Heroes in their own story
NBC exit polling (above) shows that voters under 45 (and particularly under 30) turned out heavily for Democrats on Tuesday. Another early estimate showed midterm turnout among voters 18-29, even if below that of 2018, was the second highest in three decades (NPR):
About 27% of voters between the ages of 18-29 cast a ballot in the midterm election this year, according to an early estimate from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, also known as CIRCLE.
Researchers say the 2022 election had the second highest voter turnout among voters under 30 in at least the past three decades. So far, the highest turnout during a midterm for this voting bloc is 2018 when about 31% of young people who are eligible to vote cast a ballot.
During a briefing Thursday, Abby Kiesa — deputy director at CIRCLE — said 2018 remains “a high-water mark” for youth voter turnout during midterms in the U.S. since at least since the 1970s. Historically, youth voter turnout has hovered around 20% during midterm elections.
Youth turnout in North Carolina may not have reached as high as hoped, reports ABC Raleigh. Cheri Beasley surely felt it:
In North Carolina — 53% of newly registered voters were under 35 — more than double the last election. But while younger voters historically skew toward Democrats, they did not turnout in North Carolina in as high a number as other parts of the country.
That said, let us celebrate their engagement. Be sure younger voters know that their votes mattered in holding the line against an antidemocratic cult intent on collapsing constitutional order.
NPR again:
Young voters also had a significant influence on election outcomes in some of the key races in those battleground states.
According to CIRCLE, young people preferred Democratic candidates by a 28-point margin, which helped Democrats in statewide races that include the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race and the Wisconsin gubernatorial race.
“Young people stood along in supporting, decisively, a Democratic statewide race candidate,” said Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, the group’s director. “The result is that [young people] kept the races really close and in some cases we think they will decide the outcome of the race.”
Why support Democrats? Republicans have nothing to offer younger people, Victor Shi, co-host of the iGen Politics Podcast, told MSNBC this week. Republicans vote against climate change, gun reforms, abortion care, and other issues that matter to younger voters. The Dobbs decision made politics real, brought it home. They felt it viscerally.
You can be at the table or on the menu, as the saying goes. This election, younger voters chose to be at the table.
Not that voters under 45 cannot occupy more chairs (to drag out the metaphor). Thirty-four percent of Tuesday’s turnout was game-changing. But that only demonstrates how much more political weight beleaguered Millennials and Gen Z might throw around and what they might accomplish by doing so. Democrats need to pull out more chairs for them.
This graphic you’ve seen multiple times (above) does not represent North Carolina alone. Your states’ curves look similar. In the 2022 midterms, voters under 45 represented 34 percent of the vote. But by voting-age population, they represent more like 50 percent of potential voting strength.
How does it feel to save the country? Pretty damned good? Think of how it might feel to make it yours every day.
Update: