Young Adult Voting Skyrocketed in 2018. What Can We Do To Make It Happen Again?
by John Rogers, Joe Kahne, and Erica Hodgin
In 2014, the voting rates for young adults plunged to their lowest point in close to 40 years, with less than 20 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds turning out at the polls. Just four years later, an entirely different picture emerged as young adult voting rates jumped to 36 percent – a whopping 80 percent increase. What happened? Why did these voting rates increase so much?
In the Q&A below, National Education Policy Center Fellow John Rogers of UCLA and his collaborators, Joe Kahne and Erica Hodgin of the Civic Engagement Research Group (CERG) at the University of California, Riverside, address these and other questions about young people and voting. They conclude with practical ways that educators and policymakers can encourage more young people to vote.