Generation Z as liberal as millennials when it comes to politics

More of Generation Z believe the government should do more to solve problems than millenials

Katie O'Malley
Friday 18 January 2019 18:44 GMT
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(Getty Images)

The majority might not be old enough to vote or drink alcohol, but a new report claims Generation Z is as liberal as millennials when it comes to political and social topics.

Recent data from nonpartisan American fact tank Pew suggests Gen Z also show signs of being more liberal when it comes to their views about the role of the government, compared to their older counterparts.

In Pew's latest survey, 70 per cent of Generation Z members said they believe the government should do more to solve problems, compared to 64 per cent of millennials who said the same.

Generation Z is defined, by the research centre, as those born from 1997 to 2012 and will be aged 7 to 22 in 2019.

Meanwhile, millennials are said to have been born from 1981 to 1996 and will be aged 23 to 38 this year.

A similar number of the two generations appear to concur, however, when it comes to issues regarding President Trump, diversity, and global warming.

According to the data, 29 per cent of millennials approve of the president’s job performance, compared to 30 per cent of Generation Z.

Meanwhile, 62 per cent of millennials support NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice, which is similar to the 61 per cent of those from Generation Z.

President Trump says he won't watch sports games if players take a knee during anthem. Getty Images (Getty Images)

A similar trope appears when it comes to Generation Z and millennials views' on the Earth getting warmer due to human activity, with 54 per cent and 56 per cent in agreement, respectively.

What’s more, 84 per cent of both millennials and Generation Z believe that same-sex marriage is either a good thing or doesn’t make a difference.

The data comes from two online surveys using probability-based panels.

The power of Generation Z’s voice most notable came to the forefront of the populous’ attention in February 2018 when activist Emma Gonzalez passionately addressed a gun control rally.

The teenager delivered the speech days after a gunman entered her school in Parkland, Florida and killed 17 people.

A month later, the Parkland survivor took to the stage at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington and listed the names of those killed.

TIME magazine later named Gonzalez one of their ‘100 Most Influential People’ for 2018, with former president Barack Obama honouring the 19-year-old and her fellow outspoken survivors following the shooting.

In a letter for the magazine, Obama described the students as having “the power so often inherent in youth: to see the world anew; to reject the old constraints, outdated conventions and cowardice too often dressed up as wisdom”.

“The power to insist that America can be better.”

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