The youth vote
Its power is largely untapped.
Less than a week after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, shooting survivor and high school junior Jaclyn Corin was at the Florida state Capitol to urge legislators to pass measures that might prevent mass shootings.
Corin, 18, called the trip “eye-opening.” She said she met several legislators who weren’t receptive. That convinced her and other shooting survivors – many of whom were not 18 – that there was only one thing they could do to ensure their demands would be met. “You can always lobby, and you can always protest,” Corin said. “But the only direct way to actually get involved is to vote.”
Voters ages 18 to 29, whose turnout has historically been low in midterm elections, could help decide close races across the country this year.
Young people aren’t typically a reliable voting bloc. They’re transient, frequently changing addresses. They’re busy with college and work. Often they’re apathetic about politics, or they worry their votes won’t matter.
In the 2014 midterms, Generation Xers and millennials accounted for 53 percent of eligible voters but cast 36 million votes – 21 million fewer than the boomer, silent and greatest generations, according to the Pew Research Center.
“It’s not about who are you going to vote for in November, it’s about whether or not you’re going to vote,” said Olivia Bercow, a spokeswoman for NextGenAmerica, a liberal group focused on turning out young voters.
John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, has studied the youth vote since 2000. He compared today’s environment with the political sentiment that followed 9/11: high emotions and a desire for action.
“I think now we have a moment that reminds me, from this perspective, of the post-9/11 moment, where politics matters to a new generation of young Americans who are considering voting for the first time,” he said.
A poll in October by the Institute of Politics found that 54 percent of 18- to 29-year-old Democrats planned to “definitely vote,” compared with 43 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of independents.