Further underscoring the unprecedented nature of 2020 comes a new college voting study from Tufts University, revealing that not only did college-aged voters show up in droves for last year's presidential election, they actually "smashed" previous voting records and cast ballots in record numbers, reports The Boston Globe.
A record 66 percent of college students voted in the presidential election in 2020, up 14 percentage points from 2016, which represents "a much greater increase than that among the general voting public over that period," writes the Globe. The turnout also "brought the voting rate of college students nearly in line with the rest of the population."
Nancy Thomas, director of Tufts' Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, called the jump "quite stunning."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"That's a first for college students and an exponential jump from past elections," Thomas told the Globe. "Candidates would be very smart to start focusing on communities of young people, and particularly college campuses."
"This is just another indication that Gen Z is coming of age with real purpose," added John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, who noted Gen Z has already proven an "even more critical voting bloc" for those seeking office at all levels than millennials were "at this time."
The increase in turnout was particularly stark among voters ages 18 to 21, many of whom were likely voting for the first time, per the Globe.
According to Thomas, Gen Z was likely motivated by issues "they care deeply about," like climate change and racial justice. And that's without mentioning the slew of get-out-the-vote efforts across college campuses. Added Thomas: "The agonizing death of George Floyd spurred this generation to action in ways that I don't think we'd seen before."
-
Political cartoons for December 15Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include Time's person of the year, naughty and nice list, and more
-
Who is fuelling the flames of antisemitism in Australia?Today’s Big Question Deadly Bondi Beach attack the result of ‘permissive environment’ where warning signs were ‘too often left unchecked’
-
Bulgaria is the latest government to fall amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
