Are millennials cynical?

In “‘Millennials’ cynical about politics, Harvard survey finds,” Joshua Miller reports on a new poll of millennials (18-to 29-year-olds) by the Harvard University Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. More than half of the respondents in the poll said that elected officials don’t share their priorities, and less than a quarter of respondents said they will definitely be voting in the midterm elections in November. Economic issues were also included in the survey. More than half of the respondents said that they believed the income gap between the wealthy and everyone else in the United States was “a major problem,” according to Miller. More than 60% said that the gap had increased during their lifetimes. What I found very interesting, though, was the millennial response to the idea that each generation can do better than their parents. I would expect this to be very high in a generation that’s perceived to be so entitled (see my post “Why Do Gen Y/Millennial Bosses Feel So Entitled? (Do They?)”) Yet only 41% said that when they are their parents’ age, they will be better off financially than their parents are now. Twenty-eight percent said they would be doing about the same as their parents, and 15% expected to be doing worse. Are millennials just plain cynical? Or are their attitudes simply a response to the current economic climate? I welcome your comments. Read the full article at BostonGlobe.com.]]>