In the News

CIRCLE reported this month that even though people ages 18 to 29 who can vote tend to identify less with political parties than other age brackets, young adults who do select a party tend to affiliate with Democrats.

“Youth are increasing their electoral participation, leading movements, and making their voices heard on key issues that affect their communities,” according to analysis from CIRCLE.

Young voters had the second-highest level of youth participation in at least 30 years, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

An estimated 27% of young voters ages 18–29 voted in the 2022 midterms, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.

A series of analyses from CIRCLE found that 77% of young Latinos who voted in the midterms support gun control and 89% believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to CIRCLE data, sixty two percent of young voters supported a Democratic House candidate. This implies that the youth made a difference to the Democratic Party's outcome in this election.

According to Abby Kiesa, deputy director of CIRCLE, a major factor in the increase has been the work of organizations that arose after 2014 to try to improve campus voting rates.

“Young people have made it very clear that they are here to stay as an electorate, regardless of who’s on the ballot,” said Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, CIRCLE’s director.

From Georgia to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, in races that came down to slim margins, young voters turned out in droves for pro-democracy candidates. And, according to CIRCLE at Tufts University, those candidates prevailed because of it.