In the previous page, we went through some information about the types of offices and propositions on ballots and the types of issues that elected officials address, but why does it matter that younger people and college students vote?

National trends

Historically, just 39% of young adults aged 18-29 vote in presidential election years and about 20% vote in midterm elections. Nationally, students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and technical fields are less likely than their peers to vote, and education majors vote at the highest rates.

However, we saw a historic 66% college student voter rate nationwide and an 83% college student voter registration rate in the 2020 election. These increases are largely due to the efforts of colleges to improve nonpartisan voter education! (In other words, your working through this Canvas module makes an impact for YOU and for OUR democracy! Thank you!)

The age gap

If we compare younger voters (18-29) to older voters (60+), the age gap is stubbornly persistent. Over the past 30 years, younger voters on average turn out to vote at 33 percentage points LOWER than older voters.

Even though there are 10 million fewer voters aged 54 and older, they cast 21 million more votes than the younger voters. That's a big gap!

How to make your vote count

Yet research shows that younger voters do care and want to vote. A lack of follow-through is the biggest problem.

Let's break that down a little. Younger voters, and college students in particular:

Move more frequently
Are less likely to have a driver's license
Are less likely to be contacted directly by political campaigns than older age groups
Balance many deadlines for school and are more likely to inadvertently miss a voter registration deadline

Knowledge is power! When you know more about these issues and make a voting plan to overcome them (Module 3 and Module 4), you can better impact democracy!

Want to know more? Check out:

The Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University - https://idhe.tufts.edu/

The list of colleges and universities that have made their National Study on Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) data public and are participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge - https://www.allinchallenge.org/participating-campuses/

"Why Student Voters Matter" page with the Campus Vote Project - https://www.campusvoteproject.org/why-student-voters-matter

Making Young Voters by John B. Holbein and D. Sunshine Hillygus. (2020). Cambridge University Press.