Young people are growing more liberal, and more young people are liberal -- according to the latest Times/CBS News/MTV Poll. This is, in my view, yet another sign that we are drawing closer to the inevitable coming progressive era.
Young people are also paying far more attention to the presidential election than in 2004.
[T]hey appeared to be really familiar with only two of the candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats. . .
More than half of Americans between 17 and 29 years old — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans. . .
Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large... In addition, 62 percent said in the current poll that they would support a universal, government-sponsored national health care insurance program; 47 percent of the general public holds that view. And 30 percent said that “Americans should always welcome new immigrants,” while 24 percent of the general public holds that view. . .
By a 52 to 36 margin, young Americans say that Democrats, rather than Republicans, come closer to sharing their moral values, while 58 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while 38 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans. . .
The survey also found that 42 percent of young Americans think it is likely or very likely that the national will reinstate a military draft over the next few years — and two-thirds said they thought the Republican Party was more likely to do so. And 87 percent of respondents said they opposed a draft. . .
By any measure, the poll suggests that young Americans are anything but apathetic about the presidential election. Fifty-eight percent said they are paying attention to the campaign. By contrast, at this point in the 2004 presidential campaign, 35 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they were paying a lot or some attention to the campaign.
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Liberal Values Democratic Party News Politics Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Coming Progressive Era Times/CBS News/MTV Poll 2008
