New Poll on Young Voters

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a predominant Democratic polling firm, has done a poll of younger voters for Democracy Corp. The poll involved a national survey of 1017 young people ages 18-29, and includes some interesting results on religion as well as politics.

Some interesting results include:

This cohort is more secular than the rest of the country – 25 percent describe their religious affiliation as “none” compared to 11 percent in the country as a whole – and 60 percent believe “religion and faith should not play a role in politics.”

Younger people are well ahead of the rest of the country in supporting gay marriage (52 percent favor, 45 percent oppose). Moreover, 67 percent of younger people believe
“same sex couples trying to get married are courageous in facing opposition and really committed to building happy lives together.”


Read the survey here.

The real issue for me is whether the lack of religion is unique to this age cohort or suggests a change from previous generations. Younger adults tend to be less church-going that older adults. the issue is whether this generation has a more pronounced pattern. It is interesting, however, that there is such strong support for gay marriage--this is an opinion that is likely to last, and may suggest an emerging majority on this issue.

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