Young voters repulse ‘Red Sea’ in US midterm election
Generation Z, the most well-educated, racially and ethnically diverse generation yet, repulsed the “red wave” many were anticipating in the 2022 midterm election by being another force of nature entirely.
With the 2022 election likely having the second-highest youth turnout rate for a midterm election in nearly 30 years, the estimated 27% of people between the ages of 18-29 who turned out to vote made an impact throughout the nation in key races, according to day-after estimates from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.
CIRCLE figures also estimate that youth voter turnout may have even been higher (31%) in battleground states like Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania where exit poll data is available. However, totals may shift as outcomes are still being finalized.
In the highly-publicized Pennsylvania Senate race between Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman and celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, 70% of voters between the ages 18-29 cast their ballots for Fetterman, the Democratic Senate nominee.
Nationally, 63% of young voters opted for Democrats in the House of Representatives race, while 35% voted for Republicans, an Edison Research National Election Pool exit poll found.
In helping Democrats keep their majority in 2022, Gen Z also combatted the “red wave” in the Senate.
The exit poll indicates that voters under the age of 29 were the only cohort with a large majority supporting Democrats, with older voters primarily opting for Republicans and voters between the ages of 30-44 largely splitting their votes along party lines.
Florida’s 10th congressional district also made history on Election Day, electing Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, as the nation’s first Gen Z U.S. representative.
“History was made tonight,” Frost said in an election night tweet. “We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future.”
In a press conference on Nov. 11, President Joe Biden praised young Americans for casting their vote.
“I especially want to thank the young people of this nation, who – I’m told, I haven’t seen the numbers – voted in historic numbers again and just as they did two years ago,” Biden said. “They voted to continue addressing the climate crisis, gun violence, their personal rights and freedoms and the student debt relief.”
In Michigan, all of these priorities were a focus of the midterm election for young voters.
At Oakland University, an institution listed in the Washington Monthly’s list of America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting and host of the final gubernatorial debate between Democratic incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, five students shared their reactions to midterm results.
“This election proved that most of us approve of progress instead of regression,” Tara Coker, a sophomore majoring in elementary education, said.
Education and the differing views of the gubernatorial candidates on the subject were also important to Coker when casting her vote.
“I know for myself and other education majors, tuition and affording the demands of student teaching are major concerns, so I have more security in my future knowing the person who championed these applications is still going to be governor while I’m completing my degree in elementary education at OU,” she said.
Environmental sciences student Chiara Nava was happy to see that Whitmer will continue her climate agenda.
“I am pleased to have a governor who believes in science and is working to combat climate change within Michigan,” she said.
Nava also shared she woke up with a sense of relief after hearing that Proposal 3, the constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution, had passed.
“As a woman, reproductive freedom is an essential human right, so I woke up relieved to the news that this is a protected right for all of us,” Nava said. “The decisions made in this election will ensure I have the right to choose what I want to do with my body.”
Sama Joseph, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences, reflected on how Proposal 3 will impact her future career in medicine.
“Proposal 3 would probably affect me as a future physician,” she said. “No matter what the decision is, it will affect the way I practice medicine either way, because I will always have to keep in mind the laws and regulations when making a life-altering decision for my patients.”
Human resources management and sociology student Maris Ferguson described her personal take on the election results as “pretty satisfying.”
“The issues and races of most value to me went as I hoped, and I think on both a state and national level we have been set up for great progress,” she said.
For political science and philosophy student Jeremy Johnson, election-denying candidates losing their races should be taken as a lesson for sustaining American democracy.
“Election-denying candidates losing in this election, especially in Michigan, is huge for 2024,” he said. “I hope it teaches candidates that you cannot be anti-democracy and expect to win elections. Of course, some election deniers won elsewhere, but the victories were not as nearly as ubiquitous as expected, and that should be a lesson.”
yousef with an E (the OG) • Nov 16, 2022 at 11:57 AM
I was perturbed to see the racist fervor of young white female democrats voting to slaughter black babies though. 15000/28000 abortions in Michigan were black babies in 2021 and a disproportionate amount of abortions nationwide are black babies.
It is really eye opening when you look at the exit polling data and the historical backdrop of abortion being used as a method of racist eugenicist population control. Avowed racist eugenicist and founder of planned parenthood Margaret Sanger who spoke at KKK rallies would be pleased to see her racist eugenics ideas now codified into the Michigan constitution.
Kieran • Nov 17, 2022 at 4:26 PM
You seem to be misled. No one in Planned Parenthood nor anyone in their right mind supports Margaret Sanger. If you want proof, ask the Grizzlies for Choice club on campus! Not a one of them embraces Sanger’s backwards ideas. That being said, I was appaled by your notion that the defense of abortion was a racist one. For starters, you cite exit polling data, which is notoriously unreliable. Why not look at the slowly releasing voting breakdown by precincts? If you are unsure of where to look, there are many twitter users already breaking down this data, however your notion that abortion was only championed by white women is demonstrably false.
Proposal 3 received support all across race, class, age, sexuality, and any other measure of population grouping. I would also like to see you acknowledge how many abortions are done by poorer people who have no way to care for a child. What do you propose they do? Will you yourself take on the responsibility of a child? Often times those who discourage abortion have no intention to care for the children who will now live a horrible life of poverty. Abortion is healthcare, this much is a fact, and I do not take kindly to your attempts to paint it as modern day eugenics. You are blatantly misrepresenting the data, and you and I are both aware of this.
yousef • Nov 18, 2022 at 10:46 AM
Kieran,
It is interesting to claim PP does not support Margaret Sanger (their founder) when they have an award under her namesake. I would link it but OP does not allow links in comments.
The purpose of bringing up the undeniable racist eugenicist origins of abortion is to bring into perspective those who vote for abortion are doing. Liberal white single women (a considerable voting block) are voting to make legal the extermination of little defenseless black babies, 15000 in 2021 alone and 20 million over the last few decades. I am aware other people voted to slaughter babies including many black women. The reason for highlighting the race of the white liberal singe woman voting block was to juxtapose the inherent contradiction with voting to slay black babies while believing themselves as not racist.
You brought up a really good point. Poverty (and more so singleness) is a huge contributing factor in a woman’s choice to sacrifice her child. An unplanned pregnancy can be quite the conundrum for a poor woman or even couple. I would argue killing the baby shouldnt be the default solution. I would start by encouraging women and men to avoid promiscuous sex outside of marriage as a starting point and abolish the no fault divorce statute to prevent men and women from running from marriage as a start. For women who are already pregnant there is always adoption. Newborns are in high demand afterall.
I am also in favor of compelling men who want to shirk their responsibilities being compelled to support their families either voluntarily or forcibly.
Your characterization of the lack of charity by the pro-life side of the issue is not true. to name a few organizations: Whaley Childrens Center, Catholic Charities, Crossroads Pregnancy Center, Gleaners Food Pantry, etc.
yousef • Nov 21, 2022 at 1:01 PM
the 15000 in 2021 was in Michigan not nationally.
yousef • Nov 21, 2022 at 1:07 PM
Kieran,
I reread this:
“I would also like to see you acknowledge how many abortions are done by poorer people who have no way to care for a child. What do you propose they do? …Often times those who discourage abortion have no intention to care for the children who will now live a horrible life of poverty. ”
i am not really understanding what the point is here. It seems you’re assuming that if you’re wealthy you should have the privilege of having children and if you’re poor just kill your child. Since when was the solution to poverty killing the poor? Isn’t a life of poverty still better than no life whatsoever?
Are you actually advocating for depopulating the poor simply because they are poor? Correct me if i am mischaracterizing you.
yousef with an E (the OG) • Nov 16, 2022 at 11:00 AM
Gabrielle,
The exit poll data was interesting. what shocked me was the number of young unmarried women who voted democrat. It skewed more than 2-1! whereas married men and women skewed republican and single men also skewed republican.
never before has marital status been a voting block but it seems this election it was. It makes even more sense when you look at abortion stats why this demographic turned out. the majority of women who have abortions are often single and the perception was that abortion was at risk this election cycle.
Kieran • Nov 17, 2022 at 4:21 PM
It was not merely a perception, it was a fact. Had Proposal 3 failed, or had any of the other abortion measures failed in other states, there would have been nothing stopping their legislators and state supreme court justices from declaring abortion illegal. We have already seen it banned nearly wholesale across the country, including in Ohio, which is debating a measure to allow high school girls to have their periods tracked in an effort to outlaw abortion. This terrifying authoritarian concept was hauntingly real this cycle, though it is not surprising given that the GOP has proven time and time again that it cares only about control and nothing more.
yousef • Nov 18, 2022 at 10:58 AM
Kieran,
You are somewhat correct that perhaps if we didnt have Prop 3 now the law of the land abortion may have been deemed illegal. I think even if Michigan had defeated prop 3 it wouldn’t have settled this issue of abortion. There was still an injunction against the law protecting the unborn issued by the same judge (Judge Gleicher) who argued on the same grounds as Roe years ago that abortion was in the Michigan constitution interestingly enough. There are still millions in Michigan who think abortion is demonstrable and are fervent in abolishing it.
The battlefield shifts now from the legislature to changing enough hearts and minds of enough michiganders to once again value the life of the unborn in the form of aballot referendum.