Summary and Conclusion
This survey presents a snapshot of the Millennial Generation, the successors to the
Baby Boomers and to Generation X. These are the people who reach the age of
majority at either side of the turn of the millennium. Their attitudes and aspirations
will help to shape the early years of that millennium.
• Most of them support New Labour rather than the Conservatives.
• Even more of them think that they way they vote will make little or no
difference to their lives.
• The great majority of them think it will be up to them to secure a home and a
job, not a task for government.
• A majority think that it is government’s job to provide university education and
a pension, but more than one in three think it should be up to themselves.
• They respect doctors, policemen and teachers. Respect for teachers in particular
has risen in recent years.
• The least respected figures are journalists and politicians.
• Only 1 percent look to careers in the civil service or local government, a
significant decline over the decades.
• 48 percent would like to own their own business.
• Some 43 percent list becoming a millionaire by age 35 among their aspirations.
• They put traditional things, such as owning their own home and being happily married with children, high on the list of their personal goals.
• They value personal qualities in others such as honesty and a caring approach, rather than superficial qualities such as being attractive or fashionable.
• They do not think that background or connections are important ingredients in success, but they do think that determination and education are the factors that count.
• They are tolerant. A majority favours a ban on Ecstasy and fox-hunting, but not bans on abortion, beef on the bone, owning a hand gun in a gun club, cinema and TV sex and violence, tobacco advertising or smoking in a public place.
• One in three admit to using illegal drugs. Two in five have been offered, but have not consumed them.