I'm not hugely involved in the political arena, but I read an article in the June 2008 Reader's Digest that really intrigued me regarding the bloc weight our "Millennium" generation has as compared to our "Gen X" co parts. Apparently the "Millennium Generation " (ages 19-29) folks are nearly 3x more involved people in their 30's and 40's.
This article talks about the influence our generation will have over this next election and future political processes. Because of Internet "blog sites" and the economy most greatly impacting US RIGHT NOW, our generation is stepping up and actually voting (or planning to vote in November) in numbers much greater than those in history.
The "older" people in government are trying to figure out how to capture our attention, and our votes, as more "socially" focused and technologically advanced. Apparently our current candidates are perplexed by how greatly our generation is influenced by policies that impact the global arena, versus the very conservative people currently in office, or the previous majority voters who were products of the "me" generation. Our generation is an "action generation"; they are calling us "entrepreneurial, not for the purpose of making money, but for doing social good." Though 38% of Millennial voters are Liberal, most are stuck somewhere in the middle, wedged between the Donkey and the Elephant (like me!).Cool statistics about the Millennium Voters:
* 63% of would currently approve gay marriage
* 67% consider themselves "religiously minded" and the rate jumps to 90% if the word "religious" is replaced with "spiritual"
*63 % of voters are currently siding with Obama
* 8.2% of the unemployment rates are affecting people 18-24 years old - the highest rate ever
*40% are "deeply" concerned about global warming and reusable fuels
*68% of individuals DON'T want to pay social security, because we believe it won't be around for us to collect on it.
I plan to vote in November and be much more involved in the political stratosphere this year than in previous years because I realize what an impact the current political representatives have, even on a micro level. I can't complain about being unsatisfied with the government if I don't take action to try and contribute to electing good people into office. There is no excuse for not knowing where our current leaders stand on particular issues. Here's a quick reference to help ya out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18437398
Get involved & see the current issues, candidates and other helpful tidbits on the ROCK THE VOTE website: http://www.rockthevote.com/ and please register to vote with the Widget on the right-hand side of the page. Go Team!
