Is the Youth Vote Liberal?
Young Americans are not reliable liberals. But drawing from over one hundred surveys from the present day back to the Great Depression, and from interviews with campaign professionals from the Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders campaigns, Zachary Cook argues that across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, younger Americans have more faith in the power of government to provide better economic outcomes for all, and to effectively regulate business – if the right politicians can be found to do it. While older voters grow more skeptical about the federal government’s power to oversee the private sector, youth are more idealistic about the power of government to “do more,” even while they may distrust current politicians in office. Younger voters are not hostile to capitalism. They do not feel they have to choose sides between big government and big business. Given the current two-party system, this potential trust in the power of government works in the Democrats’ favor when appealing to the youth vote.
Zachary Cook is assistant professor of politics at Lake Forest College, Illinois.