Young adult voting at voting booth

Young adults (ages 18-29) belong to the largest voting block in the US, yet traditionally, their participation in elections has lagged far behind that of other age groups. Thanks to the work of the research team at CIRCLE, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning at Tufts University, who have amassed 20 years of data on the civic participation and voting habits of the members of this age group, we know much about what needs to be done to change this trend.

On May 6th, a Virtual Town Hall, hosted by the Education Committee of LWVNPC and LWVSPA, was held to explore this important topic. We were honored to host a member of the CIRCLE research team, Mr. Alberto Medina, an expert on how young adults voted in 2024 as compared with 2020, and young adults’ perceptions about democracy in general.  Several surprising conclusions about each of these topics emerged from nationwide data that was gathered and analyzed by the CIRCLE TEAM. Some of the key points mentioned by Mr. Medina in his description of the data trends include:

  • Young adults have generally voted for Democratic candidates in the past, but in 2024, there was a huge shift to Republican candidates.
  • The young adult population is the most diverse in our history.
  • While 47% of young adults exercised their right to vote in 2024, this fell slightly behind the 50% (an all-time high) rate of young adults who voted in 2020.
  • The highest participation rate of voters in the young adult population is that of white females.
  • When asked about their feelings regarding democracy, most young adults agree that democracy is valuable, but many do not feel it is working at the present time.
  • As volunteers, more work needs to be done to engage young adults who are not college students or college graduates.

If you are interested in learning more about the conclusions that have been reached by the scholars at CIRCLE, you will find their reports at https://circle.tufts.edu/2024-election.

To view the recording of the Town Hall presentation by Mr. Medina, go to   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZFX5yVt_qQ