The College Fix reports on the results of the annual William F. Buckley Institute's survey of college students.
The story from the College Fix is available here.
Also from the survey, slightly more students would prefer to live under socialism than capitalism.
Here is the link to the full survey results.
Newsweek magazine reports that the number of young Americans employed or in education has increased massively since the state of the COVID pandemic.
For one, the idea that they're all rejecting college because entry-level jobs pay much more than they used to turns out to be something of a myth: Bogged down perhaps by a pandemic malaise, as many as one in six young adults ages 18 to 24 are neither in school nor working, according to an analysis for Newsweek by Lightcast, a data-driven labor market consulting firm. In other words, they're doing...nothing.
Disconnected from the mainstream economy, these young adults risk staying unemployed and under-educated, struggling to catch up with their peers. "People who are not working nor in school are potentially missing out on some really formative skill building years," says Lightcast senior economist Layla O'Kane. Studies suggest these young people may face lifelong consequences, including lower wages throughout their careers, higher risk of unemployment and greater odds of poor health.
Likely fearmongering over COVID had a big part in it. Young people were told over and over again that the world was ending and that they were super-spreaders (both untrue). Under those circumstances, who would be motivated to start a career, train for many years for a job, or start a business.
America’s Republican Party has a big problem. Republicans do well with older voters. But Republican politicians go over like a
lead balloon with voters under the age of 40.
Exit polls show that by a two-to-one margin, young people preferred
Joe Biden to Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Democrats captured the support of younger voters by similarly large
margins in every election since 2004.
Because individual party preferences are formed
early in one’s adult life and tend to persist, the failure to attract younger
voters to the Republican cause bodes ill for the future of the GOP.
So how can Republicans attract younger voters? Canada’s new Conservative party leader shows
how its done.
Pierre Poilievre is Canada’s new Conservative Party leader. Poilievre is a huge hit with young
people. He’s attracting large numbers of
young people to his party and to conservative positions.
Polling shows that the Conservative Party is now the most
popular choice of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29.
So what is Poilievre’s secret to attracting young people to the
Conservative Party?
According to the Canada’s
National Post, Poilievre’s popularity is doe to the fact that he’s actually
addressing issues that young Canadians care about.
“Poilievre’s growing popularity among young voters is likely
due to how he’s seized upon an opening by providing coherent messaging that
addresses the general state of dissatisfaction and the economic anxieties that
are weighing on young Canadians. That
includes continuing frustrations about the inaccessibility of home ownership,
income instability and inflation.”
Poilievre
offers a mix of populism and libertarianism.
He blames deficit spending by the ruling Liberals for inflation.
Poilievre is proposing implementing a
pay-as-you-go law which requires any new spending to be offset through cuts
elsewhere.
Poilievre seeks to address high housing costs by reducing
restrictions on development.
Poilievre believes that Canada needs to address climate
change but wants to reduce CO2 emissions through technological solutions, not
by impoverishing Canadians.
Polievere is a moderate on most social issues. He supports gay marriage and does not want to
make changes to abortion policies in Canada.
In Canada abortions are generally not available after the twenty-third week
of pregnancy.
Poilievre is a strong
supporter of free speech. He’s an opponent
of woke authoritarianism in academia, the media and government.
He supported the right of the Canadian truckers to protest. He also opposed the use of Canada’s Emergencies
Act to crack down on COVID dissenters.
Pierre Poilievre’s plain-spoken, solutions-oriented mix of conservatism
and libertarianism might be just what the Republican party needs to attract
young voters,
Results of the first round of the French presidential
election show that most young people in France are looking for alternatives to
the current political order.
Results of polling by Ipsos
of the first round of the April elections appear below.
In the first round, Emmanuel Macron was bested by both
Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon among voters under 32 and
attracted less than 25 percent support among voters under 60.
This being France, only Valérie Pécresse from Les Républicans
and Éric
Zemmour offered free
market economic programs. Zemmour focused
on tax cuts while Pécresse planned to cut France’s bloated bureaucracy and regulatory
state.
Macron is a corporatist.
Macron wants more intervention in business with government directing capital
to and providing protectionist measures to politically-favored businesses and
industrial sectors.
LePen is also a protectionist and advocates for expansion of
entitlement spending by reducing the retirement age from 62 to 60. She offers a particularly innovative approach
to taxation by exempting workers below the age of 30 from the income tax. This will allow young people to build wealth,
buy homes and start families.
Mélenchon’s economic program is straight out of Bernie
sanders playbook—more spending, bigger government and more regulation of the
private sector.
Polls show that Macron is ahead of Le Pen in the second
round. Poll show that Macron is favored
to win. That may be the case. However, a macron victory will not bring
about the type of political and economic change that young people in France
long for.
The latest Quinnipiac poll
shows Joe Biden’s approval ratings continue to tank among the Millennials and Generation
Z. But will the GOP be able to
capitalize on young voter dissatisfaction?
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,462 adults from March 24-28, 2022.
According to the survey, only 27 percent of Americans aged 18-34 approve of the way Joe Biden is handing his job. This compares to 36 percent for all Americans.
Biden’s overall 36 percent is dismal. However, for several decades, Democrats have
depended on the votes of young voters to offset the Republican edge among
voters age 45 and over. That edge has
gone away.
In the 2020 election, Biden received 60 percent among young
voters. Based on the results of the Quinnipiac
survey, half of the young people that voted for Biden in 2020 do not approve of
his performance in office.
Nor do young voters view Biden as a strong leader when it comes to his handling of the crisis in Ukraine. When asked whether Biden has demonstrated strong leadership in his dealings with other NATO nations in the response to the invasion, only 34 percent of young people view Biden as a strong leader.
The collapse in youth support for Biden provides the GOP
with a golden opportunity to make deep inroads with rising generations.
In 1980 and 1984, Ronald Reagan won the hearts and minds of millions
of young Americans. But since that time,
young voters have increasingly favored Democrats.
Republicans should take a page from the Reagan playbook. Young voters then were attracted to his
message of economic opportunity, growth, optimism and a strong America. I believe that young people would be attracted
to the same message today.
“We may be the future decision makers, but most of us aren’t
leaders” writes Julie
Hartman in the Wall Street Journal
College students have de minimis risk from COVID. Yet universities have imposed irrational and draconian
mask and vaccination policies on students with harsh consequences for those who
do not obey, or even speak up, against administration edicts.
One Yale
student likened life on campus to that of a “surveillance state.” At the University of Chicago students were
forced to sign a “Required
COVID-19 Attestation” in direct contradiction to the school’s academic
freedom policies.
Hartman writes that all this insanity has infantilized her
generation of college students.
More concerning than the administration’s heavy-handedness has been the zombielike response of the student body. I ask my friends, “Why do young, fully vaccinated students continue to tolerate these irrational Covid restrictions?” While many of my peers acknowledge the excess, they shrug it off. The prevailing mood on campus is resignation, learned helplessness and reluctance to dissent.
These policies have also empowered groups of students to act
as self-appointed enforcers who use COVID policies to bludgeon their fellow students.
There is a smaller group at Harvard that apparently find pleasure in these restrictions. These students will chastise you for not wearing a mask correctly and called one of my brave peers who publicly denounced Harvard’s Covid restrictions a “eugenicist” because he supposedly showed insufficient sensitivity to immunocompromised people. They love Covid for the moral high ground it gives them to condescend to and control others.
Red Guards in training?
Don’t be so quick to dismiss. The
unfortunate truth is that events in early life, including those during the
college experience, have an important role in forming our outlook and behaviors
in later life.
For many, that means sheepish, unquestioning adherence to edicts
of the elites no matter how silly or irrational.
For others, that means becoming hectoring, humorless bureaucrats,
politicians and bosses.
What does that mean for America? As Hartman puts it: “My peers and I are often
told that we are the future leaders of America. We may be the future decision
makers, but most of us aren’t leaders. The inability of Harvard students to
question or oppose these irrational bureaucratic excesses bodes ill for our
ability to meet future challenges.”
Indeed.
The latest Economist/YouGov
poll shows young people disillusioned with the Biden Administration and the
Democratic Party. But can Republicans
make the sale?
The Economist/YouGov polled 1500 Americans on their views on
the Biden Administration and the ideological positioning of the two major
parties.
Americans overall, and young Americans in particular, are
not optimistic on the outlook for the next three years under Joe Biden. Just over a third of young Americans are
optimistic about the remaining Biden presidency. The
same number of Americans aged 18 to 29 are pessimistic.
It is important to
remember that exit polls found that Biden received 60 percent of the vote among
18 to 29 year-olds ion the 2020 election.
Clearly large numbers of young voters have become disillusioned with the
failures, corruption and big government policies of the Biden
Administration.
Biden does slightly better among 30 to 44 year-olds. Still, a substantial majority of Americans
under the age of 45 are either pessimistic or unsure. The Biden Administration has not endeared itself
with young people in America.
Young Americans are more likely to see the Democratic party as too far to the left than want to see the Democratic party continue to move left. By a 3 to 2 margin, 18 to 29 year-olds view the Democratic Party as more left wing than they are. The margin increases to two-to-one among 30 to 44 year-olds.
Nevertheless, the Republican party also needs to do a lot of
work to appeal to young voters. Young
voters are more likely to see Republicans as too far to the right than not
conservative enough. However, older
voters are more likely to view the Democratic party as too extreme. Almost half of Americans 65 and over see the
Democratic party as much father to the left than they are while less than a third
find Republicans too far right.
The fact that voters overall are marginally more likely to
find the Democrats too far to the left (33 percent versus 29 percent for the
Republicans) is in stark contrast to the corporate media narrative which routinely
characterizes Republicans as “far right” but never, ever characterizes Democrats
as “far left”).
Republicans need to make the case that the free market
system and smaller government are in the best interest of young people. It is younger Americans, who have more of
their lives and careers ahead of them, who have the most to gain from a
pro-growth, pro-opportunity economic program for America.
A new poll by the Angus Reid institute, a non-profit public opinion research organization, shows that a majority of young Canadians support the right of Freedom Convoy truckers to express themselves.
Support among young Canadians is much higher than among the
old.
The survey asked Canadians whether they felt that the right
to protest outweighed the economic disruptions from the protest. Results by age and gender appear below:
The results are both surprising and encouraging.
Surprising because young people are often viewed as more
supportive of authoritarian measures than the old.
Encouraging because, at least on this issue, a solid majority
of young Canadians support freedom of expression. In that context, the results of the Angus
Reid poll are very good news indeed.
The authoritarian crackdown of the Trudeau should be
revulsive to anyone who believes in free expression and individual rights. Trudeau is revealing himself as nothing more
than a pretty, elitist dictator.
The Trudeau regime has instigated
violence against protesters, trampled
innocent civilians with horses, and frozen
the bank accounts of thousands of supporters of the protests.
And then there is the blatant hypocrisy of Canada’s boy Prime
Minister who swooned for Black Lives Matter but uses the jack-booted power of
the state to crush peaceful protests by ordinary working-class Canadians.
Hopefully, young Canadians will lead the charge for freedom
in Canada. Unlike their elders, young Canadians
appear to have their heads on straight.
A new poll by CIVIQS
provides more evidence that younger voters are turned off top Joe Biden. Will young voters register their disapproval
of the Biden Administration in November?
I blogged a few days ago about polling data that showed younger voters turned off to Joe
Biden and willing to look toward the GOP on important issues including on jobs
and the economy.
The openness of young people to the GOP message could make
the 2022 election a watershed moment in American politics.
During the past twenty years, majorities of younger voters
have favored the Democratic Party while older voters have favored the Republican
Party. Younger voters have been critical
to the success of Democrats at all levels of government.
Now large numbers of young people have been turned off by
the incompetence of the Biden Administration.
CIVIQS surveyed over 160,000 registered voters on their views
of Joe Biden’s performance as president.
Their survey shows that generational differential in
approval have disappeared.
A mere 26 percent of Americans under the age of 35 approved
of Joe Biden’s handling of his job as president. Approval among younger voters was lower
than the 34 percent approval rate for Biden among all voters.
Biden’s approval numbers are underwater is most major
demographic groups. His approval levels
are equally dismal among both highly educated young people and non-college
graduates and among and men as well as women.
Most telling, only a slim majority—51 percent--young people that
describe themselves as Democrats approve of the job that Biden has done as president
and a mere 42 percent of young Blacks approve of Biden’s handling of his job.
Young Americans are clearly dissatisfied with the left-wing
Biden agenda and are looking for a change.
Will the Republican Party be able to craft a 2022 message that appeal to young people. If so, 2022 could be a watershed year. If not, then ....
Low approval for the Biden Administration and
dissatisfaction with the state of the economy may finally bring young people
around to the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party is dependent on young voters for electoral
success. Young people tend to vote
Democratic while older voters favor the Republicans.
The age gap is so wide and persistent that had only voters
over the age of 40 voted, not only would Donald Trump have been reelected in
2020, Mitt Romney and John McCain would have won in 2008 and 2016.
And if only Americans over the age of 35 voted, Republicans
would easily control both houses of Congress and a large majority of
governorships.
Recent polling shows that young people have soured on the policies
and performance of the Biden Administration.
I previously discussed results of the CBS poll. Now a new poll by the Morning Consult shows
equally dismal numbers for the Democrats.
The table below compares Biden’s approval in the Morning
Consult poll with the share of the vote that he received in the 2020 election
by age group.
The difference between Biden’s job approval and the percentage
of older Americans that voted for him in the 2020 election is less than ten
points.
But among Americans below 35—Generation Z and younger Millennials—the
gap between approval and vote share is a whopping 23 points. Indeed, younger Americans now are marginally less
likely to approve of Joe Biden’s performance as President than are older
Americans.
The decline in Biden’s approval ratings among younger
Americans provides an excellent opportunity for Republicans bring younger
voters over to their side.
Young people now view Republicans as better able to
manage the economy. Economic issues
are the top concern of young people according to the Morning Consult poll.
Young people are open to electing more Republicans to Congress. Democrats now only hold a slight edge among
Americans between 18 and 34 though almost a quarter of the youngest voters say
that they are unsure who they’ll vote for.
The failures and incompetence of the Biden Administration have
created an opening for republicans to pitch their message to younger voters. Whether Republicans will offer policies and
candidates that are attractive to young voters remains to be seen.
Young people were pivotal to the election of Biden in the 2020 election. Now young Americans have become so dissatisfied with the Biden Administration that his approval levels among the young is at or above that of older voters.
If only voters
over the age of 40 voted in the 2020 election, Donald Trump would have won in a
landslide and the Republicans would have massive majorities in the House and
Senate.
Now young Americans
are turning on Biden.
A January
2022 poll by CBS News and YouGov shows the depth of the dissatisfaction of
young Americans with the performance of the Biden Administration. It’s so bad that disapproval rates among
young people are at the same level as older Americans
Results
appear below:
Biden’s 42
percent approval rate among Generation Z is no different that the 40-44 percent
among Americans over the age of 45.
And Biden’s
approval rate for his handling of the economy among Generation Z is more than
10 points lower than Americans over age 45.
In some ways
this is little surprise. Young people
who are just starting their careers are feeling the effect of slow job growth. The U.S. economy currently has 4 million
fewer jobs today than in 2019 and many of those missing jobs would have been
filled by young people.
Moreover,
the Biden Administration offers little reason for hope among the young.
Their
paychecks are being eaten away by the inflationary policies of the Biden
Administration.
And young people
should be bedeviled by the fear that they are the ones that will be stuck with
the bill for Biden’s massive deficits and spending programs that benefit mostly
special interests.
Does this
portend a permanent change in the voting preference of young people? Perhaps.
Colleges and universities are supposed to be bastions of science
and logic. Simple calculations of risk
show that young people have a near zero mortality risk from COVID. Yet college students are subject to far harsher
lockdown and testing requirements than even the very old. This not only defies common sense. It is permanently harming an entire
generation.
Social scientists are well-aware of the scarring effect. Trauma in the early stages of life have an impact
on our lives many years in the future. In
a classic in the field of life course studies, sociologist Glen Elder found that
men who came of age during the Great Depression were more likely to be
withdrawn, cyclical and depressed many decades in the future.
Here's a clip from CBS news on the harm to children. This clip was edited out by CBS news but is available on the internet. The same could be said for college-age young people.
The COVID pandemic has been particularly hard on young Americans. Like young people during the Great Depression, young people in America have been disproportionately harmed by job loss. But young people today have the additional trauma from the hysteria that is gripping colleges and universities today.
One source of trauma is learning loss. Two years into the pandemic, many colleges
continue to conduct instruction through online
learning. Studies show that students
at colleges that shifted to online learning had lower
test scores than those who continued to learn on-campus.
Another is the loss of ability to network and socialize with
faculty and fellow students.
But perhaps the most significant harm to young people is
being traumatized by the constant fear mongering by college
administrators. According to a survey by
BestColleges.com,
95 percent of college students say that they have experienced negative mental
health symptoms as a result of COVID and 48 percent believe that mental health
effects have negatively affected their education.
Measures that have been taken by colleges are far out of
line with the health risks to college students.
According to the CDC, the risk
of death from COVID for Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 is 0.001
percent. And colleges students are
generally in good health so their risks are likely a small fraction of 0.001
percent.
Yet at colleges like Boston’s Emerson,
students are still confined to their rooms and at
Georgetown subject to constant testing and confinement even though they don’t show symptoms.
The damage to the psyche and intellectual development of young
people from these draconian measures are inflicting deep scars on the younger
generations. The effects have only begun
to become apparent.
Brilliant essay by Victor Davis Hanson at Real Clear Politics. Read the whole thing, download and save. Here are some of the best parts.
Critics assume their own judgmental generation is morally superior to those of the past. So, they use their own standards to condemn the mute dead who supposedly do not measure up to them.
Yet 21st-century critics rarely acknowledge their own present affluence and leisure owe much to history's prior generations whose toil helped create their current comfort.
And what may future scolds say of the modern generation that saw over 60 million abortions since Roe v. Wade, even as fetal viability outside the womb continued to progress to ever earlier ages?
What will our grandchildren say of us who dumped on them over $30 trillion in national debt - much of it as borrowing for entitlements for ourselves?
What sort of society snoozes as record numbers of murders continue in 12 of its major cities? What is so civilized about defunding the police, endemic smash-and-grab thefts, and car jackings?
Was our media more responsible, professional, and learned in 1965 or 2021? Did Hollywood make more sophisticated and enjoyable films in 1954 or 2021? Was there less or more sportsmanship among professional athletes in 1990 or 2021?
Was it actually moral to discard the "content of our character" and "equal opportunity" principles of the prior Civil Rights movement of 60 years ago? Are their replacement fixations on the "color of our skin" and "equality of result" superior?
Are we proud that most standardized tests of student knowledge and achievement continue to decline, despite record investments in education?
Do we ever pause to consider that we enjoy our modern standard of living and security because we were once a meritocracy that quit judging our workforce by tribal affinities and ancient prejudices?
Our generation talks of infrastructure nonstop. But when was the last time it built anything comparable to the Hoover Dam, the interstate highway system, or the California Water Project - much less sent a man back to the moon or beyond?
If prior generations were so toxic, why do we continue to take for granted the moral and material world they bequeathed to us, from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to our airports, freeways, and power plants? Did we ever defeat anything comparable to the Axis powers or Soviet communism?
