WaPo has a brief story on a new Fusion poll reflecting rising pessimism among Millenials about the possibility of success in America (“Young white people are losing their faith in the American Dream“):
That rise in pessimism among millennials is concentrated among white people. It is most pronounced among whites who did not earn a college degree….
The poll found no statistically significant change among young Americans of color over the decades. In 1986, they were about twice as likely as whites to say the American Dream does not exist. Now, the groups are about equally pessimistic.
Layered over this is an earlier Fusion poll from March 2015:
White and minority millennials differ starkly on their views about the future direction of the country, according to a wide-ranging new survey released Friday by the Public Religion Research Institute.
A majority of millennials between the ages of 18-35 (53 percent) think the country is currently on the wrong track. But the overall result masks the racial divide: It’s largely young, white people who have negative views about the nation’s direction.
Nearly two-thirds of white millennials surveyed in the poll said the country is heading in the wrong direction. Compare that with minority populations who think it’s going in the right direction — a whopping 71 percent of young African-Americans, 53 percent of young Latinos, and 49 percent of the young, Asian-Pacific Islander population.
This further correlation is most interesting:
What’s behind the diverging viewpoints? The PRRI points out that the results largely mirror their politics — specifically, their opinions of whether President Obama is doing a good job.
Overall, 53 percent of millennials approve of Obama’s job performance. But only 40 percent of white millennials included in the survey approve of Obama, compared with 58 percent who disapprove.
Comparatively, 87 percent of young African-Americans approve of the job Obama’s doing, along with about two-thirds of young Latinos (66 percent) and young Asian-Pacific Islanders (63 percent).
It’s interesting to speculate on how, and where, white millenials are sublimating their cultural and demographic displacement.
Many might be the ways that ‘implicit whiteness’ manifests itself.
