Olympus might not be falling, but it’s definitely changing hands—probably in a dramatic way.
That’s according to David Cahn, co-author of a new book, When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America.
“This generation disrupted things by replacing TVs with Netflix, cabs with Uber and hotels with Airbnb,” he told RELEVANT. “I think this generation is next going to completely disrupt the way Washington works and force the parties to reconsider how they win votes.”
Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau found that 30 percent of all eligible voters in the United States were born between 1981 and 1997. That means millennials are the majority of potential voters in America.
For their book, David Cahn and his brother Jack Cahn did a deep-dive analysis of every poll and survey they could get their hands on, looking at every issue one at a time. Then, the two spoke with 10,000 millennials to find out why they believe what they do.
A huge difference in millennials and previous generations is that they’re eschewing the entire political system and voting more based on ideals for society than personal beliefs. An area that illustrates this new direction, and one of particular importance to Christians, is abortion.
See, a majority of millennials, according to a survey by the Barna Group earlier this year, think abortion is wrong. In all, about five out of six hold pro-life convictions in some form.
But that doesn’t mean, says Cahn, that millennials vote pro-life.
“It turns out millennials are the most likely generation to be morally opposed to abortion,” Cahn says. “On the flip side, millennials are also the most likely to support legal abortions in their communities,” he says.
For pro-lifers, this generation offers some hope. But, if the Cahns are right, the new pro-life is taking a decidedly less political flavor. And brings up a lot of questions.
“Millennials are taking over,” he says. “It’s just a matter of what happens when they rule.”
