In an election of many firsts, it appears that surging youth turnout in a number of key states may have helped propel Joe Biden to victory.
Analysis suggests an increase of as much as 10% in youth voter turnout – with particularly high engagement in 11 key battleground states. That may have been game-changing for Joe Biden, who had the support of 61% of people aged 18-29.
“This election feels so much bigger than anything before it,” said 20-year-old Alondra Alvarez, who voted early in Michigan, a state which saw youth voter turnout triple since 2016.
“I remember how I felt in 2016 after Trump was elected. It wasn’t good – but it also wasn’t my fault, I didn’t have a say in what the outcome was going to be,” she said.
Now, young people have had their say. Projections suggest young people made up 17% of the vote share this time around, with young people also having the potential to make a decisive difference in key Senate races in states such as Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina.
A number of initiatives look to have made all the difference this year, with same-day registration now allowed in 21 states; and secure ballot drop-off boxes on college campuses in almost every state.
Other structural changes due to the coronavirus pandemic also seem to have helped young people – who typically have inflexible schedules and multiple work and study commitments. Millions of young people seem to have taken advantage of early voting this year, and a number of states allowed absentee votes without a reason (in the US, if you want to vote absentee, you normally need an excuse).
“I feel really, really proud to see that many [young] people turning out to vote,” said Kyle Dennis, who is 19 and cast a ballot in North Carolina to make the most of his vote.
“People voted in really high numbers on my campus, every time that I walked by the voting site there were lines all throughout the door,” he said. Dennis was able to vote on campus – something he points out is not possible for a majority of people in the country.
“When people talk about low turnout, it’s like – it’s not easy to turn out to vote. Young people, we’re in school, we’re working part-time at the same time, and a lot of us had majors coming up this year. It’s not like anyone can really afford to travel long distances to spend multiple hours standing in line,” he said.
“Young people are targeted with voter suppression just like communities of color are. But when you break down barriers for young people they turn out,” said Nicole Hensen, executive director of Colorado’s largest youth voting initiative, New Era Colorado where initial numbers suggest a jaw-dropping youth turnout of 70%.
Dennis’s preferred candidate would have been the Vermont senator and progressive icon Bernie Sanders, who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination. While Dennis wants to see Biden become more progressive on issues like immigration and healthcare, he was happy to vote against Trump this time around.
Many young people seem to have made that shift – some polls put Biden on as little as 2% support among young people back in November 2019 – so his popularity among them today is notable.
Organizers say that in part, that is about Biden shifting to meet young people where they were at politically.
“Biden wasn’t the candidate that young people were necessarily excited about in the primaries, but in the lead-up to the general election we saw him speak more about student debt, we saw him go bolder on climate than he had done before and we saw him become more vocal on immigration reform,” says Sarah Aduelo, the CEO of Youth Alliance Action, was part of a coalition of youth organizations who wrote to Biden when he was selected as the Democratic nominee for president.
But what also could have swung it for Biden is his overwhelming popularity with young people of color – 86% of Black youth, 82% of Asian youth and 73% of Latino youth supported him – perhaps to be expected after a summer when young people took to the streets for days on end to protest against police brutality and the death of George Floyd. These votes look likely to make a pivotal difference in tight races left to be called – such as in Georgia where 53% of people aged 18-29 are young people of color.
Millennials also overwhelmingly came out for Biden this time around. Sandy Gaytan, a millennial who voted in Flat Rock, Michigan, and is Mexican American, became naturalized just so she could vote. “The Trump presidency enacted a lot of policies that are very harmful and destructive to my community. I became a citizen to protect myself. I didn’t feel safe and I’ve never felt like that before,” she says.
Her mother and sister-in-law did the same. Gaytan attributes early voting and satellite voting for some of the increase, but added that the president had perhaps not an inconsequential effect. “Maybe people were previously complacent, but this presidency was so crazy it affected a lot of people,” she said.
“This is a time when young people should be taking victory laps, and they already are in states where they certainly help to push Biden over the top, certainly in Wisconsin, in New Hampshire, in Michigan,” said Audelo.
Still, not everyone is happy about the youth surge. Olivia Rondeau, 19, who voted by absentee ballot and is a Trump supporter, said she felt a bit deflated knowing she is in the minority among her peers.
“When I take that into consideration, it’s like oh my God, yeah, my generation is so powerful but also my voice is basically so meaningless. It would be cool if the youth vote swayed it but I just know that it won’t sway it in my direction, you know”?” she said.
Свежие комментарии