Millennials (and their younger
siblings, generation Z’s) are the largest, most diverse and progressive group of
potential voters in American history, comprising fully 30 percent of the voting
age population.
On November 6th, they’ll have the
power to alter the course of American politics – flipping Congress, changing
the leadership of states and cities, making lawmakers act and look more like
the people who are literally the nation’s future.
But will they vote?
In the last midterm election, in
2014, only 16 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 29
bothered.
In midterms over the last two
decades, turnout by young people has averaged
about 38 points below the turnout rate of people 60 and older. Which has given
older voters a huge say over where the nation is likely to be by the time those
younger people reach middle age and the older voters have passed on.
I’m not criticizing younger
non-voters. They have a lot on their minds – starting jobs, careers, families.
Voting isn’t likely to be high on their list of priorities.
Also, unlike their grand parents –
boomers who were involved in civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, the
anti-Vietnam War movement – most young people today don’t remember a time when
political action changed America for the better.
They’re more likely to remember
political failures and scandals – George W. Bush lying about Saddam Hussein’s
weapons of mass destruction; Bill Clinton lying about Monica; both parties
bailing out Wall Street without so much as a single executive going to jail.
Most don’t
even recall when American democracy worked well. They don’t recall the Cold War, when democracy as an ideal worth
fighting for. The Berlin Wall came down before they were born.
Instead, during their lives they’ve
watched big money take over Washington and state capitals. Which may explain why only about 30 percent of Americans born in
the 1980s think it “essential” to live in a democracy.
Many young people have wondered if their votes count anyway,
because so many of them live in congressional districts and states that are
predictably red or blue.
Given all this, is there any reason
to hope that this huge, diverse, progressive cohort of Americans will vote in
the upcoming midterms?
My answer is, yes.
First, the issues up for grabs
aren’t ideological abstractions for them. They’re causes in which Millennials
have direct personal stakes.
Take, for example, gun violence –
which some of these young people have experienced first-hand and have taken
active roles trying to stop.
Or immigrant’s rights. Over 20 percent of Millennials are Latino, and a growing percent
are from families that emigrated from Asia. Many have directly experienced the
consequences of Trump’s policies.
A woman’s right to choose whether
to have a baby, and gay’s or lesbian’s rights to choose marriage – issues
Millennials are also deeply committed to – will be front and center if the
Supreme Court puts them back into the hands of Congress and state legislatures.
Millennials are also concerned
about student debt, access to college, and opportunities to get ahead unimpeded
by racial bigotry or sexual harassment.
And they’re worried about the
environment. They know climate change will hit them hardest since they’ll be on
the planet longer than older voters.
They’ve also learned that their
votes count. They saw Hillary lose by a relative handful of votes in places
like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
They’ve been witnessing razor-thin special elections, such as Conor Lamb’s
win by a few hundred votes in the heart of Pennsylvania Trump country, and Hiral Tipirneni’s single-digit loss in an
Arizona district Trump won by 21 points in 2016.
They know the importance of taking
back governorships in what are expected to be nail-bitingly close races – in
states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Kansas. They’re aware of the slim but increasingly real possibility of taking back the Senate. (Who knew Ted Cruz would be so vulnerable? Who even knew the name Beto O’Rourke?)
As doubtful as they these young
people are about politics, or the differences between the two parties, they
also know that Trump and his Republican enablers want to take the nation
backwards to an old, white, privileged, isolated America. Most of them don’t.
In my thirty-five years of teaching
college students, I’ve not encountered a generation as dedicated to making the
nation better as this one.
So my betting is on them, this
November 6th.
