Different generations, different opinions, Pew Research survey finds

A new Pew Research Center study indicates the largest generation gap in four decades. Not since the Vietnam War and the women’s rights movement have so many Americans disagreed along generational lines on social values, religion, and the use of technology.

One reason, Paul Taylor with the research center’s Social and Demographic Trends Project told KPCC’s "Patt Morrison," is that a generation that once considered itself cutting edge is maturing.

Paul Taylor: “Particularly among older adults, a feeling that younger adults don’t have the work ethic, you know, that we did when we were kids, and that they want too much handed to them. One of the ironies here, is that today’s older adults are the baby boomers, they’re the very kids who are on the front lines of the counter culture 40 years ago. And many of the same critiques of course that their parents’ generation made of them, they are now making of young’uns today.”

When a Gallup Organization poll asked 40 years ago whether a generation gap existed, 74 percent of respondents said “yes.” This year, Taylor said, 79 percent answered the same question that way.