Poll: After education, young people diverge on 2016 issues

The results from the new GenForward poll highlight big differences among young Americans who often are viewed as a monolithic group of voters — due in no small part to their overwhelming support for President Barack Obama during his two campaigns for president.

The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of the country's most diverse generation.

Young African-Americans are significantly more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to say racism is a top issue when it comes to choosing a candidate for president.

A third of blacks between 18 and 30 chose racism as one of the top issues that will affect their votes, nearly tied with education and ahead of both health care and economic growth.

Cathy Cohen, a professor at the University of Chicago and the principal investigator of the Black Youth Project, said African-American youth seem to feel the sting of racism more often and are more likely to call it a major problem.

The poll was taken before last week's slayings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men whose deaths were captured on video, and the shooting deaths of five police officers in Dallas that followed.

[...] Todd Shaw, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina, said some of Trump's political rhetoric may have driven young black adults to put racism at the top of their list of issues.

"When young African-Americans hear that Mexican-Americans or Muslims are outsiders or should be barred from the country or are seen as rapists, particularly given the liberal leanings of younger African-Americans, they will read that as you are against all persons who are different" from whites, he said.