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CIRCLE estimates that 27 percent of eligible young voters cast ballots this election, the second-highest turnout for a midterm in nearly 30 years. “This is a continuation of young people showing up to do the work,” says Abby Kiesa, CIRCLE’s deputy director.

According to new data shared by Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, young people were the only age group in which a strong majority supported Democrats.

“In many states youth overcame changes to election laws that posed direct barriers to participation and a lack of strong and continued investment in youth registration,” said our director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg.

Our deputy director Abby Kiesa spoke to Arizona Public Media about the importance of voter registration and how to ensure that all young people know how to access and complete the process.

CIRCLE Director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg talks about young people's electoral impact in the 2022 midterms.

CIRCLE, which studies young voters, also found in analyses of exit polling data that 89% of Black youth and 68% of Latino youth voted for a Democratic U.S. House candidate.

“We think this is emblematic of the different ways that young people are leveraging their political power and civic engagement in recent years,” said CIRCLE's Alberto Medina

“I think it’s very clear that young people are more than a constituency for the Democratic Party,” said CIRCLE deputy director Abby Kiesa. "They are the base of the Democratic Party."

Ruby Belle Booth, CIRCLE's elections coordinator, said this year's election represents "a continuation of high civic engagement" among young people in recent years.