Dr Sarah Cameron: Griffith University researcher on the new study revealing millennials went more left-wing as they got older

Millennials are the first generation to get more left-wing as they age, according to new reports. 

A study by the Australian National University has found the age group's support  for Australia's right-wing coalition fell between 2016 and 2025 -  from 38 percent to 21 percent.

Study Author Sarah Cameron says education and gender are playing a role. 

"It used to be that women were slightly further right, and then were slightly further left. Over time, that gender gap - it's reversed."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now it turns out millennials are weird. Okay. Normally, what
happens in all generations is that as people get older,
they get more conservative, but millennials are doing the opposite.
It appears that as millennials get old, are they're getting
more liberal. This is according to the latest Australian Elections Study.
Doctor Sarah Cameron of Griffith University was a chief investigator
on the study and with us. Now, hey, Sarah, hi, Heather,

(00:23):
how are you measuring this? How are you measuring the
fact that millennials are getting more liberal?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
So the Australian Elections Study is a representative national survey
of voters in Australia that has been fielded after every
single federal election from nineteen eighty seven through to twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
So what that.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Enables us to do is to look at the voting
behavior of different generations over that period of time. Now
we can see for an older generation, like baby boomers,
they followed the pattern you described, whereby they started a
bit further to the left and then they became more
conservative as they got older. With millennials, this is a

(01:07):
group that started further to the left and now they're
not the youngest group of voters anymore. That's been taken
by Generation Z. Millennials are now in their thirties and
even into their mid forties. And what we're seeing is
that this group isn't becoming more conservative as they get older.

(01:27):
They've actually been shifting to the left, which is shown
by them voting more for Labor and the Greens while
the proportion voting for the liberal national coalitions.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
But how long have millennials been voting, well.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Since about the turn of the millennium. And I get
to the turn of the millennium, you had the yeah, ok,
that's a.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Few elections, isn't it. And are you telling me that
they started lift the millennials and name moving even further
left and.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
They started a bit more balanced, and then they've been
moving left. Generation Z they've started further to the left
of any generation, even more so than millennials. So we're
seeing a pattern whereby well, younger generations are further to
the left, but also they're not showing the pattern of

(02:18):
shifting to the right as they get older.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Bunch of things I got to ask you, Sarah, So
first of all, did you only study this in Australia?
Or was it worldwide?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
So this particular study is in Australia, but many others run.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Is it possible, Is it possible that this is more
of a reflection of your own politics where your right
wing parties frankly suck.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, Uh, we do have data on how much people
like the political parties over time, and so we can
see whether indeed the parties are becoming worse over time.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
And you can say you don't know if you don't
know in fact to that and I think it might
be a specific Australia problems. You have a real problem
with your writing parties. What about the other thing that
millennials are also slightly odd in terms of like the
generations that have come before them, in that there are
the younger millennials will not yet have settled down, border house,
really late, we're really late to get to things right,

(03:23):
So haven't yet bought a house, haven't yet had children.
Those are things that tend tow to force you to
become more conservative. Could that be part of it?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yes, yes, you're spot on in terms of that being
part of it, and in terms of whether this is
something that's exceptional to Australia or not. This is not
just an Australian phenomenon, in the sense that some of
the old cleavages that drove voter behavior, like class, are
having less and less of an impact over time. Oh yeah,

(03:54):
the new big cleavages which are shaping voter behavior generation,
gender and also education. Now, So to look at gender,
can I just stop.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
You on the education though? Is that's fascinating? I have
got I cannot tell you how many tics are coming
in right now saying things like this. Hither it's indoctrinated
schools and universities. Hither it is unions who are influencing
the teachers. Is that a possibility, it's what's going on
at school.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
So we do see an element whereby university education is
associated with a greater likelihood of voting for parties on
the left. Now, that wasn't always the case. So that's
a newer cleavage that's emerging together with generational change. And

(04:44):
the other one which has really emerged is gender differences
in voter behavior. It used to be that women were
slightly further right and men were slightly further left. Over time,
that gender gap it's reversed, but now women have for
the left, man a further to the right, but also
any gender gaps in the past were very small, whereas

(05:06):
over the past ten years quite a big gender gap
has emerged.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Sarah, thank you for talking us through. And I just
find that absolutely fascinating. That's doctor Sarah Cameron, who's a
political scientist at Griffith University. Millennials have always been a
bit strange, haven't they.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
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