Historic +35 Youth Vote Choice for Democrats in the 2026 Midterm Election

Young people across the United States overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.

Nationally, 66% of young people ages 18-29 voted for a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, compared to 31% for a Republican candidate. This data from the NORC Civic Health & Elections Project may shift slightly in the hours ahead. We will continue to update this analysis.

The strong 35-point youth preference for Democrats in 2026 is one of the highest we have ever seen in a national election. It is also a return to the trend from pre-2024 election cycles of major youth support for Democrats. From 2018 to 2022, youth nationally preferred House Democrats by at least 25 percentage points in each election, including 35 points in 2018. In 2024, youth support narrowed to just 14 percentage points for Democratic House candidates and 11 points in the presidential race, according to data from Edison Research. Other data suggests the youth vote in the presidential race was even closer, and young 2024 voters backed Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by just 4 points.

Youth Give Democrats Strongest Support of Any Age Group

The youth support for Democratic candidates starkly contrasts with the voting pattern of other age groups—especially voters over 45. While 66% of youth nationally voted for a Democratic House candidate, 56% of voters ages 30-44 did so. Meanwhile, Americans over age 45 split their vote fairly evenly: 51% for Democrats and 46% for Republicans among voters ages 45-64, and 53% vs. 46% among voters 65+.

According to the NORC Civic Health & Elections Project, 11% of all votes in the 2026 midterms were cast by youth, which is slightly lower than the 12% youth share of the vote in the 2022 midterm election. That does not necessarily mean youth voter turnout was low; the youth share could be lower if it was an extremely high turnout election for the entire electorate. In the coming days we’ll release an exclusive estimate of youth voter turnout that measures the percentage of all young eligible voters who cast a ballot in this election.

CIRCLE will continue to analyze and release data on young voters throughout Election Night. Find all our 2026 youth vote data here.