By Elishya Perera
WASHINGTON DC, USA (CWBN)_The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced additional barriers to voting for American citizens, young and old. However, young voters are resolved to be a decisive force in the 2020 presidential election, with data suggesting record turnout from the group.
According to the Harvard Institute of Politics Fall 2020 Youth Poll, 63% of young Americans say they will “definitely” vote in November as compared to the 47% who said the same in 2016.
As of last Wednesday (Oct 21), more than 3 million voters aged 18 to 29 have already cast their ballot in the 2020 elections, and the results of Harvard’s survey project the highest youth voter turnout in 12 years.
A model of activism
According to Kei Kawashima Ginsberg, the director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE), one of the key factors that indicate a higher turnout from young voters is the rise in young voters with a previous vote history, such as the members of Gen Z who voted for the first time in the 2018 midterm elections.
A pre-election analysis from CIRCLE found that there are 6.8 million more young people with a history of voting in 2020 than there were in 2016.
A significant number of young people who may not have been eligible to vote in the last presidential election, took to the streets to make their voices heard since 2016. One such noteworthy incident was the March ‘For Our Lives’, a massive gun violence prevention demonstration that followed the high school shooting in Parkland Florida, which “fueled youth engagement in the 2018 election,” Ginsberg observed.
Similarly, from the climate-focused Sunrise Movement, to the advocacy for racial justice through the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, have led many young people to embraced a model of activism, and the empowerment of young people in this manner could also lead to a spike in youth voter turnout.
“I hear them talking a lot about how racism is an intersectional issue, and there seems to be really strong commitment to address that, so I can see, it could be a moment that is ripe for them,” Ginsberg said.
Economic impact of the pandemic
Another key factor that may drive a surge in young voter turnout is economic distress owing to the pandemic. According to Pew Research Center, young Americans were one of the demographics hardest hit by unemployment, as one in four Americans ages 16 to 24 lost jobs between February and May.
Harvard’s Fall 2020 survey suggest that the pandemic has led young voters to be more concerned with the economy now than before, as 23% of young voters listed the economy as their top issue this fall, as opposed to the 6% last spring.
Influence of social media
Given the current circumstances in the world, young people are personally affected by politics on a daily basis, whether it’s their jobs, education or personal health, and they often become a subject of discussion on social media.
On the other hand, young celebrities and influencers are spreading the word about voting, which is trending from Instagram posts to TickTok campaigns. For instance, TikTok for Trump, with 14,300 followers, and TikTok for Biden, with more than 750,000 followers, are popular on the app.
Moreover, Snapchat is providing young Americans with a voter guide featuring resources about where and how to vote, and has registered more than 1.2 million voters this year through its in-app voter registration portal.
Who holds the lead on young voters?
According to a Harvard poll released Monday (Oct 26), Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads against Republican President Donald Trump 63% to 25% among young voters most likely to vote.
However, Joe Biden wasn’t the first choice of young voters. Justin Tseng, a junior and chairman of the Harvard Public Opinion Project, observed that young voters started out supporting Biden mostly because of “antipathy towards Donald Trump”. Nevertheless, as the campaign has progressed, the former vice president has grown on young people, who are in favour of his policies, and have also warmed up to him personally.
Key factor
In 2008, the enormous outreach to young voters, who turned out in record numbers to cast ballots for the Democrat, was a key factor that led to Obama’s victory, as he earned 68% of the 18-29-year-old vote, according to exit polls.
Even though Biden is not doing quite as well among young voters as Obama, surveys suggest he is faring better among this voter group, compared to 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who got 55% of voters under 30.
Often candidates complain that youth don’t turn out at the polls, while young people, then, whine that politicians don’t care about their issues and thus, feel less inclined to vote. However, this year, considering the record turnout from the group, young voters appear to be determined to be a decisive force in the 2020 election.
