Young Voices
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is closer to my age than to young voters, but he gets why Democrats should listen to them – and understand their life experiences.
On our Zoom conversation last week with state Democratic Chair Anderson Clayton, Fontes said:
“I didn’t grow up in a world where I had to worry about a live shooter coming into my own classroom and killing me. I didn’t grow up in a world where I had to worry about before I got into retirement American cities were going to be underwater and the West would be desert dry because it was burnt down because of climate change. I didn’t grow up in a world where I lost a year and a half or two of socialization because of a pandemic.”
We should listen up, because young voters can make the difference in 2024.
The Washington Post (“Striking new data about young voters should alarm Trump and the GOP”) reported:
“Youth turnout exploded during the 2018 midterm elections under President Donald Trump. Then in 2020, energized opposition to Trump among young voters was critical to his defeat. And in the 2022 midterms, surging youth participation helped fend off the widely predicted ‘red wave.’ Even some Republicans fear that expanding youth populations in swing states pose a long-term threat to the GOP.
“New data…by the Harvard Youth Poll sheds light on the powerful undercurrents driving these developments. Young voters have shifted in a markedly progressive direction on multiple issues that are deeply important to them: Climate change, gun violence, economic inequality and LGBTQ+ rights.”
Polling I’ve seen in North Carolina shows under-35 votes more positive toward Democrats than any other voting group. The state-level issues they care about are lowering the cost of housing, protecting access to abortion and improving public schools.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic Party strategist, and Mac Heller, producer of the documentary “Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook,” wrote this month:
“Every year, about 4 million Americans turn 18 and gain the right to vote. In the eight years between the 2016 and 2024 elections, that’s 32 million new eligible voters. Also every year, 2½ million older Americans die. So in the same eight years, that’s as many as 20 million fewer older voters.
“Which means that between Trump’s election in 2016 and the 2024 election, the number of Gen Z (born in the late 1990s and early 2010s) voters will have advanced by a net 52 million against older people. That’s about 20 percent of the total 2020 eligible electorate of 258 million Americans.”
That’s 52 million reasons to listen to young voters.
Post story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/25/voters-progressive-trump-harvard-youth-poll-gop/
Lake-Heller: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/19/gen-z-voters-2024/
Young Voices
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is closer to my age than to young voters, but he gets why Democrats should listen to them – and understand their life experiences.
On our Zoom conversation last week with state Democratic Chair Anderson Clayton, Fontes said:
“I didn’t grow up in a world where I had to worry about a live shooter coming into my own classroom and killing me. I didn’t grow up in a world where I had to worry about before I got into retirement American cities were going to be underwater and the West would be desert dry because it was burnt down because of climate change. I didn’t grow up in a world where I lost a year and a half or two of socialization because of a pandemic.”
We should listen up, because young voters can make the difference in 2024.
The Washington Post (“Striking new data about young voters should alarm Trump and the GOP”) reported:
“Youth turnout exploded during the 2018 midterm elections under President Donald Trump. Then in 2020, energized opposition to Trump among young voters was critical to his defeat. And in the 2022 midterms, surging youth participation helped fend off the widely predicted ‘red wave.’ Even some Republicans fear that expanding youth populations in swing states pose a long-term threat to the GOP.
“New data…by the Harvard Youth Poll sheds light on the powerful undercurrents driving these developments. Young voters have shifted in a markedly progressive direction on multiple issues that are deeply important to them: Climate change, gun violence, economic inequality and LGBTQ+ rights.”
Polling I’ve seen in North Carolina shows under-35 votes more positive toward Democrats than any other voting group. The state-level issues they care about are lowering the cost of housing, protecting access to abortion and improving public schools.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic Party strategist, and Mac Heller, producer of the documentary “Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook,” wrote this month:
“Every year, about 4 million Americans turn 18 and gain the right to vote. In the eight years between the 2016 and 2024 elections, that’s 32 million new eligible voters. Also every year, 2½ million older Americans die. So in the same eight years, that’s as many as 20 million fewer older voters.
“Which means that between Trump’s election in 2016 and the 2024 election, the number of Gen Z (born in the late 1990s and early 2010s) voters will have advanced by a net 52 million against older people. That’s about 20 percent of the total 2020 eligible electorate of 258 million Americans.”
That’s 52 million reasons to listen to young voters.
Post story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/25/voters-progressive-trump-harvard-youth-poll-gop/
Lake-Heller: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/19/gen-z-voters-2024/