Millennials Aren’t More Democratic—They’re Just Less Republican

Reason-Rupe has a new survey and report out on
millennials—find the report
here

In 2012 millennials voted for President Barack Obama over Mitt
Romney 60 to 36 percent, but thelatest
Reason-Rupe study of millennials finds
 they are not
overwhelmingly Democratic. In fact, they are no more Democratic
than older Americans; instead they are more independent and less
Republican.

Remarkably, given recent voting trends, millennials are slightly
less likely (43%) to identify as Democratic than Americans over 30
(49%). Only 23 percent of millennials identify as Republican, half
as likely as Americans 30 and up (40%).

Instead, millennials are three times as likely (34%) as older
Americans (11%) to identify as independent.

In other words, millennials are distinctive because they are
less Republican and more independent.  (They
really don’t like either political party
)

White and Asian American millennials have similar partisan
profiles, with about a third identifying as Republicans, a third as
Democrats, and a third as independents. Nearly half of Hispanic
millennials identify as Democratic, four in 10 as independent and
12 percent as Republican. Nearly 60 percent of African-American
millennials identify as Democratic, a third as independent, and 11
percent as Republican.

Millennials’ life experiences
also correlate with their partisanship. The longer millennials are
in school, the less politically independent and the more Democratic
they become. Among millennials with high school diplomas, 43
percent identify as independent and 38 percent as Democratic. Among
college graduates this flips, and 51 percent identify as Democratic
and only 23 percent as independent. Among those who have pursued
post-graduate degrees, 59 percent identify as Democratic and 15
percent as independent.

Interestingly, Republican identification does not vary
substantially with education, but it does as millennials get
married and buy a home.

Among unmarried millennials who don’t own homes, 21 percent
identify as Republican, compared to 34 percent of those who are
married and do own homes. While Democratic identification doesn’t
substantially vary across homeownership and marital status,
independent identification declines from 35 percent among unmarried
non-homeowners to 22 percent among married homeowners.

It is not clear whether added responsibilities such as marriage
and homeownership increase the likelihood that millennials will
become Republican or whether Republican millennials are more likely
to buy homes and get married younger.

Download the PDFTo
learn more about millennials, check
out Reason-Rupe’s new report.

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