Young voters are California’s future. So why aren’t the state’s leaders listening to us?
People under 40 make up about a third of the voting-age population, and our key issues, including climate, inequality and social justice, are only becoming more urgent. And yet in election after election, we remain an afterthought.
This “rising American electorate,” as the younger generations have been called, stands to transform American politics. We are often living paycheck to paycheck and much more diverse and left-leaning than our predecessors, according to David McCuan, who teaches political science at Sonoma State University and studies this group.
Millennial and Gen Z voters, economically restricted and socially liberal, will become “a political force that makes them a reckoning for both parties,” McCuan said. He added that local politicians are increasingly younger, more liberal and more diverse — a shift that we will begin to see on the national stage in the decades to come.
But American politics is in a transitional period now, still awaiting the changes this group will bring.
So why don’t young people vote? Well, we do — just not usually in numbers proportionate to our share of the population.
Exit polls from the recent California recall election showed that Millennial and Gen Z voters made up about a quarter of the electorate, and two out of three voted against the recall. In the 2020 presidential election, young voters represented nearly one-third of votes nationwide, according to one analysis, up from under a quarter in 2016.
Despite the stereotypes, Millennials (the oldest of whom are pushing 40 this year) have proven we’re a critical voting bloc, and Gen Z is already impressively active. Still, roughly half of eligible voters under 40 are not casting ballots.
Young voters have grown up watching the government struggle to achieve anything, let alone the sort of progressive action needed to salvage our future. So it’s no wonder we haven’t bought into the system as it stands. Even California, one of the most liberal states in the country, can’t get its act together to save our climate or produce enough housing.
It also takes time to build the habit of voting, and these generations are just hitting their stride. McCuan said 2022 and 2024 will be the test for these voters, who, unlike their Baby Boomer predecessors, are still learning that a ballot makes a bigger impact than a tweet.
But from 18-year-old Gen Zs voting for the first time to Millennials in their 30s who want to (but often cannot) buy a house, why should we feel inspired to vote when we don’t see ourselves — or necessary changes — reflected in government?
Carol Gonzalez, 25, policy director for the Sacramento County Young Democrats, said simply being a registered Democrat is no longer enough for candidates to earn her group’s endorsement. They also need to address problems that young voters care about, such as climate change and social equality.
Advocates like Gonzalez have to overcome the sense of cynicism and disenfranchisement among young progressives who supported figures who represent our positions — such as, on the national level, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — and watched them struggle to make an impact.
It happens in the California statehouse, too: In May, the state’s youngest Assembly member, Alex Lee, 26, D-San Jose, had 16 conservative and moderate legislators pointedly abstain from voting while he presented what was supposed to be a basic transportation bill.
“There are a lot of people who talk a big game of empowering young people, but when we get in office, we are belittled and bullied,” Lee said.
The issues that matter most to young people are the ones that most acutely affect our lives and our futures, but they constantly face an uphill battle in Sacramento. California policymakers spent years warring over reform of restrictive zoning; killed legislation that would curb carbon emissions year after year; deemed Cal Grant expansions that would make college more affordable “too expensive”; and watered down or blocked police reforms.
“Young people do not see themselves represented in candidates or policies currently being put forward,” said Margot Rinaldo, 24, a co-chair of the Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America. “We are the first generation to expect a lower quality of living than our parents, and no one in power is going to do anything about it.”
That’s why younger generations increasingly believe reforming the entire system is the only effective way to create change. Over the past decade, a majority of Democrats came to view socialism more favorably than capitalism, according to a 2018 Gallup poll.
Without meaningful progress, systemic change will only grow more popular among this diverse, progressive electorate. Political candidates ignore the fastest-growing segment of the electorate at their peril.
They also ignore us at everyone’s peril. Young voters today overwhelmingly believe the government should be doing more about climate change, racial equality and wealth inequality. Leaving these problems unaddressed will only make them that much harder to solve and disproportionately hurt those being told to wait for progress.
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article misspelled Carol Gonzalez’s name.
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
