Marne Burghoffer
Generation Y Stereotypes in the Sunshine State
Lazy, unmotivated and unconcerned are words used by older writers to describe the
generation of young adults born between 1977 and 1995, however there is evidence to
dispute some of these Generation Y stereotypes.
Time Magazine has referred to this group of people as the “Me Me Me Generation,” while
others title it “Generation Apathy,” for Generation Y’s perceived indifference towards
politics. Although they had an abysmal turnout to this year’s midterm elections of 13
percent of the electorate, according to a 2014 Nielsen study, millennials make up the most
educated generation. Twenty-three percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. So perhaps
Generation Y isn’t the most uninformed after all.
“The reason most of that generation is apathetic is because the political system
disappointed them,” said Dr. Matthew Childers, assistant professor of political science at
the University of North Florida. “They want to make the world better. It’s just compared to
previous generations they are less interested in getting involved in the political process to
pursue those goals.”
Childers, like many of his colleagues, blame young adults’ ambivalence towards politics on
the letdown of the Obama administration after the initial excitement that his campaign
inspired in young adults. While 51 percent of Generation Y turned out for the presidential
election in 2008, only about 24 percent turned out for the 2014 midterm elections. This
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may be a large gap, however midterm elections always tend to have much smaller
attendance than presidential elections.
“The Obama administration had more young people voting in 2008 and 2012 than ever
before. Then the gridlock in Congress and the political theater and the nastiness really
turned millennial voters off, so as a result they are less interested in getting involved in
politics,” said Childers.
Labeling an entire generation creates the perception that this group of people is completely
different than others. Although some characteristics differ, many are consistent throughout
all age groups.
“[Millennials] are quite cynical, and I don’t blame them, but the question really is not
whether or not they’re an exception to older generations’ complacency, it’s, ‘what are they
going to do about it?’”, said Dr. Ronald Libby, professor of political science at the University
of North Florida.
Balancing the older generations’ pressure for millennials to take action with the
expectation that they will not has resulted in different views on voting among young adults.
“I voted because I’ve always been told that it’s my right and I should but I don’t feel like I
knew what I was doing and I don’t think most of my peers do either,” said Ryan Carroll, a
20-year-old resident of Duval County in Florida. “I don’t know if my own vote helped or
hurt my views and that’s not very good, I guess.”
Voting does not equate with political involvement, therefore it is hard to interpret election
poll surveys in an absolute manner. Numbers can only tell so much.
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As of November 2014 in St. Johns County, Fla., the second highest age demographic
registered to vote is the millennial generation, behind only the Silent Generation, which
includes those born between the years of 1928 and 1945. This large percentage of young
voters is not the norm for America, and defies many expectations for voter turnouts. Young
campaign workers in Florida state that Generation Y is more politically involved than many
assume.
“I was asked to get more millennial volunteers and spread the word throughout the Flagler
College Campus,” said Doug Radcliff, intern for the David Cox’s congressional campaign in
the sixth district of Florida. “Many of the attempts to attract the young voters were placed
on the younger people volunteering and interning on the campaign.”
Hiring young adults to get their peers more involved was a common tactic used in the
Florida mid-term elections this year. In districts with large colleges and universities located
nearby, it proved effective. Although Flagler College has a small student body of about
2,600 students, the city of St. Augustine where it is located has a small voting population
that could be greatly influenced by a large turnout of student voters. From a campaign
perspective, there is no better way to stereotype a generation than by using people in it at
the time.
Brooke Lynn Alexander, the 23-year-old campaign manager for David Cox, was able to
identify with young voters and present his platforms that addressed issues important to
them, such as education reform and student loans, in a way that excited them. She states
that she doubts there is a way to categorize such a large number of individuals in one way.
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“While campaigning we saw the students that were just grateful to be able to go to college
and get an education and on the other side there were those that were more interested in
economic issues and job growth,” said Alexander. “As for the stereotype of apathy, I think a
lot of times it has a lot to do with your parents. If you grow up in a household that votes,
regardless of being Republican or Democrat, you are more likely to vote.”
Many millennial voters agree that a lot of young people are uninterested in politics, but that
the sole responsibility for that fact is not theirs. If they are not educated on elections and
are not campaigned to, the turnout will continue to be low.
“In midterm elections, the 65 and up crowd tends to be the most important, and this
election was no different,” said Thomas Hern, an intern on Rick Scott’s gubernatorial
campaign. “Rick Scott was able to just barely win because of the older generations, not the
millennial generation.”
Hern exemplifies the cynical characteristic that Dr. Libby mentioned is common in
Generation Y. He states that the campaigns do not tend to target young adults, especially in
the midterm elections, because exit polls and surveys continue to show that they are not
going to vote in as large numbers. Older generations are not the only ones to place
stereotypes on today’s young adults. Hern explains that Rick Scott’s competitor was more
likely to target millennials because he represented the Democratic Party.
“Certainly the Crist Campaign targeted the younger generations more because it makes
more sense for Democratic campaigns to focus on young people,” said Hern. “But in a
midterm election, young people do not vote so targeting them an excessive amount is
pointless, and probably hurt the Crist Campaign in the long run.”
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It is a common misconception that the majority of young voters identify with the
Democratic Party, which is why it surprised many when most of those who turned out for
the midterms voted for the Republican Party. According to a 2014 Pew Research study, 50
percent of millennials identify themselves as independent. This year’s midterm election
had a higher amount of mixed ballots than in the past 10 years.
“I think younger people more than any group are looking into candidates,” said Alexander.
“Most of the policy questions we got were from people under 30, whereas others voted
purely based on the fact that they identified with the same party our candidate was
representing.”
Some older voters use this to substantiate another common stereotype of Generation Y
being disloyal. To a campaign, this means that there are a large number of votes that could
be swayed to their direction, as long as the young people can be convinced to actually go to
the polls and cast their vote.
“Campaigns realize that they have to spend their money most efficiently and effectively, so
considering that they are less interested in targeting younger folks who are less likely to
vote than older people who are more likely to vote if you can reach them,” said Childers.
The fact that many politicians disregard millennials in their campaigns by making no effort
to directly target them leaves them partly responsible for low turnouts. If no connection is
made between the candidates and voters, it is not likely they will feel motivated to vote.
“It’s not that the campaigns are dismissing young voters, it’s just that they count on them
less because they know young voters aren’t going to carry their vote,” said Childers.
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According to Pew Research, libertarianism is on the rise among millennials in America.
This group is more likely to vote on individual candidates rather than by party. This
disputes the reputation that young people have of identifying themselves as democrats
more often than not. If more young people vote in elections, there is a great chance that
they have the power to swing entire elections.
“When it comes to economic policies, Generation Y tends to lean conservative. When it
comes to social issues they tend to lean liberal,” said Dr. Libby. “They don’t want
government dictating or controlling their lives. This is nearly the definition libertarianism. ”
According to a 2014 Forbes survey, millennials make up the largest generation in the
world, with over 80 million in the United States of America. If a higher percent of this
generation responded to being targeted to vote, an election could easily be overturned.
Millennials make up about 25 percent of Florida residents, making their potential vote
important for campaigns to consider as well.
“I feel that the millennial generation could have been the most important to the campaign.
Since we lost the race, attracting millennial votes, who traditionally vote democratic
anyway, would quite possibly have been a game changer,” Radcliff said about Cox’s
congressional campaign.
Millennials are often seen not only as apathetic towards politics, but uneducated on the
general principles as well.
““They are not very well educated when it comes to the Constitution. They don’t really
understand what it calls for and what roll the president has in our laws, and our congress
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has in our laws,” said Libby. “They don’t understand checks and balances, or Federalist
papers or natural rights. I’m not saying they aren’t perceptive, they just don’t know it.”
According to a 2001 study by The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning &
Engagement, commonly referred to as CIRCLE, colleges and universities are providing
unequal levels of opportunity for civic participation and learning. While students that
learned about the basic political process in a non-partisan discussion-based manner tended
to understand the basic concepts, those that learned only through reading and tests did not.
Those that did not feel confident in political knowledge stated that they felt that voting
appealed very little to them.
Campaigning to Generation Y through crowd sourcing and social media may be an effective
way for campaigns to reach young voters, however if they are not educated on the issues
that they are expected to voice their opinion on, they are not likely to show up to the polls if
they don’t feel educated.
Although St. Johns County proved the nation-wide stereotype that the millennial generation
does not vote wrong, it is true in other places across America. It is also important not to
look at the stereotype of young people not caring apathetically, and consider the reasons
why this may be.
“Every older generation has something bad to say about the younger ones. Sometimes
you’ll hear older candidates make remarks like, ‘younger people don’t get it,’ or,
‘millennials don’t know how to work hard,’” Childers said. “I think the particular language
is just updated for the current time but it’s always been the same basic stereotype.”
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Young campaign workers in Florida agree that our nation has the ability to change what
has been true since the United States political system was first drawn out; young citizens
don’t have an urgency to vote.
Voting is a right. So is voter education. These two must be combined for millennials to
really make a difference in future elections.
Word Count: 1953
Photo Captions
Burghoffer01 Millennial Passes Voting Sticker.jpg
Across America millennials who voted in the 2014 Midterm Election had a low turnout of
13 percent, however, in St. Johns County young voters make up the second largest
demographic group of registered voters.
Burghoffer02 Ryan Carroll Reads.jpg
Duval County resident Ryan Carroll, 20, reads up on local politics after voting on Nov. 4,
2014. “I think young people are involved in elections for the most part,” says Carroll. “I
mean a lot of them vote, I just don’t think everyone does so in an educated manner. For
example I voted for the candidates with the coolest names and that’s my right.”
Burghoffer03 Doug Radcliff for David Cox.jpg
An intern for David Cox’s congressional campaign, Doug Radcliff, 21, posts signs as one way
to promote the candidate’s name around north Florida. Radcliff hopes to reach his
millennial peers at Flagler College by putting up these signs near campus.
Sources
Brooke Lynn Alexander
Campaign Manager for David Cox
(386) 689-4354
Brookelynn0626@gmail.com
Ryan Carroll
Millennial Resident of Duval County
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(904) 235-3869
CarrolRyan5@Gmail.com
Dr. Matthew Childers
Professor of Political Science at UNF
(619) 807-1724
MChilders@unf.edu
Thomas Morgan Hern
Intern on the Rick Scott gubernatorial campaign
Thern127@Flagler.edu
(904) 235-4565
Dr. Ron Libby
Professor of Political Science at UNF
(904) 806-4404
RLibby@unf.edu
Doug Radcliff
Intern for David Cox congressional campaign
(614) 403-4737
DRadcliff654@Flagler.edu
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