Some eye-opening findings from our big new poll on millennials
LatestYoung voters seem excited about going to the polls for the all-important 2016 presidential election. On the other hand, they’d be much more likely to if there were an easier way — like cell phone voting.
A lot of them are best friends with their parents. Some of them have even lit up with their folks.
And,
, young people are not OK with using emoji at work.
Those are some of the findings from Fusion’s Massive Millennial Poll, which surveyed 1,000 people from the ages of 18-34 on everything from politics to dating to race issues.
You’ve seen some of the headlines. But here are still more more surprising findings from the survey, from the fields of culture to politics and beyond.
Young African-Americans want Denzel’s work up for an Oscar.
“The Equalizer” got some early Oscar buzz, but failed to earn a nomination. Still, it was the top choice of young African-Americans surveyed in the poll — 10 percent said it should win the Academy Award for Best Picture. That percentage was 6 points higher than any other age, demographic, or gender group.
Who’d make the best comedian president? Young Americans are divided.
Stephen Colbert is the heartland male’s candidate — he earns 24 percent of the male vote and 23 percent of the vote from the midwest.
Jon Stewart, meanwhile, earns the support of of east-coast liberals on the older side of the millennial scale. He grabs 23 percent of the 30-34 aged crowd — plus 22 percent of the vote in the northeast and 24 percent of young people who identify as liberal. And he’s going to be free to run if he wants to.
But women want Tina Fey. Twenty-eight percent of women and 19 percent of west-coasters back her. She also earns 19 percent of the Latino vote, the highest of any comedian candidate.
Most millennials are ignoring the advice of Oprah and probably their own good sense.
More than half — 59 percent — say they have texted while driving. More men (64 percent) than women (54 percent) say they have done so.
More women than men are likely to be super tight with mom and/or dad.
More than six in 10 millennial women say at least one of their parents is their best friend. Just 49 percent of men say the same. But they’re equally as likely to have smoked marijuana (9 percent overall) with one of their parents.
Millennials frown on using emoji at work.
And pretty universally. But those who identified as liberals were most likely to say it was OK (41 percent).
The racial divide among young people on police-related issues was evident.
Compare: Forty-two percent of young African-Americans say they have had a “negative interaction with police.” Still, 67 percent consider police the “good guys.” And while 57 percent consider crime to be a bigger threat than the cops themselves, a significant 36 percent chunk believe the way police treat people is a bigger threat than crime.
On the other hand: only 25 percent of whites have had a negative interaction with police. Eighty-eight percent consider police the “good guys.” And 81 percent say crime is the bigger threat (just 15 percent consider the way police treat people a bigger threat to their person).
Young African-Americans are also noticeably more pessimistic about the future of race relations.
Almost every group expects racial relations in the U.S. to get better over the course of their lifetimes. The one exception in the survey? Young African-Americans. A plurality — 43 percent — think racial relations will stay about the same. Still, one-third of young African-Americans were optimistic they’d get better.
Men were far more likely than women to believe gender should be defined as either male or female.
In response to prompting that said some countries recognize third genders, half of millennials said “gender is a spectrum,” and some people could fall outside defined spectrums. But far less men (44 percent) than women (57 percent) adopted this view. More men (52 percent) than women (40 percent) said gender should be defined as either male or female.
Latinos are the most likely to have dated outside their race.
Sixty-nine percent of young Latinos say they have been in an interracial relationship, and 92 percent are open to it — both highs among racial groups. White millennials were far less likely to have dated outside their race (45 percent) though 87 percent say they are open to it.
More women than men consider online flirting a form of cheating.
Eighty-eight percent of women, compared with 77 percent of men, say online flirting is a form of cheating against their respective partners.
More women than men appear to be a bit delusional about their futures.
Eighty percent of millennial women remain confident they’ll become millionaires in their lifetimes. Only 60 percent of men stay the same. Fun fact: 46 percent of millennials surveyed still live with their parents.
Most millennials have a smartphone. And their go-to app is…
Facebook! 21 percent said they open Facebook first when turning on their smartphones, 87 percent of which said they owned. Email was the second choice of most groups, but Instagram came in second with the 18-24 crowd and African-Americans.
It’s the age of social media, but millennials still think old-school activism is more effective.
Almost half of millennials say they have participated in some form of activism on social media, but a plurality still believes civic demonstrations in the streets have more of an effect on change than social media activism. Women (47 percent) and conservatives (51 percent) were the only groups more likely to choose social media.
Just 17 percent of millennials told their parents the first time they had sex.
The most-likely group? African-Americans, at 23 percent.
The most important issue for a potential president to address in 2016 is jobs and the economy.
It was the only issue in the poll where all races, genders, and age groups were united in their opinions. Jobs and the economy were followed on the issue list by healthcare, education, budget deficits, and immigration reform.
Young white millennials are the only demographic group that skew Republican.
In a generic presidential ballot, most young people surveyed skewed toward the Democratic Party. But young, white millennials surveyed said by a 43-39 margin that they would either vote for or lean toward a generic Republican candidate if the presidential election were held today. Young Latinos (52-32) and African-Americans (84-7) either said they’d vote for or would lean toward the Democratic candidate.
Most millennials can’t name either of their home-state senators. But one group was at least in the ballpark.
Millennials put on a rather embarrassing display when asked if they could correctly identify one of their home-state senators — only 23 percent could do so. The age group that did best were the olds — the 30- to 34-year-olds surveyed in the poll. Overall, 32 percent of them identified at least one of their senators.
Fusion’s Massive Millennial Poll surveyed 1,000 people between the ages of 18 to 34, with a general population sample and an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points. The interviews were conducted via telephone from Jan. 6 to Jan. 11. For more on our methodology and poll results, click here.
MORE COVERAGE:
- 9 surprising things we learned about how Millennials are using technology
- More than half of millennials say they’re best friends with their parents
- Broke young people remain convinced they’ll be millionaires one day
- Millennials are not OK with using emoji at work
- Almost half of all young blacks have had a ‘negative interaction’ with police
- 9% of young pot smokers have lit up with their parents
- Millennials’ top dream dinner party guests are all black
- More than half of millennials have dated outside their race
- Does online flirting count as cheating? Young people say ‘yes’
- Young people will hit the polls in 2016, and they want Hillary
- Half of young people believe gender isn’t limited to male and female
- Michelle Obama ties Jennifer Lawrence for top body image idol
- Which comedian would make the best president?
Brett LoGiurato is the senior national political correspondent at Fusion, where he covers all things 2016. He’ll give you everything you need to know about politics, with a healthy side of puns.