Millennials Support Socialism... Until they Start Working, by Alice Greene, 3/31/16
You are considered a
"Millennial" if you were born between the years 1981 and 1996.
Support for socialism
seems to be at an all-time high (at least judging by the number of “Feel
the Bern” bumper stickers I’ve seen in recent months). But as it turns out,
support for the “all for one and one for all” form of government is decreasing
as more Millennials find jobs.
Millennials
(anyone born between the years of 1981 and 1996) tend to hold conflicting
political views. As The Atlantic noted
a couple of years ago, this generation supports Obama and the idea of universal
healthcare, yet opposes the Affordable Care Act. Millennials dislike political
parties, but remain the demographic with the highest support of Congress.
It is also the
only age group in which a majority (53%, to be exact) holds a positive view of
socialism. But a new Reason-Rupe poll finds that this overwhelming support for
socialism tends to disappear as Millennials get jobs. In other words, it’s easy to love socialism
as a poor college student, but not so easy to agree to higher taxes when
you’ve landed a good job.
“The expanded
social welfare state Sanders thinks the United States should adopt requires
everyday people to pay considerably more in taxes. Yet Millennials become
averse to social welfare spending if they foot the bill. As they reach the
threshold of earning $40,000 to $60,000 a year, the majority of Millennials come
to oppose income redistribution, including raising taxes to increase financial
assistance to the poor,” reads the Washington
Post.
Furthermore,
Millennials paying for their own health insurance oppose paying more to support
the uninsured. Those still under Mom or Dad’s insurance plan, however, tend to
support universal healthcare.
When it comes
to a big government offering more services versus a small government with fewer
services and lower taxes, 57% of Millennials opt for the latter.
Gen Xers and
Baby Boomers also had wishy washy political views as they grew up. In the ‘80s,
52% of the Baby Boomer generation supported big government. In the ‘90s, it was
the same with Generation X (53%). They grew more skeptical over time,
however, and today only a quarter of Baby Boomers and only 37% of Gen Xers
favor a bigger government.
As it turns
out, the Millennials aren’t quite the political disaster many of us feared (in
fact, young Millennials [between 18 and 20] tend to be more conservative than
their older counterparts)…as long as they can find jobs.
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