Young Americans, too, have been registering at higher numbers this election season, says Abby Kiesa, deputy director of Tufts University's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

"A lot of young people have the intention to vote, just as many if not more than in 2018. And I think that young people are definitely attuned to a lot of the really big issues — abortion obviously being one of them.”

According to data analyzed by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, voter registration among young people trails the midpoint of 2018 in about half the states.

To see almost twice as much voter turnout compared to the prediction, I have to believe young people played a role in that,” said CIRCLE Director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg about the recent primary election and referendum in Kansas.

In surveys around the 2020 election, CIRCLE, a civic research shop at Tufts University, found that 13% of people ages 18 to 29 marked climate change as their top concern, the most of any issue.

“Youth often have few people talking directly to them about politics, helping them make those connections with the issues they care about," says CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa

"Indicators of youth engagement in a midterm election are pretty good, relatively speaking," said CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa.

In about half of states where reliable data is available, meanwhile, researchers flagged that the number of 18-to-24-year-olds who were registered to vote in June is lagging behind the 2018 pace, especially for freshly eligible ballot casters.

Our deputy director Abby Kiesa writes that the fight over abortion rights now taking place in states has strong potential to motivate and mobilize young voters on both sides of the issue.

Recent polling has found that 40% of youth, especially women, describe the top court’s decision ending the federally guaranteed right to abortion as making them more likely to vote in this year’s midterms.

Young voters played a huge role in shifting swing states in the 2020 presidential election, helping to lead Biden to victory with a 25-point lead among young voters.

The fight over abortion this year “has the potential to really, really bring young people out to a great degree,” said Abby Kiesa, deputy director of CIRCLE.