The millennial surge fueling Europe's right-wing populism

[brooklynite]

Axios:

Millennials are raging against what they view as a broken system built by their elders, but unlike Bernie Sanders supporters in the United States, increasing numbers of young people in Europe are latching onto a very different kind of politics — the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant, right-wing populist movement sweeping the continent. Take a look at the numbers:

France: Marine Le Pen leads polling among 18-24-year-olds with 33% in the first round of presidential voting — her largest support from any age group.

LThe Netherlands: Support for Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom among 18-25-year-olds has increased from 7% in 2006 to 27% in 2016.

Germany: Alternative for Germany's supporters are second-youngest among the country's parties.

[EL34x4]

1. "but unlike Bernie Sanders supporters in the United States..."

It shouldn't be overlooked that on Election Day, white Millennials would swing for Trump over Hillary Clinton, 48% to 43%.

[MineralMan]

2. You're right. It shouldn't be overlooked.

However, it is consistently overlooked. Not all millennials are progressives. How did we not know that? (rhetorical question)

[EL34x4]

3. Millennials continue to be lumped together into a single, monolithic block.

As if a white fratboy from Oklahoma views life through the same shared, cultural lense as a Latino lesbian from Brooklyn.

Even this article does it when they speak of "Millennials raging..." Are we talking about all Millennials in Europe or just white ones?

[MineralMan]

4. People tend to do that with all sorts of blocs of voters.

The truth of the matter is that most blocs of voters tend to be divided, politically, in about the same way as the overall population.

What we should be doing instead is focusing on the Democratic segment of each bloc and focusing on those. We should be talking about millennials, for example, who tend to lean toward Democratic or progressive views. They are the ones we need to go to the polling place, but we continue to lump all millennials into one category. That's a serious mistake and blunts our message.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

5. Yea this idea that Millennials are somehow smarter than their parents/grandparents is bunk

Millennials can be driven to believe in a lot of the same stupid ideas that their parents and grandparents believed. It really proves the saying true of the apple not falling too far from the tree.

[Oneironaut]

6. It's like Ron Paul in the US. He had a following of clueless college bros.

The vast majority of them were clueless about politics and bought into his libertarian nativism.