Winograd and Hais, Authors of Best-Seller "Millennial Makeover," Join NDN as Fellows

With the Millennial Generation poised to play a decisive role in tomorrow's historic election, NDN is very excited to announce that Morley Winograd and Michael Hais have joined NDN as Fellows. Morley and Mike are authors of the best-selling book, “Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics.”

Morley and Mike are two of the most insightful and prescient interpreters of the profound demographic shifts taking place in our country today. They argue that we are on the verge of an extreme political makeover:

"...realignments like these are predictable events, with clear causes and clear outcomes in electoral results, voting behavior, and public policy. They occur every two generations when a large, outgoing, and politically active generation comes of age and a new, dominant communications medium emerges to mobilize that generation. America's last realignment came from the emergence of the idealistic, but highly divided, Baby Boom Generation in the late 1960s, and its fondness for television. The one before that was produced by the coming of age of the achievement-oriented GI Generation in the 1930s and FDR’s use of radio to unify its support for his New Deal.

This year’s realignment will result from the emergence of the Millennial Generation (Americans born between 1982 and 2003) and the Internet-based, social networking media on which Millennials rely. There are now nearly one hundred million Americans in this generational cohort according to the United States census. That makes them larger than America’s previous generational record holder, Baby Boomers who were born between 1946 and 1964. There are at least twice as many Millennials as there are members of Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1981. Almost forty percent of the Millennial Generation will be eligible to vote in 2008. Their political energy and the sharp increases in voter turnout among young people in states across the country have already transformed the Democratic nominating contest and will continue to be the single biggest force for change in American politics for decades to come."

Morley and Mike not only predict that the Millennial Generation will initiate a major political realignment in this country, but also predict what type of realignment it will be, based on their knowledge of Millennials. Here are some key facts about the Millennial Generation:

• Millennials are the largest and most ethnically diverse generation in American history, and display a great tolerance for lifestyle and ethnic differences.
• Millennials are more positive than older generations about the present state of their own lives and more optimistic about their future and that of the United States.
• Politically, their attitudes reflect their concern for the group and support for collective action. They want an activist government.
• Millennials are very adept in the use of the new Internet-based communication technologies like social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace. They are using them to inform and shape American public opinion and election results.
• Not surprisingly, these attitudes and beliefs lead Millennials to identify as Democrats by a margin of nearly 2:1. They are also the first generation in at least four decades in which more members call themselves liberals than conservatives.
• Because of its numbers, its distinctive attitudes, and its response to and use of the new technology, the Millennial Generation will shape America's elections, government, and public policy in the 21st century as profoundly as the country's last "civic" generation, the G.I. Generation, did in the 20th century. (The Millennial Generation is of a type labeled "civic" by the seminal generational theorists William Strauss and Neil Howe.)

NDN has long argued that the emergence of powerful new voting groups such as the Millennials and Hispanics has forever altered the political landscape. Starting with their 2006 paper, "Politics of the Millennial Generation," for our affiliate, the New Politics Institute, Morley and Mike have spoken at several NDN events, including one in March about the Millennial transformation of American politics. They are an important and tremendously impressive addition to the NDN Team. To read bios of Morley and Mike, please click here.