Young Voters Propelled Democrats to Victory in 2018 According to New Research
Political Scientists are still crunching the numbers from the 2018 mid-term election and it's becoming even more clear that young voters [aged 18-29] were pivotal to Democratic victories. They showed up at the polls in record numbers and they overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates.
Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) has examined the data from each of the 34 states that have made their voter turnout information available.
Compared to the 2014 midterm elections, youth voter turnout increased for every state for which data are available so far in 2018;
In 32 of the 34 states, youth turnout increased by at least 7 percentage points, and in 27 of them it increased by at least 10 percentage points (see map). In some cases, such as Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia, youth turnout doubled or tripled; and
In 26 of the 34 states, the increase in youth turnout exceeded the increase in turnout among the overall (all ages) electorate.
And, exit polls showed that these young voters who had supported Democrats by 11 percentage points in 2014, backed them by 35 points in 2018.
