Ask anyone who follows politics and they’ll tell you they’re worried about Gen Z voter turnout. At least, that’s what the headlines and polls are telling us.
An Axios poll in February found that 58% of voters aged 18 to 34 were unsure whether to vote in November. A youth survey conducted by Harvard University in March found that only 53% of 18- to 29-year-olds definitely plan to vote this fall, compared to the same age group. Voter turnout in 2020 was 68%.
This means around half of 18-29 year olds are unsure about voting or have no plans to vote in November. While polls don’t always translate to real life, these numbers are concerning for Democrats, who have relied on young voters in 2020 and beyond.
With the help of Twitter and Instagram, I spoke with three Gen Zers who have no plans to vote in this presidential election. Coincidentally, all three of them are from North Carolina, where gubernatorial and other local elections are scheduled for this fall.
Here’s what they have to say about why they’re feeling lost this year. I was surprised at how much consideration each of them put into this decision. After talking to them, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for President Joe Biden to fear losing the presidency in November. Because to win, we need Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012.
Principled Gen Z voters
Michael Murphy, 27, is a bartender and member of the Triangle chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. He said he voted for Biden in 2020 out of pragmatism, but that the country’s support for Israel changed his attitude.
“When you see them complicit and actively involved in the bombing of our Palestinian brothers and sisters overseas, it’s abhorrent,” Murphy told me. “I think it’s really disgusting.”
He plans to vote in a race near the bottom of the ballot, but he won’t be able to help elected officials who receive money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, including Rep. Valerie Fouthie, who represents his district in the U.S. Congress. is not planning to vote.
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He would change his vote if there was a policy change to halt arms shipments to Israel, but he fears it will be too late. Since our conversation, the president has said he would suspend arms shipments to the country if Israel invades Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinian civilians have taken refuge in southern Gaza. Murphy said it’s a “glimmer of hope” but he’s not ready to support the president just yet.
“I understand the stakes are high, but politics is about principles and substance,” Murphy told me.
Gen Z voters who won’t automatically vote blue this year
Teresa Pulello, a 23-year-old graduate student, had never used the phrase “vote blue no matter who you are,” but that’s how they felt in 2020. They texted their friends to see which district they were assigned to. This was the first time they could vote in a presidential election.
This year, they are considering not voting in the presidential election. They voted “no preference” in North Carolina’s Democratic primary on Super Tuesday and plan to vote in local elections this fall.
“There was hope in voting for Biden in 2020,” Purello told me. “But if you vote for him now, there will be no such thing at all. There will be no appeal.”
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For Purello, the deaths in Gaza and the loss of access to abortion under Biden’s watch, despite Biden’s pledge to protect abortion rights, are reasons he doesn’t plan to vote for Biden. is. Because of the problems with the two-party system in general, he is considering a third-party candidate instead.
“Everyone always says voting is a way to make your voice heard, and that’s true,” Purello says of Gen Z voters. “But thousands of young people are actively choosing to sit out elections, and that is also a statement.”
Gen Z voters pay attention to Biden
Ellen Perlberg, a 25-year-old graduate student, is unsure about voting this fall. She hated Biden in 2020, and she says she hates Biden even more now.
“I doubt Trump’s response to Gaza will be any worse than Biden’s,” Perlberg tells me. “If you want to sell me on making sure I vote, making sure my generation votes, show me meaningful ways that that will change, not just rhetoric.”
Pearlberg votes in local elections despite hating the president. She points out that they are more important in North Carolina than in her home state of Washington.
So what do Gen Z actually care about about this election?
These three voters are likely outliers among other Gen Z voters. A Harvard University youth survey found that the biggest concern for 18- to 29-year-olds was not the Israeli-Hamas war, but the economy.
This is not to say that Gen Z doesn’t care about conflict. 21% of those surveyed believe the US should be more of an ally to the Palestinians, and 51% support a permanent ceasefire. That’s not the biggest concern.
Progressives who don’t vote for Biden are making the same decision that moderate Republicans who refuse to vote for former President Donald Trump will make this November. They think this is the best option in a system where neither candidate is one they want to support. So just as President Trump shouldn’t expect every Republican to vote for him, Democrats shouldn’t necessarily rely on their party’s youngest voters this election cycle.
That doesn’t mean they are uneducated or uninterested. In fact, not a single person I’ve talked to is completely absent from this election. They just aren’t sure Biden got the votes.
And everyone I spoke to said their friends had similar thoughts about not voting in the presidential election or choosing to vote for a third party.
The momentum felt by voters in 2020 may have waned. Voter turnout among 18- to 29-year-olds increased by 8 percentage points between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, according to data from the Brookings Institution. The year of the pandemic was a fluke, and turnout could be very different this year.
These are just anecdotes, but they show that Democrats should be genuinely concerned about how their actions now will affect Biden’s election in November.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X (formerly Twitter). @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites
