#DEMOCRACY 3 APATHETIC ELECTORATE REGISTRATION#
#DEMOCRACY 3 APATHETIC ELECTORATE FREE#

And many young people will likely continue to feel disenchanted with politics, even if they keep casting a ballot.The pessimists about democracy in this canvassing make several arguments and foresee several outcomes. That’s one reason why - particularly considering the high barriers they typically face - young voter turnout might continue to ebb and flow, even if we see record-high turnout this year. These kinds of attitudes were common among the young voters we spoke with.

#DEMOCRACY 3 APATHETIC ELECTORATE FREE#

“Honestly, Florida has never had free and fair elections,” he said. Even though he lives in a swing state, Brant told us he still doesn’t think it will make a difference. Other voters, like Brant, who still plans to vote for one of the two major candidates, also approached the process itself with a heavy layer of cynicism. “ each I am increasingly more jaded,” she said. Thompson feels that sends a stronger message than simply voting for Biden. She told us that since she lives in South Carolina, a red state, she doesn’t expect her vote to matter, which is why she’s decided to vote for the Green Party candidate instead of Biden. Briana Thompson, 26, feels disappointed with her voting choices. Andrew B., 29, said he finds politics very frustrating, because people on opposite sides of the aisle won’t admit that anything their opponents have done is good.

Still, however, he feels pretty “resigned” about his vote.īrant wasn’t the only young voter we spoke with who was dissatisfied with his options, or politics more generally. Bernie Sanders in the primary, was initially unhappy when Biden won the nomination but says he’s more enthusiastic about him now. Kenneth Brant, 28, who lives in Florida and voted for Sen. He struggled with young voters in the primary, and several of our survey respondents told us in follow-up interviews that they’re still lukewarm about him. (The rest were unsure.) In general, young people tend to be more Democratic-leaning than older people: Our survey found that 62 percent of adults under 35 identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party.īut young people aren’t necessarily that passionate about supporting Biden.

In our poll, 53 percent of adults under 35 said they planned to support Biden, while only 24 percent said they planned to support Trump. That could be part of the reason why so many young people are turning out to vote early - and if turnout remains high among this group, that could be very good news for Joe Biden and Democratic candidates in general. But a high share (78 percent) of young people told us they’re planning to vote this year, although of course, the number who actually cast a ballot will almost certainly be lower. Admittedly, they’re slightly less likely than older voters to say the outcome of the 2020 election really matters (75 percent compared with 91 percent of people 65 or over). Like many other Americans, younger voters feel a sense of urgency around this election. Despite the inconvenience of not being able to cast her ballot in Savannah this year, though, she said she’s going to make voting a priority, in part because she’s unhappy with how President Trump has handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Jordan hasn’t had problems voting in the past but said some of her friends have run into issues with mail-in ballots this year.

“I’ll probably just drive four hours to go vote,” she said.

#DEMOCRACY 3 APATHETIC ELECTORATE REGISTRATION#

Due to a mixup when she renewed her driver’s license, Jordan’s voter registration reverted to her home county, which is more than 200 miles away. Take Jordan B., 23, a nursing student living in Savannah, Georgia. Young people, for instance, are much more likely to say they couldn’t get off work to vote, didn’t receive their ballot in time, missed the registration deadline or had trouble finding or accessing their polling place. As the chart below shows, young people are more likely to report that they or members of their household have experienced hurdles to voting - even though most have had far fewer elections to vote in. In our survey, almost one-quarter (22 percent) of young people said that when they didn’t end up casting a ballot, they had actually wanted to but couldn’t. And that problem could be compounded this year given the extraordinary challenges of voting during a pandemic. Instead, younger people are much more likely than older people to report that they or members of their household have experienced barriers to voting, which suggests that they may genuinely find it more difficult to cast a ballot. That cynicism doesn’t seem to be motivating them to sit on the sidelines during elections.

Democracy 3 apathetic electorate