What Do Millennials Believe?

The millennial generation, born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, is America’s largest, most diverse and possibly its most argued-about population. From high consumption of avocado toast to low rates of homeownership, millennials have been grist for the pop culture mill—but what do they actually believe?

In a new book released this month called “The Politics of Millennials,” Stella Rouse, UMD associate professor of government and politics and director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship, seeks to find out. She and co-author Ashley D. Ross, assistant professor in the Department of Marine Sciences and fellow at the Center for Texas Beaches & Shores at Texas A&M University at Galveston, conducted surveys and focus groups in 2015 and 2016 to get at the heart of a generation shaped by 9/11, the internet explosion and the Great Recession.

“Millennials see our political institutions as rigid, outdated and largely unaccommodating to their norms of participation,” the authors say. “They want change to the politics of our democracy and the institutions of the political system.”

Here are more takeaways from the authors’ research: