Are Millennials Going Conservative?

By Rod Anderson, CP Cartoonist Thursday, September 15, 2016

America's millennials have become the most polarized political group and are more likely to identify as political conservatives now compared to 10 years ago, according to a new study.

The millennials, or those born between 1980 and 1994, are currently more politically polarized than Generation Xers and Baby Boomers, and are also more likely to identify as conservative than either Generation Xers or Baby Boomers were at the same age, says Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, in a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

The results of the study are based on data on about 10 million American adults, collected from 1970 to 2015 as part of three separate surveys, according to CNN.

"High school seniors are more likely to identify as political conservatives now compared to 10 years ago," the professor, who is also the lead author of the paper, was quoted as saying. "Most surprising, more identify as conservatives now compared to the 1980s, presumably the era of the young conservative, such as the character Alex P. Keaton in the 1980s show 'Family Ties.' That goes against the common view of millennials as very liberal."