Are the millennials in continental Europe left-wing like the ones in the US and UK?

[buritobr]

In the US, Bernie Sanders had a great support of young voters. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn had a great support of young voters.

What about the continental Europe? Are the young voters much more left-wing than the old voters too?

[Antonio the Sixth]

From the countries I'm familiar with, young people tend to vote less for establishment parties of the right and left, and more for "outsider" parties including both populist right and post-materialist left parties (as well as just turning out less, of course).

[The Simpsons Cinematic Universe]

I think the general trend for both millennials and gen z across all countries is increased support for outsider parties both on the far-left and far-right, with the latter's presence getting a bit bigger over time. In that respect I think Europe is a bit ahead of the curve, more young people support far-right parties.

[CumbrianLefty]

Many countries have seen far right support notably dip in recent years, however.

[parochial boy]

Continental Europe is much to big and diverse and has far too many different political and economic contexts for it to be really possible to make a generalisation. So, you have a massive rejection of the establishment parties in say France (mainly to the advantage of various left wing outfits, and to a lesser extent the RN), Italy (profiting the M5S last time round) or Belgium (profiting both the far left and right). At the same time, you have the likes of Switzerland or Germany where younger people seem to have swung towards socially liberal and left wing, but not really populist/anti-establishment, Green parties; or Sweden where it seems like it has been to the benefit of a socially-liberal centre-right; with far right populists doing badly in all three of the above. Then you have the EU accession countries east of the iron curtain which have a totally different vibe in terms of age-driven voting patters. See for example the fondness that young Poles have for various sorts of radical right or nationalist outfits.

At the risk of a broad generalisation, young people in the "happier" countries tend to like Greens and other socially liberal parties while rejecting the far right, and in the "less happy" parties they are more inclined to vote for anti-establishment populists of assorted stripes.

[Blair]

Wasn't France a case of where young people up to 2017 where drifting more so to the FN while it was the older richer pensioners (with pensions backed up by the Euro) who voted on masse for FBM

[Intell]

Wasn't France a case of where young people up to 2017 where drifting more so to the FN while it was the older richer pensioners (with pensions backed up by the Euro) who voted on masse for FBM

In like non-presidential elections, I think the youth vote was strong for Le pen and her party. In the presidential election the youth vote was weak for LePen and strong for Mélenchon and weak for LePen (though she was 2nd in this group). It could be difference in turnout that explains that.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I have been under the impression that liberal and green parties have been sucking up a lot of the votes of young people, with left-wing parties also seeing upticks in support. In some countries like Italy, young people are turning to populist parties that don't neatly fit the left-right axis like M5S.

The far-right mostly gets its support from people above 40, is my understanding, with only a few exceptions.

The biggest losers have been traditional establishment parties (social democratic, christian democratic, etc.)

In 2018, the Moderate Party actually was the largest party amongst youth in Sweden, followed closely by the SAP. The Centre Party and Left Party have also gained votes amongst young people.

Here's Germany's 2017 exit polls, but since then it looks like a lot of young voters have shifted towards the Greens:


Meanwhile, in Austria and a number of Eastern European and Baltic countries, young people tended to favor mainstream conservative and liberal parties.

In terms of issues, here is what Eurobarometer found across 2017 - 2018:



So to answer the original question: no. European youth are much more mixed in their views, but in Western Europe there does seem to be a general trend towards liberal and green parties, with mainstream conservative and left-wing parties showing some strength. Really seems like traditional social democratic parties are the biggest losers.