POLL: Millennials, Gen Z more likely to think founding fathers are 'villains'
According to the results of a poll recently released by Fox News, respondents aged 18-30 were most likely to describe the founders of America as villains.
Millennial and Generation Z respondents were also more likely to call for the removal of statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and to approve kneeling during the national anthem.
Results of a Fox News poll indicated that Millennials and Generation Z are more likely than other age groups to think of America’s founding fathers as villains.
The poll, conducted July 12-15 among a random national sample of just over 1,000 registered voters, asked respondents a variety of questions pertaining to their stances on assorted political questions and concluded with the inquiry: “In general, do you believe the founders of our country are better described as villains or as heroes?”
Thirty-one percent of respondents under the age of 30 said they believed the founders were villains. The statistics regarding this question trended negatively among the other age groups, with 23 percent of respondents aged 30-45, 10 percent of those aged 45-65, and 6 percent of those over the age of 65 saying the founders should be described as villains.
Respondents over the age of 65 constituted the majority of those who would call the founders heroes, coming in at 77 percent.
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Similarly, when respondents were asked whether they thought monuments or statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson should be taken down or allowed to stay up, those under the age of 30 were the most likely to advocate for removal. Thirty percent of Millennial and Generation Z respondents answered in favor, while 23 percent of respondents under 45, 11 percent of those under 65, and 9 percent of those over 65 said these statues should be taken down.
Further, Millennials and Gen Z respondents overwhelmingly favored the removal of Confederate statues in comparison to other age groups surveyed, with 58 percent of respondents approving such measures. Nearly the same percentage of respondents over the age of 65- 57 percent- said the opposite- that Confederate statues should remain in place.
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Younger generations were also more likely to justify kneeling during the national anthem as an appropriate form of protest. Respondents belonging in age groups of those under 30 and under 45 approved professional athletes’ choice to kneel during the national anthem in order to bring attention to an issue, coming in at 63 percent and 60 percent, respectively. Other age groups said this form of protest was inappropriate, with 39 percent of respondents over 45 and 37 percent of respondents over 65 condemning kneeling during the national anthem.
The results come as colleges around the country move to take down references to America’s founders from their campuses. College students have called for the removal of statues of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and others.
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