VOX: Young people say they plan to vote at near-historic highs

[Quixote1818]

Young voters are notoriously difficult to get to vote in midterms, but 2018 could change that.

A high number of young voters could turn out in the 2018 midterms, according to a new poll from the Harvard University Institute of Politics.

The biannual poll released Monday showed that 40 percent of 18- to 29-year olds said they will “definitely vote” in the 2018 midterm elections, a substantial increase from the 2014 and 2010 midterms.

“We believe there is a marked increase in youth turnout, unlike anything we’ve seen in 32 years,” said John Della Volpe, director of polling for the Institute of Politics.

Young people who identify as Democrats are more likely to say they will definitely vote; 54 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of Republicans, and 24 percent of independents told Harvard researchers they would vote. That’s good for Democrats, but there’s also evidence that young Republican voters are becoming more enthusiastic as the election nears.

More: https://www.vox.com/2018/10/29/18037916/young-people-vote-harvard-poll-2018-midterms

[qazplm135]

1. I'll believe it when I

See it

[Aristus]

2. This election cycle is the first one in which my adult grandchildren can vote.

All three of them turned eighteen since the last election. And they're champing at the bit to vote. Their mother has made sure they received their ballots, and will put them in the county drop-box for them when they've been completed.

BTW, they're all voting straight Dem...

[qazplm135]

3. That's great for them

But it's not the pattern we've seen going back literally generations.

[Luciferous]

15. My daughter is 19 and can't wait to vote! She's also encouraging all of her friends to vote.

[herding cats]

10. So far, they're way up from 2014.

Link to tweet

Over 1.5 million people under the age of 30 have already voted in this country, despite many states making it near impossible for younger people to vote early. This is compared to only 563,000 votes cast in the same time period in 2014.

It's looking much better this cycle.

[qazplm135]

13. how much of that is due to simply an increase in population?

I'm certainly not suggesting the entire 1 million increase is due to that, but some of it is.

I'd also want to know how that compares to other age groups. Is 1 million a big deal, or not so much?

So, I don't know from that if it is looking much better or relatively how much better it is looking.

I do know there was a huge gap, so getting much better was required just to get to equity.

[qazplm135]

14. so here's the concern

I go to that tweet, I open it up and the bottom line number I find is that 18-29 year olds make up less than 7% of all voters.

7. Percent.

30-39 is 8 percent.

40-49 is 11 percent.

50-64 is almost 30 percent.

64 and above is a whopping 44 percent.

So three quarters of the electorate is over 50. And we wonder why old, white people are most likely to get their needs tended to.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. That's Weird

This thread interprets the data in a different way.

[link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11346186|

[Quixote1818]

5. Enthusiasm is about 17% higher than the last midterm

Of course not everyone who says they will vote does but even so, we should have higher youth vote this round.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Well, Cool!

But we have two threads saying just about the opposite regarding that same demographic.

So, it calls into question method and which one to trust.

[MichMan]

7. We will believe the one that suits our narrative...

and dismiss the others as bogus

[LanternWaste]

11. Or simply and quietly question all of them, and forget about all of them on the sixth.

Though it's great fun to pretend to know what "we'll" do, it's valid simply to affect what "I'll" do.

[Kaleva]

17. The title of the other thread is bogus.

OP tries to give the impression that a 31% turnout would be dismal but in truth, it'd be a record breaker for a midterm election for that age group. Add the 26% who say they will probably vote and you beat the 2016 election turnout for that age group.

[Rizen]

9. The title of that thread is misleading

57% say they will definitely or probably vote (31+26% respectively) according to this thread
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11346186
titled: ..."just a third say they'll vote."

[Shubaka]

8. Vote

[Iggo]

12. Did they ask this follow-up question: "Are you registered to vote?"

[ksoze]

16. Reality: Young people say they plan on cleaning their room

They don't.

[Iggo]

18. For the reals. (n/t)

[Wounded Bear]

19. Getting a lot of conflicting numbers here...

guess we'll have to wait and see come next Tuesday.