{"id":12994,"date":"2016-02-16T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/millennials-less-confident-about-nations-future-but-so-were-their-parents-grandparents-when-young\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:18:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:18:45","slug":"millennials-less-confident-about-nations-future-but-so-were-their-parents-grandparents-when-young","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/02\/16\/millennials-less-confident-about-nations-future-but-so-were-their-parents-grandparents-when-young\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennials less confident about nation\u2019s future, but so were their parents, grandparents when young"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Younger<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Carter's<\/a>
College student Chuck McManis watches President Jimmy Carter’s nationally televised energy address, which became known as the “malaise” speech. When Carter felt beset by pessimism amid the energy crisis in 1979, he gave a startling speech warning that a \u201ccrisis of confidence\u201d posed a fundamental threat to U.S. democracy. Photo by AP Photo\/Mao<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Millennials differ from older generations<\/a> in many ways, from their racial and ethnic diversity to their distinctive views on a number of political and social issues. But they are similar in one surprising respect: As America\u2019s youngest adult generation they are the least confident about the nation\u2019s future, just like Generation Xers and Baby Boomers when they <\/em>were young.<\/p>\n\n

\"Generation<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

In a survey of attitudes about government<\/a> conducted last fall, just 37% of Millennials said they had \u201cquite a lot of confidence\u201d in the future of the United States, compared with 45% of Gen Xers, 49% of Boomers and 56% of the Silent Generation.<\/p>\n\n

Two decades ago, Gen Xers, then in their teens and 20s, stood out for their<\/em> lack of confidence in the nation\u2019s future. In 1994, just 30% of Gen Xers said they had quite a lot of confidence in the future of the U.S. Among older generations at the time \u2013 Boomers and Silents \u2013 half or more had a lot of confidence in the nation\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n

And two decades before that, Boomers were less bullish than their elders in assessing the nation\u2019s future. In 1975, when Boomers were the youngest generation, 49% had a great deal of confidence in the future of the U.S., compared with 62% of Silents and 67% of the Greatest Generation.<\/p>\n\n

This finding highlights one of the challenges of generational analysis, namely determining when differences among age cohorts are attributable to life stage rather than to a unique characteristic of a generation. For instance, Millennials are less engaged in politics than older generations, but that has been true for successive generations of young people. Similarly, Millennials\u2019 relative lack of confidence in the nation\u2019s future may be a life-cycle effect. (For more, see our 2015 report \u201cThe Whys and Hows of Generations Research.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n

Notably, on a different measure of expectations for the nation \u2013 one that compares the past to the future \u2013 Millennials are more optimistic than are older generations<\/a>. In 2014, 49% of Millennials said the country\u2019s best years were \u201cahead of us,\u201d while 45% said they were \u201cbehind us.\u201d Among older generations, somewhat more said the United States\u2019 best years were behind than ahead. That question had not been asked previously, so it is not possible to determine if these views have changed over time.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two decades ago, Gen Xers, then in their teens and 20s, stood out for their lack of confidence in the nation\u2019s prospects. And two decades before that, Boomers were less bullish than their elders in assessing America’s future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[29,201,204,200,203,199,109],"bylines":[807],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-12994","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-generations-age","category-baby-boomers","category-comparison-of-generations","category-generation-x","category-greatest-generation","category-millennials","category-national-conditions","bylines-samantha-smith","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":430,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/02\/16\/millennials-less-confident-about-nations-future-but-so-were-their-parents-grandparents-when-young\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":24119,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":24119,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":24119,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":24119,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":24119,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp?w=640&h=405&crop=1","width":640,"height":405,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":24119,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/02\/FT_16.02.16_confidence_640px-jpg.webp?w=640&h=426&crop=1","width":640,"height":426,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Millennials less confident about nation\u2019s future, but so were their parents, grandparents when young","description":"Two decades ago, Gen Xers, then in their teens and 20s, stood out for their lack of confidence in the nation\u2019s prospects. 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