Although young Americans are united in their belief that institutions should change, they possess fundamentally different views about how government should do so.
Bernie Sanders' followers are not simply drawn to his socialist rhetoric, but rather to his desire to create institutions focused on personal liberty and equality, and that goal is here to stay.
The past three years of the Trump administration have significantly impacted youth engagement with politics by confusing the young Republican base, alienating swing voters, and invigorating those on the left.
Young Americans don’t just want “structural change” because it’s a cool Twitter hashtag: They want their health care and college debt policies to change because their lives depend on it.
Young Americans’ responses to questions about their patriotism vary based on the specific words used to ask them. Understanding these discrepancies could provide valuable insight into the dimensions of young voters’ love for their country, helping campaigns calculate how best to harness that love in the name of victory.
Young people across the nation approach notions of "Americanism" and "patriotism" with varying definitions and levels of support. This variation, informed by a long history of racism and xenophobia, reveals that there is a major disconnect in whether or not members do feel that they are equal citizens of a common country.
In 20 years, this nation has seen a divergence of the meanings of “patriot” and “patriotic” — a divergence informed by both political and cultural changes over the past two decades.
“Patriotism” is a word that means very different things to different people, and this variation in meaning is both reflected in and driven by the media.