Democrats counting on young adult vote for midterm success
With elections for
Organizations such as the
Voter Information
"Sometimes we'll knock on, say, a 19-year-old's door and the parent will answer," Bridgeforth said. "The parent is very surprised we're not asking for the parent; we're asking for the kid."
Knocking on 10,000 doors, distributing over 10,000 voter guides and sending about 25,000 text messages has increased early voting turnout among ages 18 to 24 by 800 percent, Bridgeforth said.
The group tends to be "a-partisan," he said, less guided by party or candidate but by specific issues such as transportation to work and child care.
"These facts are evidence that young people will turn out to vote when you actually make an effort to talk to them and the issues they care about," Bridgeforth said.
Campaign data firm TargetSmart found a similar early voting uptick statewide. As of last week, early voting turnout among residents ages 18 to 29 had increased by 415 percent, with 149,797 from the group voting early, over the 2014 midterm elections. The same group comprised 10 percent of paper absentee ballot requests.
Still, the age bracket represented only 9 percent of early voters, with those 50 and older comprising 66 percent of the early vote, and only a tenth of paper ballot requests, TargetSmart found.
Millennials, those born from 1980 to 1994, are the fastest-growing segment but haven't necessarily realized their power to shape the nation's future, two
"The key question is not whether millennials can make a difference in America or in
A recent study by the
"As was the chance in 2016, the elections could be decided by millennials," said
Statewide, the largest clusters of young voters are in college towns such as
Wilkerson said he emphasizes the personal impact that issues -- such as the preservation of
If they make the connection, "you start to track autonomy in voting," he said.
Among the young, Wilkerson said women are voting more often, because they see issues such as reproductive rights and child care having a direct impact on them. The young also aren't as motivated to vote by their feelings for political figures, such as President
"Fear of a political figure is enough for them to post on Facebook, but not enough to drive to the polls," he said.
Among the youngest male voters, Wilkerson said, many want "no government intervention" and are voting for
"They don't like Stacey and they don't like Kemp. They won't pick a square so they just take their ball and go home," he said.
Wilkerson, who has helped register around 500 voters in
"Seventy-five percent thought they were registered and they were not," he said.
Young voters have the potential for great influence but don't vote due to "general apathy," Wilkerson said. "People my age haven't fully grasped yet the effect of what their vote can mean. I'm not insulting their intelligence, it's just 18-year-old syndrome."
Other young, Democratic voters think their vote will not count because of
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"In
Abrams, 44, hasn't shied from her student-loan debt and champions other concerns of interest to young voters such as Medicaid expansion and gun control, and is courting the young vote.
Younger voters are "certainly part of what
Exit polls in 2014 and 2016 showed younger voters favored
Bullock predicted two to three percent of voters will support Metz, making a runoff between Abrams and Kemp possible, with unfavorable prospects for Abrams.
Her campaign is also banking on heavy black voter turnout and is using a 32 percent participation estimate in polling, higher than other polls, which estimate it at 28 or 30 percent.
"If it turns out that blacks cast almost a third of all votes in the state, she will win outright," Bullock said.
The 55-year-old Kemp's appeal is not lost on younger voters, however, said
"We see Brian as a
"The disconnect is that unless there's an issue that is really hitting home for students -- whether it's college tuition, health care or gun control -- there's a disinterest," he said. "That's why you see more of an older crowd come out to the polls."
Younger voters' preference for issues over party has tended to frustrate the traditional party structure, said Brown, the
In
While some expect the young to have learned a lesson from 2016, any rebound in turnout among young
"If that demographic turns out in the way they did in 2016, one should expect the right to keep the House and perhaps increase their
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