Emily Ekins Talks Millennials on Fox News, America's News HQ

Millennials "…like free markets, are social liberals, but fiscal centrists."

In the interview I discuss the latest Reason-Rupe survey and report on millennials, (18-29 year olds). I explain their mixed economic issue positions:  how they endorse free markets and many fiscally conservative policies, but also favor government action in several key areas.

Millennials share some fiscally conservative positions:

• Millennials favor reforming Social Security—73 percent favor private accounts, and 51 percent continue to support even if it means cutting Social Security benefits for current and future retirees.
• 64% Say cutting government spending by 5 percent would help the economy
• 59% say cutting taxes would help the economy
• 57% prefer smaller government, providing fewer services, with low taxes

When millennials learn they will become responsible for paying for things their support for large government flips, and a majority say they want a smaller government.

But millennials also want government to take action in several key areas:

• 69% want government to guarantee all Americans access to health insurance
• 51% have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act
• 7 in 10 say government should guarantee housing, food, and a minimum income
• 66% say raising taxes on the wealthy would help the economy
• 58% say government should spending more on assistance to the poor

Millennials came of a politically impressionable age during or in the aftermath of the Great Recession, which has left a third under- or unemployed, and a third living at home. While they favor the free market system 2 to 1 over a government managed economy, they simply aren't sure if the free market system drives income mobility.

To learn more about millennials, check out Reason-Rupe's new report.

• Read the full report here
• Read the toplines here
• 10 Findings About the Millennial Generation, found here
• Read detailed tables/crosstabs of the results here
• Survey methodology described here

Comments

[Obama's Buttplug]

Fuck Millennials.

[waffles]

Fun Fact: Most women between the ages of 18-30 are Millennials. Due to the recent recession many are available for hire!

[AlmightyJB]

They're definitely available for a sugar daddy.

[Auric Demonocles]

Believe me, I'm trying to.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Millennial: libertarian generation, or most libertarian generation? It is so clear that a broke-ass generation with hardly any experience in the real world would be all about freedom and property rights, man. Why wouldn't they be, after having been indoctrinated and immersed in its opposite for more time than any generation before it?

Oh. Maybe that's why.

[Florida Man]

Millenials suck. They voted themselves a Ponzi scheme paid for by people who aren't even born yet. No wait that was their grandparents that fuck the economy and then wonder why they won't go to work and pay for their gubmint cheese.

[Homple]

"7 in 10 say government should guarantee housing, food, and a minimum income."

With that attitude, millennials are certain to fix the economic problems caused by their ancestors.

[Florida Man]

It's not that I think millenials will change the future it's that people think the previous generations were any better. At least millenials are socially tolerate if not economically literate. That is 1/2 better than their ancestors.

[Sudden]

Socially tolerant????

Hahahahaha. Oh Florida Man, you crack me up. Sure, they like teh gheyz, but they will seek to silence and excommunicate from public life anyone who does not like teh gheyz (even those who would support full rights for teh gheys, but express anything less than full-throated appeal to the holiness of teh ghey). Not sure how tolerant that is. They merely embrace those things that were previously considered taboo.

[Florida Man]

I'm not sure what millennials you interact with but homosexuality isn't an issue for them other than if people are discriminating against teh gays. They don't care what you think about them as long as you leave them alone. Same with race. My wife and I are different ethnicities. Young people don't give us a second look now. 30 years ago I don't think that was true. The US is more culturally diverse now. Other than race hustlers the common American does not care about your business.

[Sudden]

And that's precisely why Donald Sterling, whose only crime was holding verboten crimethink views, is being forced to sell a billion dollar enterprise due to public outrage over recorded comments where he pretty much told his mistress she could bang an AIDS-infested black man so long as she didn't go advertising her promiscuity?

FFS, that's not even an antiquated view. It's a bizarrely accurate sign of the times. But because there was a single quotable line ("Don't bring black people to my games") that is being considered without any context in a much larger converstaion that was disturbing less for racism than for everything else about it, he has been shunned from polite society (most legal firms in L.A. wouldn't touch his case) and become persona non grata.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

No wait that was their grandparents

I'm surprised that teh yutes aren't openly hostile to Baby Boomers (and earlier).

I'm guessing they haven't quite grasped how big a shit sandwich they've been handed. I wonder if they'll put 2 and 2 together or if the blame will be placed elsewhere?

[Florida Man]

If they figure out government is not their friend and really only violence legalized, the USA might survive another generation or 2.

[Sudden]

I wonder if they'll put 2 and 2 together or if the blame will be placed elsewhere?

I'm guessing you don't actually wonder if they'll put 2 and 2 (or more accurately $3.4 trillion and $100 trillion, annual federal receipts and total unfunded liabilities) together, but rather hope they will instead of blaming TEH RICH!1!

[sarcasmic]

Her makeup is always perfect.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Reason commenters (at least 2) agree, more Emily, less polls.

[sarcasmic]

aye

[antisocial-ist]

So basically, millenials don't understand economics or many of the words used to describe economics. Also, they want a lot of shit, but they don't want to pay for it. So, free shit. Conclusion- Millenials are like every other generation except they like gays, are more computer literate, and are extremely vapid.

[Rev-Match]

In other words, Millennials are mostly socialist a-holes who just don't want to admit being socialist a-holes.

[Florida Man]

Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, WIC.

All invented/implemented by millenials.

[Rev-Match]

I see your sarcasm and raise you the fact that they support these economically terrible things either explicitly or implicitly. So, whether or not they created them is irrelevant.

[MegaloMonocle]

They don't just support them. They want them to metastasize.

[Sudden]

So the generation that invented the selfie lacks self-awareness. That's rich.

[Rich]

When millennials learn they will become responsible for paying for things their support for large government flips, and a majority say they want a smaller government.

However, when millennials learn they, too, can kick the ol' can their support for smaller government flips, and a majority say they want large government.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

I'm glad to see a poll done on millennials and I look forward to more posts about it.

[Sudden]

I have successfully poled many a millennial and can assure you that the only depth in any of them is their cervix.

[JEP]

I see what you did there.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

At least they are no longer talking about video games.

And thank Christ futbol is done for the year.

[Idle Hands]

There can only be one true millennial poll.

[Sevo]

"64% Say cutting government spending by 5 percent would help the economy"
And
"69% want government to guarantee all Americans access to health insurance"

I'd say it's a good bet that 60+% of them are quite convinced a unicorn is gonna fly over and dro pixie dust on them.

[JEP]

It'll be interesting to see how many of us start connecting dots. If you ask a millennial if they believe that everyone should have access to basic healthcare, food, housing, and clothing then they'll probably say yes. The next question is how do we, as a society, go about achieving those ends.

Most of the political conversations with my peers usually boil down to "Ok, we agree that something needs to change with our society - environmentalism, political/economic awareness, foreign policy, etc. So how should we go about changing society? Should it be top down (government) or bottom up (voluntary)? And unfortunately, most people don't have enough faith in inhumanity to believe that people will change of their own accord, so they opt for the government option. They argue that people just don't understand/aren't smart enough to understand what's good for them.

[sarcasmic]

They argue that people just don't understand/aren't smart enough to understand what's good for them.

What changes when these very same flawed people are given governmental power?

I used to muse that we'd be better off if people required parenting licenses before having kids. Then I wondered about who would dole out the licenses, and based upon what criteria. That was when I came to realize that sometimes government isn't the solution.

[JEP]

That's the hard part. I usually start talking about Bastiat's argument about how government officials are somehow cut from a finer cloth than the rest of us. They'll normally argue that capitalism isn't a moral system, so I remind them that slavery and racial discrimination was supported and condoned by the state. As well as internment camps, the trail of tears, etc.

They usually reluctantly agree with me that those were bad things, but you can tell it leaves a bad taste in their mouth.

I think we need to get over confusing government with society, and then it'll be easier to talk about these things.

[sarcasmic]

They'll normally argue that capitalism isn't a moral system

Why? What is immoral about capitalism? Profits? Profits are only immoral if the economy is a zero-sum-game. But it's not. Wealth is created, and wealth is not money. Show me a wealthy capitalist and I'll show you countless people whose lives have been improved.
Those evil Waltons? Well, thanks to Walmart, the single largest employer in America, millions of people save money every day.
Jobs or Gates? What would our lives be like without computers and the software that runs on them?

I would attack the "capitalism is immoral" argument right away. Capitalism is simply people voluntarily exchanging goods and services with one another. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. It helps to have a government that enforces contracts and property rights, but even then capitalism predates government.
It's just how humans interact and trade with one another.

[toolkien]

We should face the facts that the Boomers have pretty much controlled the system the millenials grew up in. The Boomers pretty much have things at full derp economically, fiscally, and monetarily. But the age of Gen-X in control is currently (or soon to be) underway. Gen-X grew up under the original "me-generation" and were give a lot of free reign. We need to recondition the millenials as to how things are going to be, and raise our post-millenial kids the same way. Until now, Gen-X was trapped between the Boomers and millenials. Soon, the millenials will be between Gen-X and our kids. All we need to do is convince the millenials that the Boomers are the Morlocks and they've fattened them to the Eloy. We have to drill into them that the Boomers have sucked about three generations of wealth for themselves, they shouldn't fall so easily into being the grist for a fourth generation before the Boomers die off. We need to drive out the "free shit" for everyone the Boomers have blinkered the millenials with.

[AlmightyJB]

I'd like to see a poll on what millenials think about how stupid millenials are.