As early as 2006, for the first time, there were more millennial and Generation X voters than baby boomers , a trend that has probably happened again in this election between Biden and Trump.
The implications of this generational shift will resonate with the political landscape of the United States for decades to come.
More liberal
According to the study, of 137.5 million votes cast in past elections, 69.6 million came from voters under the age of 51 , while voters of the older generation cast 67.9 million votes.
Those born roughly between 1946 and 1964 have been the largest voters since 1984. Although they were the largest bloc of voters in 2016 with 48.1 million voters representing 35 percent of the electorate, they were 2 million fewer than the maximum of 50 , 1 million Boomer voters in 2004. As older Boomers reach 70, their numbers will continue to decline .
Millennials, defined by the study as those between the ages of 18 and 35 in 2016, will continue to grow as part of the electorate not only because immigration and naturalization will increase in number, but because as people age, their participation in the vote tends to increase.
The study reports that the change in the electorate has political implications. For example, 55 percent of millennials identify as Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents, while 33 percent identify as Republican-leaning. Millennials also tend to have more liberal social views, and are fond of issues like gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana .
Still, things might not be that easy to forecast: Other studies show that millennials are more polarized than other generations, and identify more with extremely conservative or extremely liberal positions .