How Impressionable Were the Younger Reagan Cohorts?
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Zachary F. Cook received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University. He is currently an instructor in Political Science at DePaul University. His current research focuses on age, ideology, political parties, and elections. The author received no funding in connection with this paper.
Abstract
Younger voters today, defined as under the age of 30 and often labeled the Millennial Generation, have shown high support for Barack Obama and for certain statements about activist government. Are we witnessing some generational effect for a significant percentage of the Millennials, stemming from their growing up during impressionable years under first George W. Bush and then Obama? To study this question with a historical analogy, I use the ANES to compare under-30 cohorts under Jimmy Carter as a benchmark and then Ronald Reagan much more extensively. I find evidence consistent with categories advanced by Sears (1983). The Reagan years disproportionately shifted this age group’s symbolic attitudes, including partisanship, self-reported ideology, and approval of Reagan himself, but not most specific policy opinions. If this finding generalizes, recent events may leave a Democratic imprint on the Millennials, but their current measures of policy liberalism should not be attributed overmuch to Obama’s influence.
About the author
Zachary F. Cook received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University. He is currently an instructor in Political Science at DePaul University. His current research focuses on age, ideology, political parties, and elections. The author received no funding in connection with this paper.
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©2014 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Reflections on the Study of Generations in Politics
- The Long Shadow of Parental Political Socialization on the Development of Political Orientations
- Baby Boomers
- Political Generations in American Politics: Insights from Research in International Relations
- More Than a Trace: Political Periods, Presidential Losers, and the Goldwater and McGovern Experiences
- How Impressionable Were the Younger Reagan Cohorts?
- Thinking about my Generation: The Impact of Large Congressional Cohorts
- Class Connections: Congressional Classes and the Republicans of 1994
- Congressional Cohorts: The House Republican Class of 2010
- Foreign Junkets or Learning to Legislate? Generational Changes in the International Travel Patterns of House Members, 1977–2012
- Book reviews
- Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945
- Social Democratic America
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Reflections on the Study of Generations in Politics
- The Long Shadow of Parental Political Socialization on the Development of Political Orientations
- Baby Boomers
- Political Generations in American Politics: Insights from Research in International Relations
- More Than a Trace: Political Periods, Presidential Losers, and the Goldwater and McGovern Experiences
- How Impressionable Were the Younger Reagan Cohorts?
- Thinking about my Generation: The Impact of Large Congressional Cohorts
- Class Connections: Congressional Classes and the Republicans of 1994
- Congressional Cohorts: The House Republican Class of 2010
- Foreign Junkets or Learning to Legislate? Generational Changes in the International Travel Patterns of House Members, 1977–2012
- Book reviews
- Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945
- Social Democratic America