Poll Sheds Light on Millennials' Political Beliefs

Many pharmacy students advocate for provider status, but how often do they engage in other political matters?

A new poll of 3034 millennials aged 18 to 29 years reveals their interest in politics and level of trust in political institutions.

According to the Harvard University Institute of Politics’ poll, 79% of millennials do not consider themselves politically engaged or active.

While 60% of participants said they voted in the 2012 election, only about 50% actually did so, exit polls show. For comparison’s sake, 40% of Generation X, which includes adults born between the 1960s and 1980s, typically showed up to vote. Almost 70% of millennials said they are registered to vote.

Almost half of the participants said they have not much or no confidence in the judicial system’s ability to “fairly judge people without bias for race and ethnicity.” Meanwhile, 40% indicated they had some confidence, and only 9% said they had a lot of confidence in the justice system.

In addition, 80% said they were in favor of body cameras for police officers.

In terms of trust, millennials revealed more favorable thoughts toward the military and Supreme Court than the president. A little more than half (53%) said they trusted the military, 42% showed trust in the Supreme Court, and 37% said they trusted the president. Congress came in last, with only 17% of millennials trusting it.

NPR reported millennials are less trusting of federal and international institutions compared with 5 years ago.

The poll also found the top contenders for the 2016 presidential election are Hillary Clinton for the Democratic ticket and Ben Carson for the Republican ticket, with Clinton favored more for winning the election.

Around one-quarter of the participants said they did not label themselves as conservative or liberal.