Economic issues, climate change, gun violence and abortion are top of mind for young voters

Forty-one million members of Gen Z can vote in this year’s election and money is on their minds. 

Economic issues — including inflation, cost of living and jobs that pay a living wage — are top of mind for young people when it comes to the 2024 Presidential Election, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University. 

“Young people have the potential to have a huge impact,” said CIRCLE Spokesperson Alberto Medina.

Ohioans will be casting their ballots for a new president, a hotly contested U.S. Senate race, an anti-gerrymandering amendment, three Ohio Supreme Court races and the Ohio House of Representatives elections. 

Ohio’s Senate race between Republican Bernie Moreno and incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown ranks as the number two Senate race in the country where young people can have a major influence on election results, according to CIRCLE’s Youth Electoral Significance Index. 

“There are things that affect youth in different ways,” Medina said. “We really lose out on their experiences, their perspectives and their political action if we don’t do everything that we can to encourage and support their engagement. … We should strive to have a fully representative and equitable democracy in which all communities and all people have the chance to be heard and to have an impact equally.”

The percentage of youth, ages 18-34 year olds, who selected each issue as one of their top three priorities, according to CIRCLE’s poll —

• Cost of living/inflation — 53%
• Jobs that pay a living wage — 28%
• Gun violence prevention — 26%
• Addressing climate change — 26%
• Expanding access to abortion — 19%
• Fighting racism — 13%
• Securing the border — 13%
• Public education — 13%
• Student loan debt — 12%
• Reducing the national debt — 11%

Ella Douglas, an 18-year-old freshman at Ohio State University, said the economy is her top issue.

“I care about where our money is going,” she said.

Delaney McCullough, a 20-year-old sophomore at Ohio State, said her top priority is reproductive rights. 

“I’m very pro-choice,” McCullough said. 

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018 are two events that mobilized members of Gen Z into civic participation, Medina said. 

CIRCLE estimates 39% of 18-29 year olds voted in 2016 and 50% of voters in that age range voted in 2020. 

“Gen Z has, at least so far, been a generation that is really tuned into politics and to elections, and really interested in participating and really making their voice heard at the ballot box,” Medina said. “We’ve seen indications in other polling that excitement to vote may have increased in recent months with some of the changes in terms of who’s on the ballot.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris recently became the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out and she has garnered a lot of support among young people. 

If the election was held today, Harris would likely get about 56% of the youth vote, people ages 18-29, according to the results of the New York Times/Siena College polls of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin published on Aug. 10. Their poll was conducted among 1,973 likely voters from Aug. 5-9.

Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and Harris’ social media accounts have garnered a lot of attention leading up to the election. 

“Those can be helpful tools in meeting young people where they are, but they shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of outreach to young people,” Medina said. “… It’s definitely important for any candidate or organization to not think that just because they put a TikTok out there, that’s going to be the sort of magic wand for engaging all young people.” 

Young people are less likely to be affiliated with a political party — meaning a political party trying to mobilize voters could be missing young people, Medina said.

“There’s often a vicious circle that develops because young people have historically voted at a lower rate, campaigns don’t see them as reliable voters that they should invest in reaching out to and then, of course, they don’t reach out to them,” he said. “So young people don’t show up. And the vicious circle continues.”

Ohio voting 

Only 32% of Ohio’s 18-year-olds are registered to vote as of May, according to the Civics Center, a nonpartisan organization trying to increase voter registration. 

By comparison, 78% of Ohioans ages 45 and older are registered, according to the Civics Center.

Warren County has the highest percentage of 18-year-olds registered to vote with 35.5%, according to the Civics Center. 

“Democracy works best when it has all voices represented,” said Civics Center Director Laura Brill.

“There are a lot of issues that affect young people in very particular ways.”

Some of those issues include mental health, climate change, gun violence, the cost of college and housing affordability, she said. 

“If young people’s voices are not part of the political process, we will not be able to elect representatives and come up with solutions that represent all of us,” Brill said. 

More than 75% of registered young voters, ages 18-24, have voted in every presidential election since 2004, according to the Civics Center. 

A 2023 law makes it harder for out-of-state college students to vote in Ohio by requiring Ohioans to show an unexpired Ohio’s driver’s license or a state ID card to vote. A college or university ID does not count as a photo ID. 

Ohio’s deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 election is Oct. 7.

This story was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal