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Millennial Monitor (+): Young Adults Across Race, Age, Gender and Party Don’t Believe the President’s Build Back Better Plan Spends Too Much

Reversing climate change, addressing racism, and expanding healthcare consistently ranked high among young adults across age, race, gender, and party

The 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill under negotiation by Congressional Democrats addressed many young people’s top priorities

Washington, D.C. | October 29 – Today, GenForward and HIT Strategies released the second edition of Millennial Monitor (+) plus, a newsletter using GenForward data that focuses on young adults’ political views and policy preferences. The latest MM+ revealed that many young adults don’t believe that the President’s Build Back Better Plan spends too much money, highlights young adults’ issue priorities, and suggests that young adults favor increased spending on their issue priorities.

“Young adults are still the barometer for how well the nation is doing, politically and socially,” said Cathy Cohen, founder and director of the GenForward Survey Project. “These data reflect a generation of voters who remain just as concerned about the current state of this nation as they are about its future.”

The latest MM (+) covers attitudes toward government spending, explores whether the child tax credit should be made permanent, and ranks young adults’ issue priorities. In addition, the 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill under negotiation by Congressional Democrats addressed many young people’s top priorities. Finally, the report disaggregates the data by generation, gender, party affiliation, race and ethnicity, and gender.

Highlights of the latest MM(+) include:

  • Reversing climate change, addressing racism, and expanding healthcare consistently ranked high among young adults across age, race, ethnicity, gender, and party.
  • A majority of young adults across gender and race favor making the Child Tax Credit permanent, a feature of the President’s Build Back Better Agenda.
  • Nearly half of young adult Republican favor making permanent the Child Tax Credit for families making up to 150,000.

Young adults under the age of 36 comprise nearly 40% of the eligible voting population. This voting block is also a uniquely diverse cohort. Forty-five percent (45%) are people of color. Yet—less than 1 in 10 U.S. House members are under the age of 40. This gap in representation often means the voices of young people, especially young people of color, ring hollow in the halls of political power. HIT and GenForward’s collaboration elevates the concerns and policy priorities of America’s youngest and most diverse generations.

“Young adult attitudes about spending should receive more consideration than those of any other voters. We are the ones that will live with the debt the longest,” said Terrance Woodbury, founding partner of HIT Strategies. “Unfortunately, young people’s opinions about spending have not been afforded adequate representation in the current debate: just 9% of the U.S. House is 40 years old or younger.”

Millennial Monitor (+) plus – a partnership between HIT Strategies and the GenForward Survey Project at the University of Chicago – generates and interprets data on the policy views of young adults of color —Millennials (age 25-36) and Generation Z (age 18-24). Millennial Monitor (+) tracks the political pulse of Millennials and Generation Z and disaggregates the data by gender, generation, party identification, and race and ethnicity.

About GenForward Survey Project
The GenForward Survey is the first of its kind—a nationally representative survey of over 3,000 young adults ages 18-36 that pays special attention to how race and ethnicity shape how respondents experience and think about the world. GenForward is committed to disaggregating the larger categories often labeled Millennials and GenZers because our previous research has shown important differences in lived experiences and political attitudes among young adults of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. For more information, visit our website and follow us on Twitter.

About HIT Strategies
HIT Strategies is a public opinion research company specializing in researching Millennials, People of Color, Women, LGBTQ+ and other underserved communities. We help our clients translate their target audience’s values, attitudes, and behaviors into real-time insights and messaging. For more information, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter.

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