Desperation and disillusionment with the political system run rampant among young Americans. Growing up in a nation characterized by political polarization and economic strife, Gen Z has been fed a hopeless narrative: problems are too big, and our votes are ineffective. Yet, the assumption that young people aren’t voting because they simply don’t care is untrue.
Ninety-two percent of young Americans are interested in coverage of the 2024 election, but this interest doesn’t always translate to voter turnout. The path from caring about an issue to going to the polls is long and winding; for many young voters, especially, it is covered with hurdles and barriers. Forty-one million Gen Z voters have the power to alter the future of our country this November, and making these young voices heard is vital to the stability of American democracy.
A Systemic Struggle
Over 28% of eligible voters in Generation Z, the demographic cohort of Americans born from 1997 to 2012, voted in the 2022 midterms. Although this is a comparatively larger showing than other generations at the same age — beating out Millennials in 2006 and Gen X in 1990 — it is a substantially lower turnout rate than other age groups at present. Fifty-eight percent of Americans ages 45-64 and 67% of Americans over 65 voted in the midterms.
This underrepresentation of youth voices in modern elections isn’t the fault of an unmotivated generation, but rather of a flawed system. “Voting is a habit,” Ruby Belle Booth, a researcher at the Tufts Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, told the HPR. “Young people don’t immediately turn 18 and suddenly know everything that they need in order to get registered to vote.”
The struggle with access to voting stems from a lack of accessible information. Brianna Cea, Executive Director and Founder of Generation Vote, a nonprofit focused on youth voter engagement and democracy protection, told the HPR how her struggle with voting in 2016 inspired her activism. “I couldn’t vote because no one told me that I missed the registration deadline,” Cea recalled. “I remember feeling that deep sense of disillusionment and frustration.”
Cea’s story is not uncommon. Strict voter registration deadlines prove difficult for many first-time voters. Only 22 states allow same-day voter registration, a proven method for increasing voter turnout.
The changing political habits of Gen Z exacerbate the preexisting flaws in our system. Though young people tend to lean left, with 68% of youth aged 18-29 voting Democrat in 2022, the youth vote is not a monolith. Gen Z is following in Millennial footsteps with a souring relationship toward political parties. Instead of identifying as a Democrat or Republican, many Gen Z voters prefer to conduct issue-based assessments of candidates.
A decrease in registered partisans decreases automatic contact with political organizations and campaigns. Only 19% of young voters have heard from campaigns leading up to the 2024 election. “Even if a party wants to reach out to a young person, they may not be able to know where they are,” Cea told the HPR, “because that young person is usually registering as independent or not affiliated.”
An overall lack of information from political parties or schools is exacerbated by failures of the media to reach youth. Trust in political institutions and traditional media are at record lows, so word of mouth plays a larger role in political socialization. Informal sources — like friends and family — are strained with the burden of reaching out to their networks to encourage them to vote, provide information about political engagement, and convey political values.
On top of general struggles, voting barriers do not apply equally to all young people. The issue of voter rights is intersectional. Many young Americans face limits on their civic engagement by race, class, and region.
Non-Hispanic White Americans are projected to remain the largest racial group for decades to come. However, Gen Z is only 52% White. The racial and ethnic makeup of young Americans is more diverse than that of older generations. This presents a unique challenge to those aiming to engage this generation, as non-White young adults vote at even lower rates than their peers overall. Twenty-nine percent of eligible White youth voted in 2022, compared to 15% of eligible Black youth and 14% of eligible Latinx youth.
One likely reason for this is that issues that minority voters face in America — such as longer polling lines, non-translated election materials, and racial gerrymandering — combine with age-based barriers to inhibit the voices of youth of color.
Educational disparities can also compound with existing burdens on young Americans to further lower turnout. College campuses provide easy locations for political outreach, but around 40% of Gen Z will not receive a college degree. Separated from the higher education system, these youth are less likely to vote or be contacted by a campaign.
Rural youth also face unique challenges to ballot access, voting at a rate 15 percentage points lower than urban youth in the 2022 midterm. With polling sites spread farther apart, rural voters tend to rely on mail-in and absentee voting. Increased restrictions on both of these methods in the name of voter security have lowered ease of access — especially for first-time voters. Many of these rural counties also suffer from a lack of public infrastructure and widespread poverty, compounding these problems.
The Current Battle
Colleges and universities are hubs for political activism, but student voting is becoming more difficult. Unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Republican officials following the 2020 election have led many state legislatures to pass restrictive voter identification laws.
These are particularly burdensome for members of Gen Z, who are less likely to have acceptable forms of ID, such as a driver’s license. Making matters worse, 12 states have deemed student IDs invalid forms of identification for voting. Given these barriers, it is no surprise that 42 states have fewer voters aged 18-29 registered to vote as of September 2024 compared to November 2020.
However, there are attempts to counter this trend. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge partners with 1079 colleges and universities nationwide to promote voter registration drives and civic engagement programming. Participating campuses had voter turnout that was an average of 3.7 percentage points higher than non-participating institutions. Generation Vote, another non-profit, utilizes a chapter-based system of local student groups to fight for policy and cultural changes on a smaller scale.
Campus-specific organizations, such as the Harvard Votes Challenge, provide easily accessible resources for students to vote. From small initiatives like offering free envelopes and stamps for mail-in ballots and listing poll locations, HVC has doubled the number of voters on Harvard’s campus. These community-based resources can effect change in the face of repressive legislation.
Campaigns are also getting creative to reach younger voters, who don’t have strong roots in a party. Lauren Wright is the Southern Regional Grassroots Director for New Jersey Democrat Andy Kim’s Senate campaign. Describing her efforts to reach out to unaffiliated young voters, Wright emphasized to the HPR “not coming at it with a stance of vote blue no matter what, but trying to have more specific individualized conversations.”
Diverging from traditional party politics increases the need for creative outreach, as voter information isn’t as easily accessible. “It takes two to three touches for a person to consider voting for your candidate,” Wright explained, “and you can get those two to three touches in just a day on social media if you use it properly.”
The growing influence of the internet on young voters has also led to unique campaign strategies that have gained traction. Former President Donald Trump joined controversial internet personality Logan Paul on a podcast this June. The Kamala Harris campaign launched an extremely viral TikTok profile, with millions of followers. The Vice President herself recently appeared on the podcast “Call Her Daddy,” a show with a large audience of young women.
Virtual outreach doesn’t fully replace traditional campaigning, such as television ads or billboards. “[Traditional media] is a very expensive way to campaign, but it has been proven very effective; so it will continue to be used,” Wright told the HPR. Yet, with a tech-savvy generation, it is encouraging to see campaigns meeting youth where they are at on popular, familiar platforms.
A Path Forward
The first step to encouraging youth voter engagement is bridging the information gap. There is no national requirement for high school civics classes, leading to a patchwork of state regulations letting students slip through the cracks. Even if these classes are mandated, the information taught doesn’t seem to stick. According to a survey by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, college students have severe gaps in knowledge regarding America’s political system. One in three American adults cannot name the three branches of government, a basic fact that should have been emphasized in their education.
Comprehensive civics instruction is necessary for electoral participation. It’s unreasonable to expect people to vote if they do not understand the power of their decisions. A nationalized civics curriculum should be required in high schools, as has been recommended by countless activists and researchers.
Accessible information underlies the effectiveness of all potential policy changes. “It only helps to have those policies if young people actually hear about them,” Booth emphasized. Convenient poll sites, same-day voter registration, and standardized ID requirements are only significant if political engagement begins before voting age.
Multiple pathways of engagement are needed to fully ensure no part of Gen Z is left behind. “There’s so many young people who don’t go to college, and they’re going to be more likely to be from certain groups, like from low-income backgrounds,” Booth stated. “That is what ends up perpetuating these inequities in turnout.” The intersectional nature of voter access struggles increases the need for structural changes to the voting system.
Many organizations have stepped up to aim to fill this gap in the absence of government solutions. Rural students can look to the Rural Democracy Initiative, which provides disenfranchised rural youth with resources and information to ensure they can cast their ballots. The NAACP’s high school and college chapters aim to connect young people of color to civil rights causes, such as democracy protection and voting. These groups are important methods for community members to build foundations for future voter engagement in underserved areas.
There are also ways for existing systems to encourage electoral participation using their established reputability. Local community sources, like churches or youth groups, can help cement values of civic participation.
Souls to the Polls, a Wisconsin nonprofit founded by Reverend Greg Lewis, encourages members of the greater Milwaukee area to vote. They aim to make the church a catalyst for voter engagement, providing transportation to polling stations, information about ballot drop boxes, and registration drives. Reverend Lewis cites his church as the center of his community and “place of survival” where he aims to get the voices of his congregation heard.
Building strong, cohesive community organizations that center democratic participation as a fundamental value decreases the cognitive barriers and desperation surrounding the current political system. Creating a vocal culture that encourages electoral participation as a fundamental value will ensure all young people are participating.
Booth told the HPR, “Young people get information about voting in elections online and on social media, but they still get most of it from trusted sources, like their friends and their family.” Effective offline organizing and community-building cannot be replaced in building confidence in our political institutions.
The Defining Election of a Generation?
More than just a presidential candidate is on the ballot this fall. A multitude of candidates are running on platforms that would further voting injustice in this nation, through their discrediting of our electoral process. Policies to address these falsified claims of fraud — such as voter roll purges and mail-in ballot restrictions — would further inequity in this nation, threatening our fundamental democratic values.
Gen Z has the numbers, passion, and power to alter the outcome of the November election — but only if we can make it to the ballot box. Systemic changes to American civic education and voter access are necessary to secure our democracy for the future.
