Millennial Branding and Internships.com Release Study on the Gen Y Vote
15% more are voting in this election over 2008 and 58% will follow the election on social networks
Boston, MA – October 4, 2012 – Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm and Internships.com, the world’s largest internship marketplace, today announced a new study called “The Gen Y Vote.” The study shows how young people (age 18 to 29) will be voting in the 2012 presidential election, what issues they care most about, who influences their vote and more. This online survey of 2,236 Gen Y’s was conducted on September 14th.
More Gen Y will be coming out to vote in this year’s election compared to 2008. They will be voting for Obama, are more associated with the Democratic party and their parents have had the most influence on their vote. The issue that they care most about is the economy and after TV, social networks is where they will be following the election.
Additional highlights from the report include:
1. 75% will be voting in this election compared to only 60% that voted in 2008. Of those who will be voting this year, 64% intend to vote for Obama and only 22% for Romney. Out of those polled, 44% associated with the Democratic party, while 27% were Independents and only 17% associated with the Republican party. 54% are either considering or very interested in volunteering with a local campaign.
2. 48% believe that their parents most influence their vote (aside from themselves). After their parents, their friends were the next biggest influence, followed by their co-workers and then celebrities. When it comes to politics, celebrities don’t influence the youth vote.
3. 55% feel that the Economy is the most important issue in this election. After the economy, 14% said Education and 13% said Healthcare. Fewer than 5% said Foreign Policy, Immigration, Abortion, Same-sex Marriage and the Environment. They care most about the issues directly impacting their life situation at the moment and since many are without jobs, that’s the priority.
4. 58% will be following the election on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. TV is still the number one source of election coverage for Gen Y since 76% will be tuning in. The third most popular medium was newspapers and magazines at 55% and then radio at 23%. Only 36% are willing to share their political opinions online.
5. 61% feel that Obama will have a positive impact on the economy. Only 24% feel the same way about Romney. 63% said that the job situation has affected their vote in this election. 50% feel that the unemployment rate is the fault of George W. Bush’s administration. 21% feel that neither Obama or Bush are at fault and 20% say they are both at fault. When asked if Romney’s business background would make him a better president, 71% said “no”.
Quotes:
“Gen Y has become a powerful force in politics with an army of 80 million strong and will have a major impact on who wins the 2012 presidential elections. Although they feel that Obama didn’t keep all the promises he made in 2008, they are willing to give him another four years to prove himself.”
– Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, Gen Y expert and bestselling author of Me 2.0
“Our ability to extract important, timely, and topical data from Gen Y members is unmatched. We’re constantly surprised by the fast pace of attitudinal change among this demographic. Volunteerism is up, campaigns posting internship openings on Internships.com has skyrocketed, and Gen Y interest and action for the 2012 election year surprisingly exceeds 2008 by a strong margin.”
– Robin D. Richards, CEO of Internships.com
Contacts:
Millennial Branding (Spokesperson): Dan Schawbel dan@
About Millennial Branding:
Millennial Branding is a Gen Y research and management consulting firm based in Boston, Mass. Millennial Branding helps companies understand the emerging Gen Y employee by providing research, training, and advisory services. As representatives of Gen Y and advisers to management, our goal is to provide research and insights that will make you more profitable, grow your market share, help you understand your Gen Y employees, and turn you into an industry leader. As ambassadors to Gen Y, we want to give our generation a voice, support their careers, and connect them with brands that understand their needs.
About Internships.com:
Internships.com — a CareerArc Group company — is the world’s largest internship marketplace bringing students, employers and higher education together in one centralized location. The innovative, Los Angeles based company, develops a wide variety of interactive, world-class tools and services to enable every student, employer and educator to better understand and optimize internship opportunities. For additional information, please visit www.internships.com. For tips on finding internships, hot internship listings and internship advice, follow Internships.com on Twitter (www.twitter.com/
