Thread by @Noahpinion

1/Here is a thread about the politics of Generation Z - the generation after the Millennials.

Obviously, this generation's views are very important for the nation's future.

2/Conservatives, reading about campus protests, safe spaces, trigger warnings, etc., often worry that young Americans are radical cultural leftists intent on overturning traditional American values of free speech.

3/Meanwhile, rightists know that if Trump-style rightism is to have any future, young white people must be *extremely* right-wing in order to balance out demographic shifts.

4/Some on both the right and the left believe that young whites are being radicalized ("redpilled") by YouTube and other social media.

Some claim that polls already show a shift to the right among young whites. nypost.com/2017/07/01/why…

5/So what do young Americans really think about politics?

To find out, let's look at the results of a big new survey of Americans aged 15-24, by MTV and the Public Religion Research Institute. prri.org/research/mtv-c…

6/First, let's look at views of Obama vs. Trump.

Overall, young people like Obama a lot, and dislike Trump strongly.

7/Even young white men have a favorable opinion of Obama.

8/Even among young white men, Trump gets less favorable marks than Obama.

9/Overall, young people view the Democrats much more favorably than the Republicans. Even young white people view the Dems more favorably.

10/Most young white people - about two-thirds - oppose Trump's border wall.

Interestingly, support for the wall is slightly higher in the Midwest than elsewhere.

11/How about race? Are young white people "redpilled" on racial issues?

62% of young white people think that efforts to increase diversity do NOT come at the expense of whites. For young white men it's 52%.

12/Around 36% of young white people, and 43% of young white men - a substantial minority, but still definitely a minority - think discrimination against whites is as bad as discrimination against other races.

13/So it seems clear that even among young white men, a majority can't even loosely be described as "redpilled".

However, it is worth noting that both young whites and young Hispanics perceive less racial division in America than young blacks do.

14/What about Islam?

Substantial minorities of every race say that Islam is at odds with American value. There is little difference between young whites, Hispanics, and blacks on this point.

15/So the idea that young whites are "redpilled", and are going to ride to the rescue of Trumpist or alt-right ideas, appears to be a fantasy.

How about the other stereotype? Are young people a bunch of intolerant cultural leftists bent on destroying free speech? Let's see...

16/By a margin of around 2 to 1, young people express negative opinions about recent protests and marches. Young whites are slightly more negative.

17/Most young people support allowing offensive speakers on campus.

18/Among young white, Hispanic, and Asian people, there is overwhelming support for allowing offensive speakers on campus, while young black people are evenly divided on the question.

19/Finally, most young people are not as gender-fluid as the stereotypes would have you believe.

20/From this survey, I conclude that Generation Z looks a lot like you'd expect - a slightly, but not hugely, more liberal version of their Generation X parents.

21/The idea that Generation Z is a bunch of "redpilled" YouTube Nazis is a fever dream, as is the idea that they are a bunch of intolerant fist-pumping campus SJWs.

They're moderate liberals, like the two generations before them.

22/People on the Right who think that the white half of Generation Z is going to ride to their rescue need to strongly reconsider.

White Gen Zers are evenly divided, and lean slightly to the left.

That cavalry is not coming.

23/And Gen Z isn't going to usher in a leftist Cultural Revolution. But they *are* going to continue inching America very slowly to the left.

(end)