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> And I believe most younger voters once they have to pay taxes, raise a family, and start building their retirement and saving for their kids college, become m

by klank 7y ago

> And I believe most younger voters once they have to pay taxes, raise a family, and start building their retirement and saving for their kids college, become more Conservative and less "progressive" or Liberal. Is that accurate? It's conventional wisdom but I've never seen it convincingly demonstrated.

Clubber 7y ago
I think the confusing part is he is viewing a person as either liberal or conservative as a whole. I, and I assume many people take liberal or conservative positions based on the policy, not as a denomination. Also, "liberal" and "conservative" mean different things to different people. If someone were to ask me if I was liberal or conservative, I'd have to ask them, "for which policy?"
- klank 7y ago
  Good point, it definitely perpetuates a false dichotomy.
rayiner 7y ago
It’s extremely well demonstrated through cohort studies. Millennials are no more progressive (and may be more conservative) than boomers were at the same age: https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-millennials-politics-conservative-20160907-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-millenn... Of course, some of the issues change. Gay marriage is rapidly becoming a bipartisan consensus (45% of republicans support it, more than Democrats did 20 years ago). Other issues, like abortion, have not changed. Still others have changed in the opposite direction, like the gun rights: https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/old-assets/publications/1858-1.png https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/o....
- klank 7y ago
  Skimmed, so I apologize if I missed something, but that isn't what we were discussing though. That's comparing two generations and their self-identification. What I was asking about is the assertion that as a person ages they become more conservative. Comparing generational differences won't directly answer that question.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    We don’t have data on what millennials will believe 20 years from now. What we do know is that baby boomers are much more conservative than millennials are now, but were no more conservative and possibly where more liberal back when they were the age millennials are today. So we can infer that millennials, as a group, got more conservative as they aged. Of course, that doesn’t mean that any given person got more conservative as they aged. But most people must have done so, because the group as a whole did. Of course this is, as you say, based on self identification. But conservative and liberal are best described in terms of self identification, because they’re relative terms. As recently as the 1990s, a “conservative” view of the family would have meant two parents of the same race. Today, that wouldn’t be a conservative viewpoint, but a far right or reactionary viewpoint. Given how quickly the acceptance of gay marriage has accelerated (much faster, after Obergefell, than the acceptance of mixed race marriage after Loving), a “conservative” view of family could soon be two people, regardless of sexual orientation. (And that doesn’t only move in one direction, either. In the 1960s, a “liberal” might have actually believed in government ownership of the means of production. Today, most “liberals” identify “socialism” as a strong welfare state within a free market framework.)

by klank 7y ago

Clubber 7y ago

I think the confusing part is he is viewing a person as either liberal or conservative as a whole. I, and I assume many people take liberal or conservative positions based on the policy, not as a denomination. Also, "liberal" and "conservative" mean different things to different people. If someone were to ask me if I was liberal or conservative, I'd have to ask them, "for which policy?"

klank 7y ago
Good point, it definitely perpetuates a false dichotomy.

rayiner 7y ago

It’s extremely well demonstrated through cohort studies. Millennials are no more progressive (and may be more conservative) than boomers were at the same age: https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-millennials-politics-conservative-20160907-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-millenn... Of course, some of the issues change. Gay marriage is rapidly becoming a bipartisan consensus (45% of republicans support it, more than Democrats did 20 years ago). Other issues, like abortion, have not changed. Still others have changed in the opposite direction, like the gun rights: https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/old-assets/publications/1858-1.png https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/o....

klank 7y ago
Skimmed, so I apologize if I missed something, but that isn't what we were discussing though. That's comparing two generations and their self-identification. What I was asking about is the assertion that as a person ages they become more conservative. Comparing generational differences won't directly answer that question.
- rayiner 7y ago
  We don’t have data on what millennials will believe 20 years from now. What we do know is that baby boomers are much more conservative than millennials are now, but were no more conservative and possibly where more liberal back when they were the age millennials are today. So we can infer that millennials, as a group, got more conservative as they aged. Of course, that doesn’t mean that any given person got more conservative as they aged. But most people must have done so, because the group as a whole did. Of course this is, as you say, based on self identification. But conservative and liberal are best described in terms of self identification, because they’re relative terms. As recently as the 1990s, a “conservative” view of the family would have meant two parents of the same race. Today, that wouldn’t be a conservative viewpoint, but a far right or reactionary viewpoint. Given how quickly the acceptance of gay marriage has accelerated (much faster, after Obergefell, than the acceptance of mixed race marriage after Loving), a “conservative” view of family could soon be two people, regardless of sexual orientation. (And that doesn’t only move in one direction, either. In the 1960s, a “liberal” might have actually believed in government ownership of the means of production. Today, most “liberals” identify “socialism” as a strong welfare state within a free market framework.)