Young Voters and Aging Political Leadership

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Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now we'll return to The New York Times Siena College Poll we've mentioned a few times this morning for a very specific call in. This one is for anyone under 30 listening right now, but mostly Democrats under 30 because we want to know how you're feeling about the aging political leadership in your party, and what generational change in American politics, in general, you would like to see. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 for anyone under 30 only.

For context, the average age of Democratic leaders in Congress, according to NPR, is 71. For Republicans, it's 55. Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful people in Washington, obviously our speaker of the House, is 82. Senator Dianne Feinstein from California, powerful in her own right, is 89, the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, 71. Though there are aging Republican leaders in Congress like 80-year-old Chuck Grassley, who's got a leadership role, Republicans of late have elevated younger leaders like 38-year-old Elise Stefanik, of upstate New York bringing the average age of congressional leaders in that party down. Of course, Donald Trump is still the most popular Republican and most powerful, is himself 76.

This seems to be a bigger problem for Democrats, the party led by, after all, a 79-year-old president who has signaled he will run for reelection in two years. I'll mention again, that new poll from The New York Times in Siena College which found that just 1% of voters under 30 strongly approve of the way Biden is handling his job and that a staggering 94% of Democrats in this age group said they wanted another candidate to run in two years. Let's take that head-on now with this call in for listeners under 30.

The Times narrative on this describes the age-related finding this way, "Led by politicians, often three times their age, many voters under 30 are hungry for new blood and new ideas." Does that ring true for you? How are you feeling about the aging political leadership in your party? What kind of generational change in American politics would you like to see? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. Maybe Bernie Sanders puts the lie to this whole narrative because it's what people stand for not how old people are, but you tell us. We should say that very few people of any age, strongly approved of Biden's job performance in this poll, his best age group was 65 plus and only 22% of them strongly approved of Biden's job performance. That's still 22 times as much as people under 30. Oh my God, 1%.

There's somewhat approve results, I will add just for more nuance. Somewhat approved as opposed to strongly approve of Biden was more consistent among age groups, mostly in the teens of percentage approval, still low. If you're under 30 and want people or policies you strongly approve of, strongly, who are they and what are they 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. We can get specific with this. We want to get specific with this. What are your frustrations with these political leaders who are often three times your age? What's the disconnect? If you feel like people like Pelosi, Feinstein, Schumer, Biden, Grassley are out of touch with the reality of your life as a younger millennial or a Gen Z American, tell us how 212-433-WNYC or tweet @BrianLehrer.

I'll throw one other wrinkle in here, which I think is very interesting, an opinion piece that came out before this poll in The Times, from columnist Jamelle Bouie presented one view of this disconnect between the ageing political leaders and frustrated young voters. The title of that piece, as it appeared on the web was, The Gerontocracy of the Democratic Party Doesn't Understand That We're at the Brink.

Bouie he writes, "What's missing from party leaders, an absence that is endlessly frustrating to younger liberals is any sense of urgency and crisis, any sense that our system is on the brink. Despite mounting threats to the right to vote, the right to an abortion, and the ability of the federal government to act proactively in the public interest, senior Democrats continue to act as if American politics is back to business as usual." From Jamelle Bouie. I think, Bouie means back to business as usual now that Donald Trump isn't in office anymore, but of course, that's not enough to meet the moment to meet this whole era that Americans under 30 have grown up in.

Ritchie Torres, the young Congressman mentioned it early in the show, 9/11, the financial crisis, the crisis of Trump, the pandemic plus crime and inflation, like not in a generation or more, and the re-rise of a violent, aggressive, white and sexually traditional supremacy. Bouie sites, Joe Biden's praise of Mitch McConnell recently at the National Prayer Breakfast as, "A man of your word" and a "man of honor" as inappropriate for the severity and urgency of this political moment considering McConnell's "Destruction of the Senate" as a functional lawmaking body. As Bouie puts it.

Bouie then goes on to say millions of Democratic voters can see and feel that American politics has changed in profound ways, since at least the 1990s and they want and need their leaders to act and react accordingly. Standing in the way of this demand, unfortunately, is the stubborn and ultimately ruinous optimism of some of the most powerful people in the Democratic Party. If you're a voter under 30, does that resonate with you? Do you feel that older politicians, particularly in the Democratic Party, are too optimistic? That's a very provocative thought, 212-433-WNYC.

Is that part of the problem? Is that the same as not acting with enough urgency as Bouie posits and if so, it's historically ironic, isn't it? Because isn't an optimism traditionally the province of the young, whereas old fogies say, "Nothing's any good anymore." Has that flipped in this moment or this generation in our country? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. It's a call in for anyone under 30 on what kind of generational change you'd like to see in political leaders or in policy and politics. Where does optimism earned or not come into it? We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC now to a call in for anyone under 30 on what kind of generational change you'd like to see in political leaders or in policy and politics and where does optimism earned or not come into it playing off the Jamelle Bouie in The Times column about older Democrats being too optimistic. This finding in the New Time Siena poll that only 1% of people under 30 strongly approve President Biden's job performance. Sean in Ridgewood, you're on WNYC Hi, Sean, thanks for calling in.

Sean: Hi Brian, how's it going?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What are you thinking about all this?

Sean: I think the idea that it's an optimism problem is interesting. It's not something I had initially had on mind when I called, but I think it does make sense. I think a problem that a lot of people might see in the Democratic Party, is a lack of progressiveness and I think that a large amount of optimism can be related to that and that it makes you almost think, "Oh, well, everything's okay. We don't need to act or act as swiftly or as broadly, as I think a lot of people my age do." I think it's why a lot of us are disillusioned with the Democratic Party. A lot of people I know who would consider themselves very progressive usually don't like using the word Democrats that much anymore because they think they're just too slow.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe it's complacency more than optimism. Too slow on what? What would you like to see them go faster on?

Sean: I think a lot of people my age are disappointed to see Bernie Sanders fail, for whatever reasons that people think that happened, but--

Brian Lehrer: Who's among the oldest of the bunch, by the way, right?

Sean: He is. Yes, definitely. I think that he's been an exception to the rule, which is definitely interesting, but I think even more than actual age of the people representing our country is that again, Bernie Sanders still being a bit of an exception that I think a lot of us might feel that if someone's been in Congress forever and they don't feel challenged by their position or challenged in their position that they hold, that they might not be inclined to act on more progressive options and things that people my age might find interesting. Yes. Exactly, exactly.

Brian Lehrer: Sean, thank you for starting us off, and please call us again. Emma in Astoria. You're on WNYC. Hi Emma.

Emma: Hi Brian. I'm 22 and the first election I voted in was the 2020 election. I remember being really disappointed because it felt like there were lots of other democratic candidates in the primary race who understood that we lived in like a post-Trump world. We had to think about it like that. Whereas Biden and the Democratic establishment seemed like their main motivation was to go back to the way things were before Trump. I think that's our generation's main disappointment with the democratic establishment is they're not willing to accept the fact that things have changed and we need to move forward, not backward.

Brian Lehrer: On what and how?

Emma: On healthcare, on climate, on pretty much all the issues. Just going back to business as usual. We're in crisis in all of these different ways. It's hard for me to even get specific because it just feels like everything. It's such a big-- there's just so many things that I feel like the government isn't addressing.

Brian Lehrer: I hear you. Even though I think there's always too much focus on who the president is and presidential politics because it's personality politics, the one individual rather than the system. Is there anybody on your radar who you would rather see be the Democratic nominee in 2024 or is it too early for that?

Emma: I don't know if AOC wants to, if she's ready or not, but I just remember when the jobs decision-- so when the news broke. AOC immediately started tweeting about these are all the things Biden could be doing and Biden didn't seem to do any of them.

Brian Lehrer: Thank very much for your call. Please call us again. Christopher in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi Christopher?

Christopher: Hi. How are you today? How are you today?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got for us?

Christopher: Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Hi. What are you thinking?

Christopher: I think it's very sad that a bunch of friends of ours just recently took a poll and it was a survey. We were asked to come down and talk about stuff. The majority of us did not do enough of our own research. We did not know enough about this administration in order to be taking a poll about how good or bad they are. What we did learn was that this administration and even your show doesn't talk about this enough to educate people. For example, like the woman who just got off, the young lady who's 22. There are over 120, 115 things that this administration has done to help all these people who when they're asked all these poll they have no clue about all those things that this administration actually has done in such a short time.

Things from healthcare, things from schools, everything, and they just want to blatantly say, "Oh, they're not doing anything. They're not doing anything." They literally did over 110 things. Your station doesn't talk about that fact enough and just points out three things or five things. It's a whole lot of things that they've been busy working to do. Yes, they're messaging. A president's job is partly to message, but they're mainly hired to do over 110 things in a short amount of time, and they've done that. They've done a long list of-- I got that list. I can send it to everyone. They can go do their own research, all the bills that they looked-- It's amazing amount of stuff that someone's done.

Brian Lehrer: I hear you. When we had Congressman Richie Torres on the show last hour who's only 34 himself giving basically the same answer that you did and saying, "Look at all the things that Biden has done." He ticked off things on climate. He ticked off things on healthcare. He ticked off things on abortion rights. He ticked off things in other categories and said he doesn't get the-- but for some reason, it's not landing and particularly not landing with people under 30. What do you think is missing?

Christopher: They weren't told. People aren't told they don't do this. They don't know all these things because all of these shows, yours included, do not have a whole show dedicated to pointing out all the many great things that this administration has done in such a short time. It's an amazing amount of things. A bunch of us when we took this invite survey last week or about 10 days ago, it blew us away. We had no clue. We're walking around clueless asked to take polls on this or that without knowing all the facts.

This was a particular survey. They wanted us to know facts. They told us, ask for the fact, but that's what more has to happen. You have to constantly on your show, you should dedicate a whole episode to pointing out all the many things. It's partly up to us to do messaging. The administration, [unintelligible 00:16:01] they're working. You and I can't legislate. We can't write bills, we can't create bills. We can't sign bills but what we can do is share the messaging of what has been done. Those are the things we can do.

Brian Lehrer: Christopher, thank you so much. Please, call us again. Listeners under 30, 212-433-WNYC. Do you agree with Christopher? Do you agree more with the earlier callers who believe they're really not doing enough in the Biden administration and these older Democrats in general, too optimistic, too complacent, or are people just too uninformed? 212-433-9692, Michael in Astoria wants to comment on the optimism piece of this, I think. Hi, Michael, you're on WNYC.

Michael: Hi, Brian. Thank you for having me. I have a lot to say. I'll try to keep it brief, but back to this question of whether these older Democrats are optimists or not. I actually think for me, it's more clarifying to see them as nihilists essentially. I don't think that many of them actually believe in anything. I think they're blinded by their own class status. Someone like Nancy Pelosi or Dianne Feinstein, they're incredibly wealthy people. I think they're beholden to what their wealthy donors say and what the people who run in their elite circles say as well.

There were two videos online that I've seen that I think are very clarifying. When Dianne Feinstein was confronted by those young climate activists, very famously, and then there's another less well-known video, but I think equally important of Nancy Pelosi being confronted by a group of immigration activists who are asking for amnesty and she gets completely flustered and it's clear she has complete contempt for these people. She tells them to quiet down and listen to her speak or [inaudible 00:18:02] do something for the dreamers and say this abstract way. They're like, "We're not dreamers. We want amnesty. We want dignified lives."

She just shuts it down and walks away and you can see the contempt in her face. I think this is an issue that all these older Democrats have of just total contempt for the progressive way to the party. We saw that the party can coalesce around something when they coalesce to rob Bernie of the nomination, essentially. They all stood behind Biden, the centrist candidate when the time came for it. Now, in the face of a legitimate fascist threat, they're clinging to this fidelity to these abstract ideas like about proper procedure, and all that. I feel like they're not up at the moment, not even close.

Brian Lehrer: Do you think that the previous caller who identified himself as being 28, got it wrong about there being a lot of good things that the Biden administration is doing? He said 110. I'm sure that came from probably some Democratic Party mailer or something like that. Nevertheless, Congressman Torres said the same thing last hour. Doing actually a lot, but not getting the credit either in the media or because they're not messaging it well enough,

Michael: You know what? I really only heard half of the last caller because I was trying to call in, but what I heard it was completely delusional. Does he think that most people are that stupid, that they just don't know that there are these incredible things that Biden has done? Biden was always the centrist candidate, the return to normalcy candidate. That's why he's always been completely inadequate for this historical moment. We need decisive action and he's incapable of doing that. The last caller, I have no idea where they're getting any of that from. They sound like a Democratic partisan. I think we need to be as progressive or socialist or leftist of any stripe. We need to be independent and think apart from the Democratic Party because the party is failing us right now. It is not up to the task.

Brian Lehrer: Would you like to see a new party?

Michael: Yes. Yes, I would but I don't think there's an infrastructure in place for that sort of thing. I think begrudgingly we have to-- as someone on the left we maybe have to begrudgingly for Democrats but it really feels like there's a gun to our head. Because what is the other option really? If there were a significant party that had broad support that was outside the two-party system, of course, I would support that but I just don't see it as a possibility right now. I'm very pessimistic about the future for that reason.

Brian Lehrer: Michael, thank you very much for your call. I really appreciate it. Call us again. Evan in Toms River, you're on WNYC. Hi, Evan.

Evan: Hey, Brian. How are you doing?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What's you got for us?

Evan: All right, so first off I just want to start out with down in Toms River, for those in New York that don't know it is a very overwhelmingly red county. Due to that, I've grown up around very overwhelming red beliefs from those around me and that has pushed me towards the Democratic side because I don't like a lot of those especially because I am for abortion rights and all that type of stuff but when it comes to the way the Democratic Party is running things right now I think the abortion rights thing is something perfect to almost show that they are being rather complacent like the last caller said and like you might have been inferring.

A lot of these older Democrats it seems like they are just happy with getting reelected to their seats in Congress or Senate, whichever it may be, and as long as they get reelected they're happy. A lot of my friends they complain and they complain and they complain about why the government sucks and everything like that. Then I ask them if they voted and I have friends that are even older than me that tell me that they've never voted before. Then that becomes something that makes me angry because they're giving up their voice to try and help change things that are making all of us rather angry when we're coming to a time when in all reality with all the government, we just need to find a gray area again because the government is black and white right now. There's a couple of things--

Brian Lehrer: Let me ask you one follow-up?

Evan: Okay.

Brian Lehrer: Coming from red Tom's River Ocean County I think a lot of the concern that at least Democratic leaders had and probably I guess a lot of primary voters for Biden in 2020 was that if somebody more progressive, in that case, Bernie Sanders, were to get the nomination that the people may be in places like Ocean County around Toms River where some suburban people might be disgusted by Trump but not aligned with a lot of the progressivism of the Democratic Party or the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party would be turned off. There was the selectability concern. Do you think of people who more reflected your urgency and your values got nominated, especially for president or, yes, let's say especially for president, that it would be a risk?

Evan: I would say it might be a slight risk but in my views, a lot of my friends actually were pushing for Bernie Sanders and they were really hoping that Bernie Sanders was going to be the nominee. When the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump did materialize, that was the beginning of them choosing not to vote. That was the first [crosstalk] election that my friends and I would have voted in and that is right then and there the fact that Donald Trump even got chosen by one of the two major parties in the United States made them think, "Wow, US politics has become a joke."

Brian Lehrer: Evan, thank you very much. Please call us again. One more. Jeane in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jeane.

Jeane: Hi, Brian. Good morning. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What are you thinking about all this?

Jeane: Well, just on what the last caller was just talking about, I totally hear that and agree. I think it's so discouraging that popular vote has shown time and time again when they take surveys that people are interested in these more progressive ideas. The Democratic Party crosslines itself by appealing to these arbitrary moral standards or their preconceived idea of what the country seems to want I think in terms of what Biden has accomplished so far. He may be winning these small battles but we're losing the war. It's very, very, discouraging.

Brian Lehrer: Did you hear the optimism part of the original framing? Do you think that we're in a moment where the generational optimism quotient has flipped that traditionally older people say, "Oh, everything's gone to hell, nothing's any good anymore." Younger people, even if there are troubled times, have this optimism that we're going to get in there and make things better. Today, younger people are more pessimistic and seeing older Democratic Party leaders as having too much optimism. Does that ring true to you?

Jeane: Yes, I would say absolutely. I was surprised to hear an earlier caller use a word that I've been using recently. I'm like a political annihilist. I think it's all gone to handbasket. I think part of that has to do with the fact that a lot of my peers and I, we campaigned so hard throughout the Trump presidency, for the mid-term, for Biden to be elected begrudgingly, and what we have to show for it? We're in a worse position than when we were when Trump was president. The Republicans by any means necessary were able to push all their legislation through, sausage making, whatever. Again the Democrats are playing by the rules and their constituency is suffering.

Brian Lehrer: Jeane, thank you very much for your call. Call us again. That's our call in reflecting very much the results of the New York Times Siena Poll for listeners under 30.

 

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