Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) reported a big boost in 2020 turnout among voters aged 18 to 29, with climate change hugely on their mind.

Pennsylvania tops the Youth Electoral Significance Index, given its above average youth voter registration and turnout rates. According to CIRCLE, President Biden garnered 127,000 more votes among the youth than Donald Trump in a race decided by fewer than 35,000 ballots.

CIRCLE Director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg spoke on the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol insurrection about its effects on young people's political participation and views of democracy.

“As some of these state laws may get more nuanced or may get more confusing language added to them, that makes it harder on ... young people to understand what they can do and how they can access having a voice on issues they care about and that affect them,” CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa explains.

Half of young people ages 18 to 29 voted in 2020, according to research from Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE).

Preliminary estimates from CIRCLE suggest that just one in four voters under 30 cast a ballot in this year's Virginia's statewide elections.

“This particular White House was helped significantly by young voters in the 2020 election ... and they cannot wait every two years or four years to be speaking with young people. This has to be an ongoing conversation about issues," said CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa

The young voter turnout rate in Virginia for the 2020 presidential election was among the highest in the country at 56%, beating the national average of 50%, according to data from Tufts University's CIRCLE.

Last year, roughly 50 percent of people under the age of 30 voted in the presidential election, an 11-point increase from 2016, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Abby Kiesa, CIRCLE’s deputy director, said young people will turn out to the polls even in an off-year election — as long as they are engaged. Turnout among young voters doubled in Virginia’s governor’s race between 2009 and 2017. But it’s up to campaigns to decide if they are going to put in the necessary resources to drive that turnout.

In 2020, half of young people ages 18-29 voted, according to research from Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE), an 11-point jump from the 39% of young people ages 18-29 who voted in 2016.

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University found in a 2020 poll that 31% of people ages 18 to 24 had participated in a march or demonstration, up from 5% in 2016.