Mike and Morley

Originally published by Brookings. Conventional wisdom holds that the Democrats are going to lose the midterm elections, especially if they were held today. Given current rates of inflation, the seemingly never-ending pandemic, and the level of partisan hostility that has poisoned our politics, it’s an understandable concern. Those problems don’t lend themselves to quick fixes, raising the specter of a Republican sweep and a Trump return in 2024 that some suggest might be the end of democracy as we know it. But the future of democracy... Read more

There is a body of accumulated academic research and current polling making possible a realistic forecast of how America's most populous generation will vote in the future. Not surprisingly, those projections suggest that the Democrats currently have the edge in winning the long term loyalties of Millennials. "The man who is not a socialist (read 'liberal' in the United States) at 20 has no heart, but if he is still a socialist at 40, he has no brain." That aphorism has been variously attributed to Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw,... Read more

President Biden’s beliefs and behaviors embody many of the traits of the Silent Generation (Americans born between 1925 and 1945) of which he is a member, which is why so many younger Americans are going through a “period of adjustment” as they try to take the measure of the man. As fellow Silents, we find what he does and how he goes about it completely comfortable and appropriate, even as he continues to befuddle and frustrate younger generations—Boomers, X’ers, Millennials and even those Plurals old enough to care about politics.The Silent Generation lived in the... Read more

Democracy has been under increasing assault in the U.S. over the course of this century. Sixty percent of white working class Americans agreed with the statement that “because things have gotten so far off track in this country, we need a leader who is willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right.” Although only 40% of all Americans felt that way in 2017, almost 47% of them voted in 2020 to support a candidate for president who exhibited blatant authoritarian behavior. For the first time since... Read more

A version of this blog was published by the Los Angeles Times on August 20, 2019. Racism is increasingly unacceptable to most Americans. This is true among conservatives as well as liberals, college and non-college educated adults alike. But what’s behind the United States becoming a place where racist expression is more and more unpopular are the beliefs and behaviors of the generation born between 1982 and 2003, the Millennials.USC political scientists, Morris Levy and Dennis Chong, examined 40 years of data gathered by NORC at the University of Chicago in its... Read more

Final results from the 2018 midterm elections make it clear that Donald Trump’s presidency has accelerated a political dynamic likely to defeat him and his party in 2020. Five years ago, our book, Millennial Majority, identified a new majority coalition in American politics led by Millennials, minorities and women. This year’s midterm elections saw this coalition solidify its support of Democrats, particularly in U.S. House races, that caused many to conclude a “Blue Wave” had at least temporarily overwhelmed Republicans. But in fact, the changes... Read more

By 2020, Millennials will comprise more than one of three adult Americans. It is estimated that by 2025 they will make up as much as 75 percent of the workforce. Given their numbers, they will dominate the nation’s workplaces and permeate its corporate culture. Understanding the generation’s values offers a window into the future of the financial industry and much of corporate America.In the Millennial era, most Americans will demonstrate a greater desire to advance the welfare of the group and be less concerned with individual success. They will be less worried about being guided in... Read more

The ability of Parkland, Florida students to change their state’s gun laws in just three weeks after the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneham Douglas, something no other group had been able to accomplish in the last twenty years, surprised a lot of people. But, for those who have been reading our books about Millennials and how they fit into a larger cycle of generational archetypes, it shouldn’t have.Major change in America’s attitudes and beliefs occur about every forty years—the span of two generations. Millennials,... Read more

Originally publishedat NewGeography.com   This month America’s destiny as a pluralistic democracy took a new and unprecedented turn. First, early in May, USA Today asked Americans what name they thought would be appropriate for the country’s newest generation now moving into grade school classrooms with its unique behavior and perspectives. Plurals is the name suggested by communications research and consulting firm, Frank N. Magid Associates, with only the Apple product related notion of an iGeneration... Read more

Originally published in Hypervocal   GENERATIONSThe latest from the men who wrote the book (literally!) on the developing impact of the next generation and the ones to come … Even though both Generation Xers and Millennials are often portrayed as “digital natives” because of their access to the earliest versions of digital technology when they were growing up, the real digital natives are actually members of America’s youngest generation: PLURALS.So named by... Read more