WASHINGTON — Millennials have a message for the next president.
Get serious about converting to renewable energy, the under-35 generation says by an overwhelming margin, and require every gun buyer to undergo a background check. They endorse putting body cameras on police officers and accepting refugees from war-torn countries such as Syria.
A USA TODAY/Rock the Vote Millennial Poll finds an emerging generation that is more pragmatic than ideological and not yet firmly aligned with either political party. Donald Trump leads the Republican field among millennials, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders the Democratic one — especially among millennial women. Across partisan lines, millennials have reached a generational consensus on some of the major issues that have proved divisive for their elders.
What is less certain, the national survey shows, is whether they’ll bother to vote in 2016, even in an election where they identify an agenda they call crucial.