This article was written by Harvard Political Review writer Christine Mui and Harvard Public Opinion Project staffers Kevin Wang and Yao Yin.
Prior to the 2016 presidential election cycle, the Democratic Party’s slogans centered around the uplifting message of “yes, we can.” These days, one may be more likely to associate the party with the so-called “political revolution” characterized by policy measures like Medicare for All. Youth in particular have led this ideological shift, often rallying around ideas that can be traced back to progressive figures like Bernie Sanders.
In 2016, Sanders’ presidential campaign was largely viewed as a quixotic far-left challenge. His message, however, proved resonant, and his policy agenda, including Medicare for All, has been surprisingly durable. During the 2020 Democratic primary, 11 candidates supported some version of universal healthcare. Even after dropping out of the race, it is clear that Sanders’ ideas have not gone with him — his team is already negotiating with Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, on policy positions. The Democratic Party may continue shifting further left on health care and other key issues.
These electoral developments reflect a burgeoning desire for institutional change among young Americans, and specifically young Democrats. According to the Harvard Public Opinion Project’s national youth poll, only 8% of Americans ages 18 to 29 think our government is working as it should be. Despite significant differences within parties and ideologies, there seems to be mutual agreement in the desire for institutional changes that ultimately circles back to the themes of identity and equality. This finding explains Sanders’ strong support among young voters — his followers are drawn not simply to his socialist rhetoric, but rather to his desire to create institutions focused on personal liberty and equality. That goal is here to stay.
Youth on Revolution vs. Reform
Though young Democrats show unity in their belief that the government is not functioning as it should, they offer diverging views on how to fix it. HPOP data further reveals that about half of young Democrats believe that to solve our government’s problems, we need to create new institutions to replace our old ones. By contrast, only 38% of independents believe in such fundamental change, and that number falls even lower to 19% for Republicans. Since the alternative to fundamental change is slower, more incremental reform, this data suggests a split between revolutionary thinking and more moderate ideology among young Democrats, even if both schools of thought seem to support broadly socialist policies.
As youth support for socialism has become widespread, media outlets have raised concern that socialism’s millennial and Generation Z supporters do not know what it means. Indeed, young people seem to view socialism as more of an abstract concept than its traditional definition, “governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” Sanders’ self-classification as a democratic socialist, rather than simply as a socialist, diverges from this definition — at a 2015 speech on the topic of democratic socialism at Georgetown University, Sanders drew inspiration from Franklin D. Roosevelt, calling for an economic bill of rights made up of the rights to quality health care, affordable housing, secure retirement, complete education, racial equality, a clean environment, and a living wage.
These rights are what appeal so strongly to today’s youth. Young Americans want greater equality in our institutions, and they see government intervention as the way to achieve it. Forty percent of youth surveyed by HPOP say they prioritize equality over the economy, in contrast to the 29% who chose the economy over equality-seeking measures. Those who choose equality are split when it comes to the level of institutional change they want to see, with 47% supporting replacing existing institutions, which aligns more with traditional socialism, and 48% supporting reforming existing institutions, aligning more with democratic socialism. Nonetheless, youth appear to prioritize equality over economic freedoms, and that prioritization provides a lens for understanding their support of Sanders’ policies.
Why Equality Matters
The youth’s prioritization of equality can be contextualized by their perspective about the United States’ history of injustices. HPOP data shows that young black people are significantly less likely than their white counterparts to believe that the founders of America shared their values and built an America that is for them. Fifty-nine percent of white respondents agree that America was built for people like them, while 41% of black respondents disagreed. Although race is the main dividing factor for agreement, only 52% of all young people believe the founders of America shared their values, indicating a much broader disillusionment with American values. This sentiment may be the result of a combination of factors, of which race is only one.
Despite uncertainties raised by the coronavirus pandemic, the future of America remains secure and full of hope for the 69% of young Americans who believe the founders shared their values and that America was built for people like them. Seventy-three percent of these youth remain more hopeful than fearful about the future of the country. Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between having optimism in America’s future and believing the nation’s institutions align with one’s values. While most youth think America is not headed in the right direction, the 21% minority who do overwhelmingly believe that America was built for people like them.
During these uncertain times, there is a correlation between being concerned about access to healthcare and wanting the replacement of institutions. Fifty-five percent of respondents who strongly agree that they are concerned about accessing health care want to replace institutions, compared to 39% overall. Compared to issues like housing (49%) and debt (42%), concerns about mental health care (57%) and health care (55%) were more strongly correlated with support for replacement over reform. Equality within health care has long been a high priority for young Americans — it was a key issue espoused in virtually every stump speech of Sanders’ presidential bid. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has only highlighted the healthcare system’s inequalities and fostered young people’s desire for change.
Do Youth Know What Socialism Is?
It seems as though young people have been drawn more to calls for greater institutional equality than to the socialist label of Sanders’ politics. One reason may be that Generation Z is set to be the most unequal generation yet, with the greatest income equality, most student debt, and the largest wealth gap. Having reached working age during and after the financial crisis and the Great Recession, millennials are the first generation to fall behind their parents’ standards of living, earning far less than earlier generations. In Sanders’ address at Georgetown, he referenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all of God’s children.” A large number of youth have gotten behind these words.
Image source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore