A new Pew Research Center report (Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.) showed that young Americans are engaged in civic life much differently than older Americans. Relatively speaking, more young people are volunteering then voting. Some suggest this is because Millennials enjoy instant gratification. Others believe this is because institutions are broken and Millennials believe they can make more of a difference through direct social action with others.

The report showed that Millennials may not be as exceptional as we often are led to believe. For example, nearly the same percentage of GenXers (54%) volunteered in the last 12 months as Millennials (57%). And when it comes to voting, 69% of Millennials say they “always” or “almost always” vote – compared to 85% of GenXers and 89% of Boomers.

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A new report out today by the Pew Research Center reveals that young people, who strongly embraced candidate Obama in the 2008 elections, are not convinced he has been effective, and are turning away from the Democratic Party.

While the President still remains personally popular (which seems to always be the case with Obama), a plurality of Millennials believe that President Obama has not changed the way Washington works–one of the primary reasons young voters gave him their support.

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William Eggers is credited with coining the term “Government 2.0″ in his book, Government 2.0: Using Technology to Improve Education, Cut Red Tape, Reduce Gridlock, and Enhance Democracy. I am reading the book for a graduate course I’m taking this semester that examines e-government. I have a few friends who are skeptical of the idea and the hype around it, so I thought I’d share a very foundational, very succinct way of understanding why this new way of going business is important (from Egger’s book):

Six Ways Technology Can Transform the Government-Citizen Relationship

1. Reorganize government around citizen needs
2. Make choice-based service delivery more viable
3. Provide neutral information to help citizens make important choices
4. Customize services and interactions between government and citizens
5. Allow citizens to complete government transactions anywhere, anytime from a variety of devices
6. Reduce the costs of government

Sounds good, right?

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In December, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) released a report about the disparity in civic engagement among young people based on their education (college-bound vs. non-college-bound youth). Their report was important, because it seems that a disproportionate amount of attention and resources are aimed at young people on college campuses. And the topic is a crucial one because a representative democracy hinges on the participation of people from all backgrounds. For instance, look at the staggering difference in rates of volunteerism among these demographics:

(From CIRCLE)

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Here’s a great video from TED2010 in London. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, talks about how information technology can transform government. He describes three ages of government: pre-bureaucratic, bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic. Cameron says we are living in the latter, where people have a great opportunity to contribute to society and hold their government to account.

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