Poll: Young voters don’t like Dems or GOP – or Libertarians or Greens

Most young Americans don’t care for the Democratic or Republican parties, and they don’t know enough about the Libertarian or Green parties to say that they represent an alternative worth voting for.

That’s according to a first-of-its-kind poll of nearly 2,000 voters age 18-30 conducted by a nonprofit group, GenForward, with the assistance of the Associated Press polling team.

The AP reported that the poll found a broad disconnect holds true across racial and ethnic groups within the Millennial voting bloc, with just 28 percent of young adults overall saying the two major parties do a good job of representing the American people.

More than two-thirds of young adults, including vast majorities of young Asian-Americans, Hispanics and blacks, say the Republican Party does not care about people like them.

Democrats fare a bit better among Millennials overall, with a small majority — 53 percent — saying the party cares about people like them. Among young African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans, most believe the party does care about people like them. But among young whites, majorities say both parties don’t care much about them, including 58 percent who say that of the Republican Party and 52 percent who say it about the Democratic Party.

Yet, the disenchantment does not benefit third party candidates. Seven in 10 young adults say they don’t know enough about Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson to have an opinion about him, and nearly 8 in 10 say the same about Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

As for the major party contenders, three-quarters of young voters say Republican Donald Trump is unqualified to serve in the White House and one-half say the same about Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Millennial voters have consistently held a negative view of Trump and Clinton, even when more than a dozen candidates were still in the presidential race.

A nationwide poll of 1,000 Millennials conducted early this year by iHumanMedia.com found Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders in the lead with 35 percent, followed by Clinton at 21 percent and Trump at 15 percent.