Politics of the Millennial Generation

Publish Date: 
3/22/06

In February of 2006, the New Politics Institute commissioned a survey of the up-and-coming Millennial Generation, those young people born in the 1980s and 1990s. This generation rivals the Baby Boom in scale and political potency, and is poised to dramatically alter the 21st century cultural and political landscape. The survey and accompanying analysis were prepared earlier this year by The Millennial Strategy Group at Frank N. Magid Associates, the nationally known media research and consulting firm. They probed 1400 Millennials – defined for this project as young people aged 13 through 28 – making key determinations about their political perspectives and comparing Millennial political attitudes and identifications with those of two older generations, Generation X (defined here as age 29 through 40), and Baby Boomers (ages 41 to 54).

This survey is the first in NPI’s Coming America series, a far-reaching look at key demographic transformations shaping the political landscape of the 21st century. It is framed by a complementary essay by NPI Fellow Peter Leyden, “The Greatest Generation Yet: Preparing for the Millennial Generation’s Impact on Politics.” We hope that progressive movement leaders will take note of these important statements about this rapidly emerging generation, whose civic-mindedness and social views could make them an enduring cornerstone of vital, 21st century progressivism.

Introduction

In February of 2006, the New Politics Institute commissioned a survey of the up-and-coming Millennial Generation, those young people born in the 1980s and 1990s. This generation rivals the Baby Boom in scale and political potency, and is poised to dramatically alter the 21st century cultural and political landscape. The survey and accompanying analysis were prepared earlier this year by The Millennial Strategy Group at Frank N. Magid Associates, the nationally known media research and consulting firm. They probed 1400 Millennials – defined for this project as young people aged 13 through 28 – making key determinations about their political perspectives and comparing Millennial political attitudes and identifications with those of two older generations, Generation X (defined here as age 29 through 40), and Baby Boomers (ages 41 to 54).

This survey is the first in NPI’s Coming America series, a far-reaching look at key demographic transformations shaping the political landscape of the 21st century. It is framed by a complementary essay by NPI Fellow Peter Leyden, “The Greatest Generation Yet: Preparing for the Millennial Generation’s Impact on Politics.” We hope that progressive movement leaders will take note of these important statements about this rapidly emerging generation, whose civic-mindedness and social views could make them an enduring cornerstone of vital, 21st century progressivism. For more information on the Coming America series visit www.newpolitics.net/comingamerica

Overview

This survey examined in detail the attitudes and behavior of three American generations — the Millennials, Gen-X'ers, and Baby Boomers — and, within the Millennials, three sub-generations, Teen Millennials, Transitional Millennials, and Cusp Millennials. Together the three generations consist of Americans 13-54 years old who were born from 1952-1993. Each of the three generations was born into a distinctive social milieu, was subject to distinctive child rearing practices, and faced a distinctive societal environment as it rose from infancy through childhood and into adulthood. According to the generational theorists William Strauss and Neil Howe, the particular experiences faced by each generation shaped the attitudes and behavior of that generation in a range of areas in distinction to those of the generations that preceded and followed.

Of present importance, the generations began to “come of age” and mature politically in decisively different periods ranging from the mid-196o's to the present. Our research suggests that, as in other areas of individual and societal life, the social and political environment into which each generation emerged influenced the political beliefs and perceptions of that generation. While it is true that generational variations in political attitudes, perceptions, and behavior are not as sharp as those based on strictly political variables such as self-perceived party identification and political ideology, generational political differences do exist. These generational political differences have the potential to influence election results, the style and tone of political discussion, and public policy direction as each succeeding generation emerges to shape and even dominate the political process as voters and office holders.

  • Teen Millennials (13-17 years old) seem to be strikingly shaped by coming of age politically in an “age of terror.” Their political identifications are still significantly unformed: about half have no clear party identification or ideological connection and those who do are about evenly divided among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and liberals/progressives, conservatives and moderates. They are particularly concerned with “security” issues such as crime and terrorism and cannot be easily pigeonholed in their political attitudes. On some issue clusters (controlling terrorism and crime and “social” issues such as abortion and same sex marriage they seem to lean “conservative” and on others (government economic intervention, educational policy, and environmental protection) they tilt “liberal/progressive.” At this point, unlike other Millennial subgroups, they tend to be relatively skeptical about the political process, but they are generally more confident than other groups about how they will fare in the future, especially economically.
  • Transitional Millennials (18-22 years old) and Cusp Millennials (23-28 years old) started their political awareness during the Clinton years. While their political identifications are still not fully formed, the greatest number in both groups tend toward a Democratic party identification and a liberal/progressive ideological orientation, the Transitional Millennials more than the Cusp Millennials. These two older Millennial groups, especially the Transitional Millennials, are more likely than any others to hold opinions considered to be “liberal” or “progressive” across virtually all issue clusters: economic intervention, environmental protection, security, crime, education, and social issues. Finally, these two Millennial groups tend to have relatively positive and optimistic perceptions of the political process and their economic futures.
  • Gen-X'ers (29-40 years old) arose to political awareness during the Reagan-George H.W. Bush Republican ascendancy. Overall, Gen-X'ers, especially males, are more Republican in their party identification and conservative in their ideological orientation than any other generation. Concern with the economy and taxes ranks high for this group. The Gen-X'ers seem quite pragmatic in their attitudes on political issues and appear to position themselves on an almost issue-by-issue basis. They tend to favor strict punishment as the best means of handling crime and are more likely than any other group to believe the invasion of Iraq was correct. The Gen-X'ers seem broadly to favor a libertarian position on social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage and moderate (or pragmatic) positions on environmental protection, economic intervention, and educational policies. Consistent with this, they tend to fall between the relatively optimistic Millennials and the relatively pessimistic Baby Boomers in their overall perceptions of the current political environment, but lean toward the pessimism of the older generation. They are sharply more pessimistic about their economic future, but more positive about their family and religious lives, than the Millennials.
  • Baby Boomers (41-54 years old) first came to political awareness during the cultural turmoil and failed presidencies of the late 1960's and 1970's. Overall, the Baby Boomers are fairly evenly divided in their party and ideological identifications, a situation that is, in large measure, the residue of a gender gap between strongly Democratic women and more Republican and conservative men. The Baby Boomers seem to take a moralistic and value-oriented approach to politics. Consequently, they are highly concerned with almost all issues, but especially the economy, healthcare, changes in societal values and the Iraq war and they tend to hold strong and relatively extreme positions on most issues. But the Baby Boomers are not clearly either “liberal/progressive” or “conservative” across all issue clusters. On some (lifestyle and crime) they seem “conservative” and others (the Iraq war) they are relatively “liberal.” On still others (economic intervention and environmental protection) they are relatively polarized, to some extent along gender lines. Perhaps because they began to emerge politically during the turmoil and rocky politics of the 1960's and 1970's, the Baby Boomers hold more negative perceptions of the political process than other generations. Finally, the Baby Boomers are more pessimistic about their economic futures and more optimistic about their religious and family lives than any other generational group.

Detailed Findings: The Generations

THE TEEN MILLENNIALS

  • Vital statistics: 13-17 years old, born 1989-1993.
  • Strauss-Howe generational type: Hero. As a Millennial subgroup, they are presumably characterized by optimism, ability to achieve, and strong group orientation.
  • Dates of emerging political awareness: Still coming of age politically, but initial political awareness of most is occurring post-2000 in the “age of terror.”
  • Political identifications: To a large extent still unformed and up for grabs. Nearly half (47%) are unsure of their party identification and a majority (53%) can't state their political ideology. Among the rest, a near even division among Democrats (16%), Republicans (20%) and Independents (15%) and among liberals/progressives (15%), conservatives (18%), and moderates (14%).
  • Importance of specific political issues: Like all generations, Teen Millennials are currently strongly concerned with education and the Iraq war. However, probably because of their political emergence after 9/11, they are also concerned with “security” issues such as terrorism and crime (51% each) and the environment (46%).
  • Attitudes on specific political issues:Overall, the Teen Millennials cannot be simply be portrayed across all issues as either “liberal” or “conservative.” On some issue clusters (government economic intervention, education, and environmental protection) they are seem to lean “liberal/progressive” and on other issues (controlling terrorism and crime and “social” issues) they seem to tilt “conservative.” In their issue positions, as in their political identifications, the Teen Millennials seem to be up for grabs.— Terrorism and crime. Probably because of their concern with “security” and disorder, the Teen Millennials (unlike the two older Millennial subgroups, but similar to Gen-X'ers and Baby Boomers) tend to endorse strong policing and military efforts as means of confronting terrorism and crime. A plurality favor strict punishment (42%) rather than improving social conditions (35%) as a means of dealing with crime. Teen Millennials are least likely of all generational groups to regard the Iraq war as a “mistake” (46%) and to favor limited or no restrictions on monitoring the phone calls and e-mails of US residents.
    • “Social” issues. Teen Millennials tend to hold “traditional” positions on social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage. They are more likely than other generational grouping to favor limits on abortion and like the Gen-X'ers and Baby Boomers, but unlike Transitional and Cusp Millennials, to reject same sex marriage.
    • Environmental protection. Similar to the other Millennial subgroups, the Teen Millennials endorse environmental protection, even at the cost of economic growth, to a greater degree than do either Gen-X'ers or Baby Boomers.
    • Economic intervention. Like the other Millennial subgroups, a clear plurality (45%) of Teen Millennials favor governmental action to ameliorate economic differences among Americans.
    • Educational policies. More than any other generational grouping, Teen Millennials favor increased Federal funding for school construction (70%) and federal scholarships to pay for the post-secondary education of all qualified high school graduates (66%).
  • Attitudes toward the political process. No generational grouping can be classified as positive about the current workings of the political and economic systems, but Teen Millennials resemble the Gen-X'ers and Baby Boomers rather than their Transitional and Cusp Millennial cohorts in holding particularly negative attitudes about this. Majorities of Teen Millennials believe that special interests usually get their way in government (63%), politicians don't care what people like themselves think (66%), people who work hard and play by the rules never get ahead (54%), and politicians are too concerned with their party and not with doing what's right for the country (74%). However, consistent with their willingness to use government to lessen economic differences, more than any other generational group, they believe that it's unfair that some have so much when others have so little (62%).
  • Confidence about the future. While they are negative about the current political and economic processes, Teen Millennials are generally more confident than other generational groupings about how they will personally fare in the future, especially with regard to economic concerns such as having a fulfilling career (51%), good jobs (47%), being financially well-off (42%), having sufficient high quality education (53%) and being able to afford a home (43%), health care (33%), and retire comfortably (36%). At the same time, Teen Millennials are a bit less confident than the Gen-X'ers and Baby Boomers about achieving such spiritual and personal goals as having satisfying family and religious lives and clear values in the future.

THE TRANSITIONAL MILLENNIALS

  • Vital statistics: 18-22 years old, born 1984-1988
  • Strauss-Howe generational type: Hero. As a Millennial subgroup, presumably characterized by optimism, ability to achieve, and strong group orientation.
  • Dates of emerging political awareness: Approximately 1998-2002, during the second Clinton term.
  • Political identifications: Not fully formed, but the greatest number tend toward Democratic party ID and liberal/progressive ideology. About a third (30%) are unsure of their party identification and can't classify themselves ideologically (36%). However, among those who can, Democrats (26%) hold an edge over Republicans (18%) and Independents (22%) and liberals/progressives (29%) over conservatives and moderates (17% each).
  • Importance of specific political issues:Similar to other generations, Transitional Millennials are most strongly concerned with education and the Iraq war. In addition, majorities are also concerned with the economy (51%) and the environment (50%).
  • Attitudes on specific political issues: The Transitional Millennials are more likely than any other generational grouping to hold opinions considered to be liberal/progressive across virtually all issue clusters: economic intervention, environmental protection, security, crime, social issues, and education.
    • Terrorism and crime. A clear plurality of Transitional Millennials (44%) believes that improving social conditions rather than strict punishment (28%) is the most effective way of dealing with crime. A majority of them (60%) believe the Iraq war was a “mistake” and a plurality favor immediate US withdrawal from Iraq (32%). A small plurality of them (36%) reject electronic monitoring of US residents to fight terrorism under any circumstances and most of the rest believe this should occur only with court supervision.
    • “Social” issues. Transitional Millennials tend to reject “traditional” positions on social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage. They more often reject limits on abortion and accept alternative lifestyles than any other generational grouping.
    • Environmental protection. Transitional Millennials favor environmental protection, even at the cost of economic growth, to a greater extent than any other generational grouping.
    • Economic intervention. Along with the Teen Millennials, the Transitional Millennials are the grouping most likely to favor governmental action to reduce economic differences among Americans (45%).
    • Educational policies. More than any other generational grouping, except for Teen Millennials, the Transitional Millennials favor increased federal funding for school construction (68%) and federal scholarships for the post-secondary education of all qualified high school graduates (63%).
  • Attitudes toward the political process. Like other generational groupings, most Transitional Millennials are not positive about the operation of the political and economic processes. Still, Teen Millennials are more likely than any other group to reject the contentions that special interests get their way in government, that politicians don't care about ordinary people, and that politicians are more concerned with their party than the good of the entire country. A majority (55%) also agrees that it's unfair that some have so much while others have so little.
  • Confidence about the future. Like the other Millennial groups, the Transitional Millennials are relatively confident about their future economic status. They generally trail only the Teen Millennials in expecting to have fulfilling careers (49%), good jobs (42%), being financially well-off (39%), having enough high quality education (51%), and being able to afford a home (38%), health care (40%), and retire comfortably (38%). However, more than any other generational grouping, Transitional Millennials are relatively pessimistic about having satisfying religious and family lives and clear values in the future.

THE CUSP MILLENNIALS

  • Vital statistics: 23-28 years old, born 1978-1983.
  • Strauss-Howe generational type: Hero. As a Millennial subgroup, presumably characterized by optimism, ability to achieve, and strong group orientation.
  • Dates of emerging political awareness: Approximately 1992-1997, during first Clinton term.
  • Political identifications: More fully developed than other Millennial subgroups, but still less likely to have a clear party identification and ideological orientation than Gen-X'ers or Baby Boomers. Overall, the greatest numbers lean a bit toward the Democratic party and a liberal/progressive ideology. Among Cusp Millennials, there are somewhat more Democrats (26%) than Independents (25%) or Republicans (21%) and a greater number of liberals/progressive (28%) than conservatives and moderates (18% each).
  • Importance of specific political issues: As with most other groupings, education is a key concern of Cusp Millennials (64%). However, as a group that is beginning to enter the workforce, committed relationships and parenthood, healthcare and changed societal values (58% each) and the economy (55%) rank high in importance to them as well. All of these exceed the importance of such security-related concerns as the Iraq war, terrorism and crime to the Cusp Millennials.
  • Attitudes on specific political issues: The Cusp Millennials trail only the Transitional Millennials in tending toward liberal/progressive positions on most issue areas.
    • Terrorism and crime. A plurality of Cusp Millennials (43%) believes that improving social conditions instead of strict punishment (35%) is the best way of dealing with crime. A majority of them (56%) feel that the Iraq war was a mistake and a plurality (33%) favor immediate US withdrawal from Iraq. A plurality (37%) favor electronic monitoring of US residents only under strict court supervision, but almost as many reject monitoring in any circumstances (32%).
    • “Social” issues. Cusp Millennials fall between the more “liberal” Transitional Millennials and the more traditionally “conservative” Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers on social issues, but tend to lean toward their younger generational cohort. A plurality favors no limits on abortion (44%) and also endorses new lifestyles such as same sex marriage by a narrow margin over more traditional approaches (28% vs. 22%).
    • Environmental protection. Cusp Millennials favor environmental protection, even at the cost of economic growth, to a greater degree than any generational grouping other than the Transitional Millennials.
    • Economic intervention. Like other Millennial subgroups, the greatest number of Cusp Millennials favors governmental intervention to lessen economic disparities among Americans (43%).
    • Educational policies. Similar to the other Millennial subgroups, clear majorities of Cusp Millennials endorse increased funding for school construction (68%) and federal scholarships to pay for post-secondary education for all qualified high school graduates (54%).
  • Attitudes toward the political process.While most are not highly positive about the current workings of the political and economic systems, like the other Millennial subgroups, Cusp Millennials are more optimistic about this than the older Gen-X'ers and Baby Boomers. Cusp Millennials are less likely than their elders to believe that special interests get their way in government, that politicians don't care about ordinary people, and that politicians are more concerned with their party than the good of the whole country. Similar to other Millennials, a majority of Cusp Millennials (50%) agrees that it's unfair that some have so much while others have so little.
  • Confidence about the future.The Cusp Millennials, like other Millennials, are relatively confident about their future economic position. They are similar to both the Teen Millennials and the Transitional Millennials in anticipating fulfilling careers (43%), good jobs (44%), being financially well-off (40%), having enough high quality education (50%) and being able to afford a home (37%), health care (33%), and retire comfortably (33%). At the same time, Cusp Millennials are closer to the older generations in believing that they will have satisfying religious and family lives and clear values in the future.

THE GEN-XER'S

  • Vital Statistics: 29-40 years old, born 1966-1977
  • Strauss-Howe generational type: Nomad. Presumably characterized by greater orientation toward risk-taking, pragmatism, free agency, and more limited group affiliations.
  • Date of emerging political awareness: Approximately 1980-1991, during the Reagan-George H. W. Bush Republican ascendancy.
  • Political identifications: Some gender gap between more Democratic and liberal/progressive females and more Republican and conservative males. Overall, relatively more Republican (27%) and conservative (24%) than other generational groupings. Among male Gen-X'er's Republicans outnumber Democrats (28% vs. 24%) and conservatives outnumber liberals/progressives (27% vs. 24%).
  • Importance of specific political issues: Similar to other generations, Gen-X'ers perceive education and the Iraq War as important issues. However, they break with Millennials in that large majorities place great importance on the economy (64%) and taxes (62%).
  • Attitudes on specific political issues: Befitting their presumed pragmatism, the Gen-X'ers cannot be easily typecast across a range of specific issues and, instead, seem to adopt specific positions on almost an issue-by-issue basis.
    • Terrorism and crime. On several issues within this cluster, Gen-X'ers hold “conservative” positions. A clear plurality favors strict punishment (44%) rather than correcting social problems (36%) as the best approach to handling crime. More than any other generational grouping, Gen-X'ers believe that it was correct to invade Iraq. At the same time, a plurality of Gen-X'ers pragmatically believe in electronic monitoring of US residents only with strict court supervision rather than rejecting monitoring altogether or believing that it should occur without restrictions.
    • Social issues. Gen-X'ers seem broadly to favor a libertarian or laissez-faire approach on “social issues.” They are more likely than any other generational grouping to believe that there should be no limits placed on the right to abortions and a clear plurality (43%) believes that the government should not promote or reject any specific lifestyle in areas such as marriage.
    • Environmental protection. The Gen-X'ers broadly opt for a pragmatic position in the environmental issue area. More of them than in any other generation favor a moderate position midway between protecting the environment and promoting economic growth.
    • Economic intervention. Gen-X'ers are sharply divided in this issue area. A slight plurality (46%) believes that the government should provide education and opportunity to all and then let each person do as well as they can on their own. However, nearly as many (41%) say that the government should take more affirmative steps to lessen economic inequality.
    • Educational policies. The Gen-X'ers seem pragmatic in this issue cluster as well. Like the Millennials, a large majority favors a substantial increase in federal educational spending (66%). At the same time, unlike the Millennials, fewer than half of them (46%) endorse federal post-secondary education scholarships for all qualified high school graduates.
  • Attitudes toward the political process. Like most Americans, the Gen-X'ers are negative and suspicious of the current political and economic processes. Overall, they fall between the relative optimism of the Millennials and the pessimism of the Baby Boomers and tilt closer to the latter than the former in their present perceptions of the political process. Large majorities of Gen-X'ers believe that special interests get their way in government (69%), politicians don't care about ordinary people (68%), and that politicians are more concerned with their party than doing what's right for the country (76%).
  • Confidence about the future. There is a sharp break between the Gen-X'ers and the Millennials in their optimism about their future lives. On the one hand, the Gen-X'ers have relatively limited confidence in their future economic status. Only fairly small minorities of them believe that they will have fulfilling careers (38%), good jobs (37%), be financially well off (33%), and able to afford homes (38%), health care (28%), and retire comfortably (24%). A minority of Gen-X'ers is not confident that the quality and quantity of their education will allow them to succeed in life (43%). At the same time, most Gen-X'ers are positive about the spiritual and personal aspects of their lives in the future: religion (58%), family life (59%), and clear values (80%).

THE BABY BOOMERS

  • Vital Statistics: 41-54 years old, born 1952-1965
  • Strauss-Howe generational type: Prophet. Presumably characterized by being self-absorbed and very morally driven and value-oriented.
  • Date of emerging political awareness: Approximately 1966-1979, during the “failed” Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations and the cultural turmoil of that period.
  • Political identifications: Overall, fairly evenly divided in party identification among Democrats (33%), Republicans (26%), and Independents (23%) and in ideology among conservatives (26%), liberals/progressives (22%) and moderates (29%). However, a sharp gender gap between strongly Democratic women and more Republican and conservative men.
  • Importance of specific political issues.Perhaps because of their presumably “moralistic” and “value-oriented” orientation, large majorities of Baby Boomers express greater concern than any other generational grouping with virtually every specific issue examined in the survey. Overall, however, they express greatest concern with the economy (73%), healthcare (71%), changes in societal values (67%), and the Iraq war (64%).
  • Attitudes toward specific political issues. Befitting their value-driven rather than pragmatic approach, Baby Boomers are often characterized by taking strong, relatively extreme positions on issues. On some issue clusters (lifestyle issues and crime) this leads them toward more “conservative” positions and on others (the Iraq war) more “liberal” ones.
    • Terrorism and crime. Shaped by their moralistic viewpoint, Baby Boomers believe more decisively than other generational groupings in strict punishment (46%) rather than amelioration of societal problems (37%) as the best approach to dealing with crime. In particular, male Baby Boomers support a punitive approach to crime. They are more sharply divided than any other generation is their attitude toward electronic monitoring of US residents: a third (37%) favor monitoring only under strict court supervision and the rest are evenly divided in completely rejecting monitoring or favoring it without restrictions (28% each). Perhaps in a carryover from their youthful opposition to the Vietnam war, a large majority (58%) believe the Iraq war is a mistake and a third (31%) favor immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
    • Social issues. While in their youth Baby Boomers are thought of as a generation that flaunted traditional morality, in their maturity they support it with greater intensity than other generations. The greatest number of Baby Boomers (46%) favors a neutral governmental stance on lifestyle matters such as same sex marriage, but the rest endorse traditional rather than alternative lifestyles by a 2:1 ratio (32% vs. 16%). Overall, Baby Boomers appear to resemble other generations in their position of limited abortion. On both issues male Baby Boomers endorse traditional moral positions to a substantially greater degree than females.
    • Environmental protection. Like all other generational groups, most Baby Boomers endorse environmental protection at the cost of possible economic growth. However, they do so to a lesser extent than any other generation.
    • Economic intervention. Overall, Baby Boomers endorse government intervention to lessen economic disparities to a slightly smaller degree than other generations. Once again, however, gender differences are striking within the Baby Boomer cohort: a plurality of women support affirmative governmental policies that would reduce or eliminate economic inequalities, while most males oppose such policies.
    • Educational policies. Maybe because many are no longer supporting their own children or because of their relatively great concern with taxation, Baby Boomers are somewhat less likely than other generations to endorse increased federal spending on school construction and federal scholarships to provide post-secondary education for all qualified high school graduates. Consistent with other results, female Baby Boomers are more supportive of federal educational spending, especially for post-secondary scholarships.
  • Attitudes toward the political process. Perhaps as a result of their coming off age politically during the “failed” administrations of the 1960's and 1970's, Baby Boomers have substantially more negative and pessimistic perceptions of the political process than any other generational grouping. Large majorities of Baby Boomers agree that special interests get their way in government (76%), politicians don't care about ordinary people (70%), and that politicians are more concerned with their party than the entire country (82%). Contrary to their distinctive attitudes on specific policy-related issues, there are only scant gender variations on these broad systemic perceptions.
  • Confidence about the future. Baby Boomers are the least confident of all generations about their economic future and the most confident about their personal and spiritual lives. Only minorities of them are confident that they have had/will have fulfilling careers (35%), good jobs (34%), and financial security (34%). Fewer anticipate that they will be able to retire comfortably (24%) and afford quality health care (23%). Only 45% are satisfied with their education. At the same time, large majorities of Baby Boomers are satisfied that they have rich family lives (58%), satisfying religious lives (64%), and clear values to live by (85%).

Methodology

The research results outlined above were obtained in a larger national online survey conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates for an omnibus group of clients, including the New Politics Institute. The political portion of that survey was administered to a total sample of 2468 respondents 13-54 years old. These respondents were stratified to ensure that they accurately represent the total US population in gender, age, ethnic, and regional distribution. The political sample contained 1392 Millennials (person 13-28 years old), 537 Gen-X'ers (persons 29-40), and 539 Baby Boomers (person 41-54). The political sample was weighted to ensure that each of the generational groups was represented according to its actual contribution to the total U.S. population. The political survey was conducted January 5-23, 2006.

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