84% of Young People Say: “Key Life Decisions in Jeopardy”
One of the themes that Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan made in his acceptance speech this week was that the college graduates are among the hardest hit economically, because they are finding it extremely difficult to get the career-oriented starter jobs.
A new poll, conducted by Generation Opportunity (a reported non-profit/non-partisan organization), recently released data on the “Millennials” ahead of the November election.
The numbers indicate as the 2012 presidential election nears, Team Obama may find getting the “youth vote” a bit more challenging this year. A summary of the numbers shows that:
- 89% of young people ages 18-29 say the current state of the economy is impacting their day-to-day lives (e.g., reductions in food purchases, different entertainment choices).
- 84% of young people ages 18-29 indicate that “key life decisions have been placed in jeopardy” (e.g., planned actions — such as starting a family — that may be delayed or not made, or not going forward on major purchases, like a home or car).
- 83% of young people ages 18-29 say that current economic conditions have impacted their summer plans (e.g., working jobs in which there is not interest, skipping vacations).
- 64% of young people ages 18-29 believe the availability of more quality, full-time jobs upon graduation is more important than lower student loan interest rates.
And, the scariest number for Team Obama: 76% of the Millenials plan to vote in the November Election.
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Generation Opportunity Announces New National Poll Results of 18 to 29 Year Olds (Generation Opportunity)
Generation Opportunity Announces New National Poll Results of 18 to 29 Year Olds (Generation Opportunity)
Comments
I have an anecdotal observation in line with this survey, for what its worth. On a larger northeastern campus of a state university before the summer break, I overheard two students who were discussing the struggle with both on and off campus job interviews. Their complaint was how many companies they had spoken to, and how little follow up or ‘traction’ there had been. The lament seemed to be that both felt they had really focused on academics, to the exclusion of some other ‘student activities’, and built as good a resume as someone with a fresh undergraduate degree could have (not sure the details – related summer jobs or co-op perhaps?). Because the GOP primary was not fully ended, and although Romney was the likely candidate, they talked about Romney, Paul, and Obama. What caught my ear was a statement by one that the hardest part of looking at anyone besides Obama was having to vote for a GOP affiliated candidate. It was stated as some accepted fact, and evidence to me that the party has a long way to go to overcome so much of a negative view within groups that age. All the normal factors no doubt are contributing, such as the slant within secondary education, and all the social coolness that the Dems so effectively capture.
As a side note, these were a pair of engineering graduates-to-be at a career function. You might think they would be less likely to buy into the current pitches about “economic fairness”, etc., and especially unlikely to be a part of any Occupy interest, for example. They still had an automatic reluctance to seriously consider the GOP.
For the identity politics mongers, I would say one may fit the progressive definition of the 1% simply because he was white and spoke with a New England accent. Surely he went to prep school, right???? And surely he would actively suppress the 99%, given the chance…. The other person appeared to be of Asian heredity. Could he have been one of the 99%? Or maybe he was one of those from a line of educated and profit-seeking Asians who have joined the 1%!!! (all pure sarcasm about the identity and class politics)
The bottom line is they recognized how much this administration sucked and caused them to suffer. I’ll never know if they found meaningful employment or even a place-holder job. But it was clear they understood the relationship between Obama policies and their situations. Even then, they were finding a serious consideration of another candidate difficult simply because of the affiliation with the GOP. Quite a hill to climb for the party.
I have a great job. Because I have some qualities of character many in my generation completely lack, I have full faith in myself to build a very successful future.
That being said starting a family before I’m 30 has become increasingly intimidating and risky. I completely distain the idea of thinking of starting a family as a risk, especially in these terms.