It’s hardly surprising that today’s young voters care more about their fiscal future than social issues. After all, they’re the ones who will be left holding the bag thirty years from now.

Ryan Prior of USA Today reports that young voters are going libertarian.

Big time.

Many college students watching the party conventions were probably dissatisfied — neither party directly matched their beliefs. Partly this is an unfortunate effect of any two-party political system.

However, significant changes in our national political outlook create a growing segment of the population with beliefs that cut across the current conception of the conservative vs. liberal debate.

A growing number of people, particularly youth, identifies as socially liberal while being fiscally conservative. Earlier this year, a Reason poll showed that 61% of people aged 18-29 would be open to electing a president who is socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

This should have major implications — not just in this election, but also for the foreseeable future. A survey conducted late last month by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that the “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” voting bloc was essentially the only persuadable group in 2012. While so-called independents make up about one-third of the electorate, most lean toward one party or the other. The survey called these voters “disguised Republicans” and “disguised Democrats.”