Young voters proved pivotal for Biden in key swing states with narrow margins of victory like Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, according to Tufts University’s Tisch College Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

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.

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).

“It’s become more normal or normative to have a political voice,” said CIRCLE Director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg. “It’s an advantage for a candidate like Michelle Wu who really did build community and had a very young campaign team that wasn’t made of seasoned 50-year-olds.”

“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

Though half of young people ages 18-29 voted in 2020 according to research from Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts (CIRCLE), 60% of that age group cast a ballot for President Joe Biden, while only 36% voted for former President Donald Trump

“The one thing we heard [consistently] from young people was that it was a learning experience in how political leaders’ decisions affect their daily life,” says Abby Kiesa, deputy director of the Centre for Information and Research of Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

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.

In June, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found in their research that the environment, racism and affordable health care were the top three issues driving youth in the 2020 elections.

This piece extensively cites CIRCLE research on youth participation in the 2020 election and includes insights from our Deputy Director Abby Kiesa.