Those carefree youngsters who tend to vote Democrat, if they bother with politics at all, are waking up to the harsh reality of life under President Barack Obama — and might change their political stripes, marketing expert and entrepreneur Eric Schiffer told
Newsmax TV on Friday.
"There's a shift that's happening, and it's slight, but there's a shift, and the shift is toward the conservative side,"
author, financier and online marketer Schiffer told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner.
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Schiffer said millennials — a cohort including today's 18- to 30-year-olds — have come of age with a stagnant economy, a country burdned by debt, an escalating border crisis, and an expansive surveillance state.
He said the economy, in particular, has fueled a
growing and well-documented disillusionment with the first president many voted for.
"We're in an economic recovery of sorts, [but] it doesn't and hasn't translated into real jobs," said Schiffer. "So you've got millenials … seeing the economy doing okay in terms of the headlines, but they're not seeing it translate."
Schiffer said it takes a "major event" to prompt young voters to re-think liberal political leanings — and the prolonged economic slump may be what drives young voters to the right.
"You're seeing numbers that are not insignificant," Schiffer said of polling of millenials. "In fact, what you're seeing is almost an increase of 10 percent of people that had voted before on the Democratic side that are not going to vote Democrat, and you're seeing an increase of almost 6 to 8 percent [in millennials' voter participation] on the Republican side.
"In some of these elections in which the difference can be less than 10,000 votes, it absolutely can make a difference," said Schiffer, "and that's why millenials can actually really have an impact in this election."
Schiffer said when a subject does capture millennials' attention, they study it closely.
"This is the most sophisticated generation, in terms of awareness and discernment of the media, of any generation in the history of mankind," he said, adding, "They grew up with this. … They make their own choices, they really sort for truth, and they can sniff out what's fake."
The age set lampooned as an aimless, Peter Pan generation is underestimated, said Schiffer.
"They are grittier than we may give them credit [for]," he said, "but they're also an optimistic group and they're reality-based."
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