Young Voters Go Democrat To Record Degree
According to Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, President of NextGen America, “young voters” are now breaking 3-1 for Democrats. “No generation has been this progressive or politically engaged in American history,” she adds.
Unfortunately, I do not see the source of this data or any more specific language on it. Though, it is midterm election night and information flows fast and chaotically on such nights. Presumably, the President of NextGen America is a reliable source of a fact like this, but I’ve followed up with Ramirez and will update this article or write another one if I can get a definitive source for this claim and more data surrounding it.
Young people have historically been more progressive, liberal, and Democratic. The statement from Ramirez is that they have gone in that direction more than ever before. Another part of that statement is that they have been engaged to an unprecedented degree. Part of that is due to their concern for climate change and stronger climate action. Part of that is about guns (these kids have grown up doing active shooter drills at their schools and seeing news story after news story about mass shootings and Republicans blocking more sensible gun laws). But no other issue seems to have motivated young people like the issue of abortion. When asked about abortion, inflation, crime, or “other,” 55% of women under 30 years of age and 35% of men under 30 years of age picked abortion as the issue that mattered most to them in how they voted today. That said, with limited options, such a poll is encouraging the respondent to pick one of the specific options — we cannot say how many would select “climate” if it was one of the explicit options.
Ramirez also highlighted matters young people have fought for and won some success on.
Gun safety legislation,
the largest investment in the world to tackle climate change,
student debt cancellation,
Long overdue reform on marijuanaYoung people have so much more they want to achieve.
— Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez (@cristinanextgen) November 8, 2022
As you can see in that tweet, one of the matters highlighted was “the largest investment in the world to tackle climate change.” The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the largest piece of climate legislation and funding the United States has ever passed. It’s a huge achievement for those who are concerned about the climate. However, I wouldn’t compare it to what China has been investing in climate-combatting tech. Aside from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Democratic Congress and Biden administration also got the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through, which includes significant cleantech funding. Some young people are noticing.
Don't underestimate the power of a pissed off generation.
— NextGen America 🗳 (@NextGenAmerica) November 9, 2022
Don’t let anyone tell you young people don’t show up to vote.
We are — and we will continue to show up these last five days until Election Day, including on campus at UT Austin! pic.twitter.com/h2AW1JDIRb
— NextGen America 🗳 (@NextGenAmerica) November 3, 2022
BOOM: In Pennsylvania, 74,194 young Democrats voted early this year, compared to 2018 where only 17,633 voted early.
Gen Z says HELL NO to MAGA extremism!
— NextGen America 🗳 (@NextGenAmerica) November 8, 2022
As the tweets above from NextGen America add, young Democrats have been highly motivated and engaged. According to that last tweet, more than 4 times as many young Democrats voted early in Pennsylvania in 2022 than in 2018. That said, “The share of midterms voters who were under age 30 (12%) appears to be similar to the shares in 2014 and 2018 (13% both years),” NBC reports. In general, participation is up, and there has been a shift to early voting since the last major election in 2020.
Back to the key stat at the top, if young voters have indeed broken 3-1 for Democrats, one has to wonder what that will mean for the future. Naturally, older voters will die off much quicker, but will young voters remain so engaged and so Democratic? Also, how will new young voters in 2022 and beyond end up breaking for Democrats? Will they split 3-1 or better? We’ll see. As it stands, though, a shift among young voters toward Democrats even more than they’ve split for Democrats historically is a strong message and strong support for climate-concerned progressive candidates in years to come.
Featured image courtesy of Kyle Field | CleanTechnica.
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