What the Young People Are Thinking

Harvard's institute of politics released a poll this week on the so-called Millenials (18-29 year-olds), and, while there were few outright surprises in it, here's what it told us about what the young people are thinking these days:

- They like President Obama, and only a shade less than they did six months ago. Obama gets a 56% approval rating in this age group; in October, polling from The Wall Street Journal/NBC showed his approval at 58%. Nationally, Obama's rating has fallen from around 54% to 48% over that span. Respondents also liked Democrats in Congress (42% approval) better than Republicans in Congress (32% approval).

- They're worried about their finances, sort of. 52% rated their personal financed as good, 45% as bad. But 59% of 18-29 year-old independents rated them as bad.

- Young people trust the U.S. military (53%) more than the Supreme Court (45%), the president (44%), the U.N. (40%), the federal government (29%), Congress (25%), "traditional media" (17%) and cable news (17%) to do the right thing all of the time or most of the time.

- They think controlling the federal deficit is more important than boosting the economy, but they're coming around. In October, a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found the deficit winning out 62% to 31% over boosting the economy as a concern; in Harvard's poll, the deficit wins out 51% to 45%.

-47% say they will definitely or probably vote in the 2010 midterms; 20% say they're 50/50; 32% say they definitely or probably won't vote.

- Party ID is generally in line with the national average. 36% identified as Democrats, 23% as Republicans, and 40% as independents; according to Pollster.com's average of national Party ID polls, the general public is 32.6% Democratic, 24.8% Republican, and 37.1% independent.

Full results here. The "web-enabled" poll surveyed 3,117 18-29 year-olds Jan.29 - Feb. 22; margin of error was +/-2.3%.