My organization sponsors a quarterly poll in conjunction with our magazine. Meeting Street Insights conducts the poll for us. For our Summer issue, we thought it would be interesting to poll young people in Minnesota, which we defined as ages 18 through 34. To my knowledge, no one has done this before. We asked young Minnesotans not about their views on politics or policy, but about their lives and concerns.
The results were stunning. Young people in Minnesota are deeply pessimistic about their futures, and their country’s future. We asked respondents whether their generation is better off economically than their parents’ generation, worse off, or the same. Fully 90% said their generation is worse off than their parents’:
Further, young people’s pessimism extends into the future. Asked whether the next generation will be economically better off, worse off, or the same as theirs, 68% said “worse off.”
In other words, the vast majority of young Minnesotans think they live in a country that is in a state of permanent decline. I have no reason to think the results would be much different in other states.
We asked our poll respondents whether they are concerned about a series of issues. Again, the results are striking. The concerns of young people are mostly economic, and fully rational. Eighty-three percent say they are worried about being able to buy a house. Sixty-four percent are concerned about public safety. Sixty percent are concerned about being able to pay off student loans, and 60% worry about being able to buy a car.
Poll respondents overwhelmingly say they will vote in November, and we asked them what issues will determine their votes. The cost of living and the economy predominate.
So, memo to Republican politicians: America’s young people are hurting, and their concerns are entirely rational.
Notice to young people: It got bad by voting for democrats and Leftists. Their policies are what is destroying your economic future. There’s a real reason why communist countries like the Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela have failed economically. Don’t vote for communists or pseudo-communists masking as democrats.
If you keep doing so, it will get even worse.
I feel for today’s young people. I’m 70. I was born into a nation on the rise, getting rich rebuilding the world after WWII. Heck, I parlayed a $2300 ten month tech school education into a solid six figure income back in the 90’s.
But to keep the gravy train rolling, the government went into heavy spending/debt mode. And the kids today are reaching adulthood in the world that needs to pay the debt we racked up. The country is slowly sliding into second or third world status, regarding the lion’s share of it’s citizens. i.e. the middle class is evaporating. A few are rising to the upper class, but most are falling into the lower class.
This will leave a mark.
* 83% worried about being able to buy a house.
* 64% concerned about public safety.
* 60% concerned about being able to pay off student loans
* 60% worry about being able to buy a car.
Expectations of way too much too early in life infect these kids. I bought my first house in 1978. It was 900 sq ft INCLUDING a one car garage and three bedrooms! It was built around 1940 and was the AVERAGE American house at the time.
We moved up in 1983 to a 1,600 sq ft house built in 1952. It was DOUBLE the average size of the American house when it was built. We still have it with some updates, but no major remodel.
My son’s Ford Escape crapped out last fall. He rode his bike to work for four months, then bought a 20 year old Mini Cooper beater.
Two daughters and husbands have purchased houses (mid- to late-30s). One is a 60 year old ranch house that they have remodeled (no walls moved) and re-landscaped. It’s gorgeous now, better than brand new. The other one bought a new tract home.
Hard work, thrift, modest expectations, and sweat equity are the keys to getting there.