Thursday, October 18, 2007

108 - Reason To Cheer, Part III: Increasingly Left-Leaning Youth Will Turn The Country Increasingly Progressive

A headline early this past summer said it all:

Young Americans Are Leaning Left, New Poll Finds

A few tidbits:

Pew Research found that since Reagan the percentage of young adults calling themselves Republicans has declined from 55 to 35%. That loses out to young Democrats, who now account for 48% of young adults.

On specific issues:

While 47% of the public would support a "universal, government-sponsored national health care insurance program" -- not bad -- fully 62% of young voters would. A super-majority.

On wedge issues like race and gay rights:

While only 36% of whites in the general public say they "completely agree" that "It's all right for blacks and whites to date each other," fully 64% of white youth feel that way.

And Pew found that while those age 26 and older reject allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children by 50-44%, 18-25 year-olds support gays and lesbians having that right, by 61% to 25%, a major league turnaround.

Overall, as summarized by The New York Times, America's youth "have continued a long-term drift away from the Republican Party."

If you're a progressive, feel free to smile now as broadly as you wish, let out a great sigh of relief (or a big cheer), and picture a bright future with a totally marginalized right-wing. How sweet it is!


(PS: Right-wingers, if you want to write in to me, fine, but at least do me the courtesy of listening to the podcast first. Please don't respond just on the basis of the brief preview above. Thanks!!)

Jack Clark 3:16 PM [+]   3 comments
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