In Their Own Words

To gauge how today's youth will shape our upcoming election, Reader's Digest commissioned a poll that posed a broad range of questions about the political and personal views of young adults between the ages of 19 and 29.

At the end of the poll, we asked, "What is the one thing you want to tell the next President about your generation?" About 750 participants took this question to heart. Their answers form a revealing self-portrait.

• Twenty respondents-a lot for an open-ended question-registered their opposition to the war in Iraq, the majority condemning armed conflict itself, as summed up in one succinct answer: "Hate war."

• Another 20 young people wanted the next President to know that they fear Social Security will vanish before they're old enough to use it. Millennials "don't want to pay for Social Security," one wrote, because they "don't even expect it to be there when we retire."

• Thirty-eight respondents -- almost as many as those who commented on the war and Social Security, combined -- mentioned "change" while characterizing their generation: Not only are "we different from other generations" but "we will speak our minds," "we will take your place soon," and, most matter-of-factly, "we will change the world."

• Other notes were hit too. A dozen wanted to tell the new President that their generation was "lazy," or lazy with a caveat: "lazy but smart," "lazy and needs to quit being handed everything." Perhaps predicting that the notion of sloth would arise, half a dozen tried to preempt it, insisting "we are not lazy" and "we aren't all slackers."

• Ten mentioned jobs; another eight, the economy. "Quit allowing jobs to be sent overseas," said one. "It's been way too easy to get into debt. We need stricter laws on credit companies and financial institutions because almost everyone is struggling financially," added another.

• Four participants suggested that the government has become too secular. "We should keep our laws and beliefs closer to how God intended them," wrote one. Three respondents talked about climate change: "Global warming is real." And two members of this tech-savvy generation praised the Information Age: "Technology is the future."

• A handful stressed the importance of personal integrity. "We need someone with good morals and an open mind to run this country and inspire us," said one respondent. Another longs for a President "with a soul" and who is more than "just a politician."

The ultimate picture that emerged from the survey results was of a thoughtful and motivated group of new young voters. "Don't underestimate us," urged one Millennial. "If we have the chance, we will achieve great things."

From Reader's Digest - June 2008

 

• • National Health Care
• Barack Obama
• • Politicians
• Military
• Government
• • Immigration

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