What Campaigners Need to Know About Young Voters
Young Americans turned out to vote at lower rates in 2024 than they did four years earlier and reaching those same voters has become more difficult.
A new poll from the Associated Press and NORC sheds some light on why that may be the case. The survey of 1,437 U.S. adults found that young Americans – those between the ages of 18 and 29 – are less tuned into political news and more apathetic than their older counterparts about the issues dominating modern politics.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the poll:
Young Americans Don’t Pay Much Attention to Politics
Put simply, young people aren’t spending that much time following politics.
Just 21 percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 29 said that they pay either extremely or very close attention to political news, the AP-NORC poll found. Older Americans, on the other hand, are far more likely to tune in. Thirty-nine percent of 45-to-59-year-olds said they follow politics extremely or very closely, while 45 percent of Americans over the age of 60 said the same.
The big lesson? Younger voters are simply harder to reach.
Of course, there are some exceptions. Democrats between 18 and 29 years old are more likely than their Republican counterparts to pay attention to politics; 84 percent said that they follow politics extremely, very or at least somewhat closely, compared to 66 percent of Republicans.
Young independents are the least tuned in, with just 47 percent saying that they pay at least somewhat close attention to politics, according to the survey. Young men are also more likely to follow politics than young women. Just 26 percent of 18-to-29-year-old men said they pay little to no attention to politics, while 42 percent of women in that age group said the same.
They’re Less Likely to See Voting as Important
Overall, 53 percent of U.S. adults said that voting is “extremely important,” while another 24 percent said they believe it’s “very important,” according to the AP-NORC poll.
But the data also reveals a massive age gap in that sentiment.
Just over a third of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 – 36 percent – said they believe it’s extremely important for people to vote. That’s nearly half as much as the 68 percent of Americans 60 and up who see voting in the same light.
Of course, young people aren’t a monolith. The poll found that self-described independents are less likely than their partisan counterparts to see voting as important. Among 18-to-29-year-old Democrats, 79 percent said that it’s either extremely or very important for people to vote, while 74 percent of Republicans in that age group said the same.
Just 45 percent of young independents, meanwhile, said that voting is either extremely or very important.
They’re More Apathetic When it Comes to Political Issues
While 18-to-29-year-olds named the economy and health care as their top political priorities, they were still less likely than older Americans to see those issues as important.
According to the AP-NORC poll, 77 percent of people in that 18-to-29 age group see the economy as an extremely or very important matter, while 91 percent of respondents 45 and older said the same about the economy.
When it comes to health care, the poll paints a similar picture: 72 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said it’s very important, while 82 percent of 45-to-59-year-olds said the same. Eighty-nine percent of those 60 and older said health care was very important.
One other key finding: Young people are far less likely than those 60 and older to care about government spending. The AP-NORC poll found that just 53 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds see federal spending as a very important issue, while 81 percent of respondents 60 and older see it as a major concern.
