The Youngest Generations And The 2020 Electorate: Here’s What We Know

Pew Research found that Millennials and Gen Z make up 37% of the electorate. With that being over a third of the voting base, what do we know about these two generations as a voting bloc?Millennials are currently aged 23-38, as defined by the Voter Participation Center. This totals to about 62,100,000 voters. While we may think of Gen Z as too young to vote, there are currently 15,100,000 Gen Z voters, aged 18-22.

 

Regardless of what we know about these eligible voters, what is key is actually getting these generations to turn out at the polls or absentee ballot. Less than half of eligible 18-29 year olds voted in 2016.

Interestingly, not many young Americans believe that the U.S. is better than all other countries in the world— 14% of Gen Z say so, and 13% of Millennials. (56% of Gen Z say the U.S. is “one of the best countries, along with some others” and 58% of Millennials agree with that statement).

 

Millennials grew up with the Internet. But Gen Z takes it further: they grew up with the smartphone. This on-the-go, information-seeking behavior has changed the way our brains are wired. As such, studies detail that Gen Z have an attention span of approximately 8 seconds in comparison to Millennials with 12 seconds.

 

Now compare millennials to Baby Boomers, which presently is the largest active voting bloc: about 21% of Millennials contributed financially to a political campaign in the last year, in contrast to 14% of Baby Boomers. 1 in 5 Millennials attended a political rally in the last year, versus 1 in 10 Baby Boomers. 13% of Millennials volunteered for a political campaign in the last year, versus a stark 5% of Baby Boomers.

A new study by Chegg (yes, the textbook rental site) discovered that 1 in 3 students say neither the Democratic nor the Republican party reflects their political views. 

What young voters crave is authenticity, and the number one personality trait these voting blocs desire is integrity.

As these young generations of eligible voters age into larger and larger parts of the voting electorate, our elections will be indelibly shaped by these self-identified “undecided researchers” who seek out information before voting.

Regardless of party or political views, it is important for all of us to take note of these statistics. Young people can and should encourage their friends to become more educated in their voting issues, show up to the polls, and then go out for avocado toast, because what else would Millennials do?