Gen Z and millennials have high hopes for the future. Except when it comes to politics.
That’s according to a new report exclusively obtained by NPR from the Sine Institute of Policy & Politics at American University, examining the goals and values of younger Americans today.
The survey of 1,568 adults between 18 and 34 found that young people are optimistic about their futures and envision becoming more successful than their parents. But they express more negativity when thinking about the effect the government and political system will have on their lives in the coming decades.
“That is consistently an area where there’s a disconnect,” said Molly O’Rourke, a senior adviser with the Sine Institute.
“There definitely needs to be an improvement and a real, more focused engagement to fix or remedy that,” she added.
Which could, in part, fall on the politicians of today. But, ahead of the 2024 election, young Americans continue to show weak enthusiasm for President Biden and the entire Republican presidential primary pool. Plus, nearly a quarter of young people remain politically undecided when choosing between the incumbent president and an unnamed, eventual Republican nominee.
That’s because the political system is untenable. The system is fundamentally designed to be undemocratic. The Senate and electoral college will continue to put politicians in power who do not represent the majority. By 2040 70% of the Senate will be elected by just 1/3 of Americans. It’s time for a complete re-write.
The problem with a complete rewrite is it takes a constitutional convention, and there’s enough states run by maniacs and nutjobs that we might end up with something even worse.
But in 15 years those maniacs and nutjobs will have a supermajority of the Senate. They’ve already gerrymandered their House districts and stacked the Supreme Court. The court makes up their own facts to cases, and ignores the parts of laws they don’t like, and overturn decades of precedent.
What could be worse? The rot is already there, the building just hasn’t collapsed yet. Worse is already here. We had a couple attempt 2 years ago, and all the leaders are still in government.
The only thing actually preventing secession is Supreme Court precedent (Texas v. White), and since that’s generally on fire…maybe we have more choices than we think.