This article was written by Harvard Political Review writer Josh Berry and Harvard Public Opinion Project staffer Charles Hua.
Many would like to think that the United States of America was founded on a set of universal ideals. In reality, though, Americans have always had disagreements, ranging from the most authentic state barbeque to the very values and ideals that the United States was founded upon.
American youth are not immune to these differences. While the generation spearheading America’s future is often perceived as monolithic, sharing something akin to both juvenile tendencies and utopian ideologies, a more nuanced look reveals meaningful and deep divisions. Today, young Americans are split not just in their interpretation of America’s past but also on their vision for America’s future.
Young Americans’ views are defined by more than their age. For instance, race and political affiliation matter. While nearly two-thirds of young white Americans surveyed in the Harvard Public Opinion Project’s most recent youth poll believe that the founders of America shared their values, only one-third of young black Americans agree. Moreover, young Republicans overwhelmingly believe that America was built and founded for people like them, with over four out of every five young Republicans holding this view, compared to just over half of young Democrats and young independents. Much like the rest of the American population, the opinions of America’s youth appear to be shaped in no small part by the elements of their identities. Differences within America’s youngest generations exist — and matter.
Nonetheless, young Americans are united in their diagnosis of the current state of America’s political institutions: They see a need for change and reform. A mere 21% of surveyed youth believe that America is headed in the right direction, with even fewer believing that the U.S. government is working as it should be. Yet this harmonious agreement, a rarity in today’s age, stops there. Young Americans are split on whether structural reforms should be framed around equality or economic growth and whether revamped institutions should focus more on equality or personal liberty. Moreover, party affiliation plays a critical role in influencing young people’s views about what the future should look like. While over half of young Democrats believe that addressing the problems plaguing American government requires replacing existing institutions with entirely new ones, only one out of every five surveyed Republicans share a similar sentiment. Indeed, although young Americans are united in their belief that institutions should change, they possess fundamentally different views about how these changes should take place, or what these changes should even look like.
The 2020 Democratic presidential primary underscored these fundamental tensions. Flanked by candidates Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg, the Democratic voter base grappled with the question of whether revolution or evolution was a more effective strategy for their party in dealing with the increasingly pressing problems facing society. Today, the uncertainties generated by the COVID-19 pandemic have widened their ideological differences. Those in favor of revolution argue that the current public health crisis in America could have been prevented by radical change and the fundamental re-creation of government institutions for which they have been advocating. Meanwhile, those in favor of evolution say that the pandemic was something no reforms could have fully prevented and that in order for there to be a return to normalcy and stability, capable leaders should prioritize effective crisis management and incremental reforms as a more viable method for enacting future structural change. In line with this difference in opinions amidst the COVID-19 crisis, those youth who are deeply concerned about access to health care disproportionately view replacing, rather than reforming, institutions as a more viable path forward.
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis, exacerbated by the inconsistent governmental response, will undoubtedly leave a lasting imprint on the minds of America’s youth. It will certainly transform young Americans’ attitudes towards leadership and call into question their confidence in the effectiveness of government’s ability to address increasingly pressing global challenges such as climate change and pandemics. It might also change the way in which young people think about their own values and how they relate to American ideals, those which many believe have formed the bedrock of the United States for centuries.
No one can be absolutely certain about the course that the pandemic will take and what its consequences will mean for young people’s visions for America’s future. Yet one conclusion is certain: The public health crisis has generated a defining, forceful political moment and inflection point that will fundamentally redefine America’s confidence in its ability to create a better future. The role of young people in shaping that future is important now more than ever.
Image source: Flickr/Bradley Weber