I love how everyone has a different definition for what a Millennial is.
My favorite and the one I hear the most is something like 1982-1998 births.
The idea that any span of births crossing the 80s and 90s could be a culturally coherent generation is bullsh[inks]. Consider, someone born in 1985 was 16 during 9/11, old enough to understand what it was. Someone born in 1995 was 6, and wouldn't become politically aware until well after the Iraq War; whereas the '85 kid might well have been deployed to Iraq. The 1995 kid wasn't old enough to care about Obama, while the '85 kid put her hopes and dreams on the big O. The '85 kid graduated college into a recession, and feels cheated. The '95 kid grew up in the "new normal" sh[inks] economy, and knows full well that his degree won't land him a job out of college.
Our experiences are completely different. Generation theory only works if the generations are like 4-8 years long. I think categorizing political generations by who was president when they graduated high school is a more interesting exercise. "Millennials" break down like this (using Strouss-Howe's age range iirc):
1980-82: Clinton Generation
1983-90: W. Bush Generation
1991-98: Obama Generation
1999-04: "Next" Generation
Not necessarily, a 13-year old in 2008 would certainly know about the 2008 campaign and his or her parents may have had an effect. Besides, elections are always big news regardless of age.
Atlas People, you don't get it. Think of a sport that doesn't interest you and that you don't follow. That is how most people feel about politics and elections. Other than Election Day and blurbs on the news that they may not even fully listen to, they don't pay attention or care. And I'm talking about the adults. There are 13 year olds who do not know who the candidates of the most recent presidential election were.
And rightfully so. My god, why would anyone want an 10 year old to know about Mitt Romney? That's obscene.
I'd like to make the point that I am that 1995 kid and I was at least generally aware of what was going on during the 2008 election. 2012 I was more involved but the race generally bored me and I couldn't vote anyways so I didn't give it much attention. 2016 is the first race I have actually followed far before.
I tend to define a Gen Y or Millennial as someone from 1980-82 to 1996-98. Anyone born after that doesn't really have any memory of 9/11 or it's immediate aftermath.(I vaugley remember it, but clearly remember the capturing of Saddam, the Anthrax poisonings, and the 2004 election.) Anyone born after that, I've heard it referred to as Generation Z, among other things, will not really remember not being involved in the middle east, or a life without the internet.
As for President, I would say sometime in the 2030's,
maybe 2028 if you got a very young Kennedy-esque candidate born in the early 80's.
