MAP President Joins Ron Owen on San Francisco’s KGO•810

MAP President Steven Olikara recently joined KGO•810’s Ron Owen to discuss millennials and their perspectives on the campaigns in this election season.

When asked whether the millennials will go out and vote, Olikara focused his response on the process of voting and the motivations—or lack thereof—behind voting. “We need to make it easier to vote,” he said. He also raised that the lack of online voting and political gridlock turns millennials away from the polls. However, he admits that “there is no substitute for voting.”

Steven suggested that the resolution lies in “constructive and forward looking proposals that will convince [millennials] that politics can work better and solve the problems we are concerned about.”

Steven also applauded millennials for becoming more involved with “less visceral issues like climate change,” not just social issues. For example, he says, “a majority of millennial Republicans believ(e) that …. we need to be limiting greenhouse gases emissions.” Further, he proudly stated, “millennials activate and organize on all levels.”

“Millennials have a combination of views that … neither party adequately represents, and that‘s an opportunity for … the parties to reinvent themselves. If not … something else will emerge,” he noted. Steven added that most millennials are “interested in causes, (and they are) most interested in solving problems and … over the next 20 years you will see our politics reflect that.”