want to be or call themselves Democrats should concern the Democratic Party. Those in the former camp are typically less politically engaged, less ideological, and more likely to change their party preference over time. But there remains a fundamental distinction between acknowledging that you lean towards one party and fully claiming you affiliate with that party. It’s reasonable to think that this tendency would apply to young independents, too, and that they would lean heavily toward the Democratic Party. Most independents do concede that they lean towards one party or another when pressed. Instead, a growing segment of these generations (52 percent of both) are rejecting party affiliation altogether and declaring themselves independents. Only a sliver of Millenials (21 percent) and Gen Z adults (17 percent) call themselves Republicans. To be clear, young people aren’t running into the arms of the GOP, either. But these inclinations don’t translate into Democratic Party affiliation when you look at how many young people actually call themselves members of the Democratic Party. ![]() That might be surprising, considering that young people are reputedly more progressive than ever and regularly vote for Democrats by landslide margins. ![]() Just 31 percent of adult Gen Zers and 27 percent of Millenials identify as Democrats, and a clear majority of Americans under the age of 30 disapprove of the job that President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are doing in Washington. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Election campaign stickers in the Democratic Party of Milwaukee office on Tuesday, Oct. ![]()
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