Young people, particularly voters of color, were "crucial to Biden winning Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement."

“It is clear that a culture and expectation of political participation has started to emerge among young people that includes being engaged on issues, registering to vote, voting and encouraging others to do so, ” said Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of CIRCLE.

“There are a lot of encouraging signs when it comes to sort of repeating the energy that we saw in November in January … ,” said Kristian Lundberg, an associate researcher at CIRCLE.

“As they were in the 2018 and 2020 general elections in the state, youth of color are a major force in the Georgia electorate. There are over 500,000 Black 18- to 29-year-olds registered to vote as of December 17 … currently, the highest number of Black youth registered to vote in any state for which we have data.”

TikTok has provided a space for younger voters to discuss the issues of youth-led movements that have cropped up in recent years, including around gun control, climate change and Black Lives Matter, said Kristian Lundberg, associate researcher at CIRCLE.

Nearly 90% of young Black voters cast their ballots for Ossoff in the general election, according to CIRCLE. And more than half-a-million Black voters under 30 years old are registered in the state – that’s one-third of all young voters in the state, according to the organization.

Tania Unzueta, political director of Mijente, a national Latino grassroots movement born after the #Not1More Deportation campaign in 2015, worked to mobilize young Latino voters in Arizona and Georgia — states in which "Black and Latino youth may have single-handedly made Biden competitive," according to CIRCLE.

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, the director of CIRCLE at Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University, which studies youth voting trends, said youth voting turnout is being affected by both external investment and peer-to-peer political engagement among young people.

CIRCLE Deputy Director Abby Kiesa participated in a wide-ranging interview about the role of age in American politics and how to create systems that support a more diverse and representative democracy.

"CIRCLE also highlights how important adequate access to information is for processes like vote by mail that may have been new or unfamiliar to young voters, and the challenges that would pose for groups like youth of color, youth who do not have any college experience, and others that have been traditionally marginalized in civic life."

Between 52% and 55% of eligible people under the age of 30 voted this year, based on estimates by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, at Tufts University.

CIRCLE analysis of youth vote choice in Nevada informs this feature on rising youth engagement in the state.