Hello, fellow kids,
Despite decades of work to increase turnout among young voters, the U.S. Census reports less than half of people 18 to 24 years old voted in 2024. Midterm elections have been even worse, hovering between a low of 16% voter turnout in the 2014 midterms to 30% in 2018, according to the census.
So what might get more young people to vote in the midterms?
Michigan Public went to Western Michigan University’s Bronco Bash to ask some of the young folks there.
What we heard was pretty positive: Almost everyone we talked to said they were looking forward to voting this year. But that also wasn’t really a surprise. Because it turns out, Michigan does a better job than other states when it comes to getting young people to the polls.
The Michigan Difference
Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) looks at voters aged 18-29. Its research found that 58% of those young people cast ballots in Michigan in 2024, beating the national average. Compared to 2020, Michigan had the biggest increase in turnout for young voters of any state in the country.
That’s after leading the country in youth voter turnout in the 2022 midterms, according to CIRCLE data.
How did we pull it off?
The Michigan Secretary of State’s office credits a state law that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote when they get their driver’s license. To find out how to preregister, you can go to the SOS website here. CIRCLE’s analysis mentions preregistration as well, and includes the state’s absentee voting rules as another reason why turnout is up among young people.
So essentially, Michigan has policies that make it easier for young people to vote. And those policies seem to be working.
But other research points to a second reason: Michigan has become a politically competitive state, and young people are more likely to turn out when they believe their vote matters. A CIRCLE poll of Gen Z’s political attitudes found that 61% of Gen Z voters who voted in 2024 believed their vote matters, while only 41% of non-voters did.
“I think Gen Z will definitely have a big impact,” said Luis Varca, a student we met who says he votes.
He’s not alone.
CIRCLE also ran an analysis to see which local races could be most impacted by young voters. The methodology here is a little complicated, but basically CIRCLE looks at things like how many young people live in an area, how many are in college, what turnout has been in the past and how competitive the races appear. Then CIRCLE calculates an index, and ranks where young people can have the biggest influence in swaying an election.
And Michigan simply cleans up in these rankings. We’re second for governor’s races, fourth for the U.S. Senate race, and we had the No. 1 ranked Congressional race that could be decided by young voters.
So Michigan’s young voters have plenty of reasons to believe their vote could make a difference.
Gen Z and politics
While Michigan has stood out for improving turnout among young voters, the truth is Gen Z is starting to show up in a way that previous generations haven’t.
CIRCLE reports that Gen Z actually had higher voter turnout in its first election cycle than previous generations, suggesting that today’s younger generation is actually more politically motivated than in the past.
And that could make a difference in this year’s midterms, nationally and locally.
A poll released by CIRCLE found 56% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they are “extremely likely” to vote in the midterms nationwide.
This lines up with what we heard from WMU students last week. Most everyone my producer, Kalloli, and I stopped to talk with said they were planning to vote in the midterm elections.
Will the youth show up?
Saying you’re going to vote is not the same as voting. So how can people make sure as many young voters as possible show up for the election?
When we asked the students at WMU, several of them told us information is the key.
“I feel like some people don’t vote because they don’t understand what’s going on fully,” said Courtney Pruitt. “With this new generation, social media is everything.” She told us she first decided to vote in 2024 after finding a person on TikTok who talked about the importance of the election.
Another student, Kent Anderson, told us he believes some young people don’t vote because they might find themselves on opposite sides of an issue from their friends and family.
“I think a lot of people don’t want to vote the opposite of their parents. They think their parents won’t like them anymore,” Anderson told me. “That’s how it was for me, but it’s not true. Your parents will still love you if you vote the opposite of them.”
Research has shown that, sometimes, the barriers to voting for young people are often psychological.
In 2025, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published a study recommending a series of steps to address those psychological barriers, such as:
- Help young people make a plan.
- Focus on their values.
- Give them a reason to hope.
- Make voting normal.
- Talk about civic duty.
- Get their friends involved.
We did find one student at WMU who said she wasn’t sure if she would vote this year.
“There’s rights and wrongs on both sides,” said Brooklyn Angel, who said she still has research to do before she can decide how, or even if, she’ll vote this year. “Right now at least, I don’t think I’m going to vote, but I don’t know. If I do end up voting, I need to research both sides.”
But her friend Sophia Koches said she’s still trying to convince Brooklyn to vote. “I think it’s important to use your voice, and do at least something.”
For as long as I can remember, people have been talking about the problem of getting young people to vote. It’s clear the problem hasn’t been solved, but all the data, and all the students we talked to, give reason to believe that this generation really is stepping up — especially in Michigan.
Rooting for the youth,
Dustin Dwyer, Reporter
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Today’s newsletter was written by Dustin Dwyer, produced by Kalloli Bhatt, and edited by Michelle Keller.
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