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Young people, specifically those in Generation Z, are influencing American politics. The article also explores how Gen Z voters are more likely to engage in activism and hold their elected officials accountable, ,leading to a shift in the way politicians approach their campaigns and governing strategies.

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Opinion | ‘Maybe Gen Z Is Just Kinder’: How America’s Youngest Voters Are Shaping Politics

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Three 20-something voters on the issues they care about most this midterm season.

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The article shares data on Gen Z's political beliefs, such as their views on issues like climate change and gun control, and also examines the ways in which they are engaging in politics, such as through social media

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For 19-year-old Jenna Ruiz, voting for the first time was a thrill.

"My group of friends and I were really excited," Ruiz said, a sophomore at Miami Dade College who serves as student government president.

Ruiz and her friends are just a few of the millions of young Americans newly eligible to vote in the 2022 midterms.

Still, that excitement didn't smooth over some of the uncertainty Ruiz experienced when it came time to actually cast her ballot.

"I felt, I'm not going to lie, a little bit lost on some of the things that were on the ballot," Ruiz told NPR. She said she was mostly motivated to vote because she disagreed with the conservative social policies of Florida's current Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who ended up winning reelection.

"I do identify more towards the Democratic Party, but I still felt like I didn't really know everything that was on the ballot," Ruiz added. "I just was excited to vote."

Ruiz is part of Generation Z, which is still just getting its feet wet in politics, since the oldest members of the generation turn 26 this year. Along with millennials, Gen Zers turned out in historically high numbers for a midterm election, second only to the 2018 election.

And while Gen Zers voted decidedly with Democrats last year - and say they were most concerned about issues related to abortion - some still wish they were better informed before voting. That's all according to a new post-election report on Gen Z from the education advocacy organization Murmuration, the Walton Family Foundation and the public opinion firm SocialSphere.

The report, which contains a national survey conducted shortly after the election, was exclusively obtained by NPR. It also found that Gen Z primarily relies on social media for news instead of more traditional media platforms - raising questions for strategists and organizers alike over how to engage the country's youngest adults in politics.

Gen Z wants more information about who they're voting for

Ruiz isn't alone in feeling unsure about some of the additional names on her ballot.

According to SocialShere's survey data, one-third of Gen Z voters wished they had known more about the candidates and their positions in the last election - compared to 21% of Millenials, 11% of members of Generation X and 6% of Baby Boomers.

Similarly, just half of Gen Z voters say they were confident about every race on their ballot - and a third voted in every race but admitted to not knowing much about some candidates.

To John Della Volpe, the founder of SocialSphere and the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, this gap in understanding is an important insight.

"Often I think we take for granted that younger people who, by definition, have less experience, are every bit as equipped to cast a ballot as their parents, their grandparents," he said, "who have been thinking, debating and participating in this for decades longer."

And while individual voters have a duty to seek out some civic information, Della Volpe argues, there's also a collective community responsibility within politics and outside of it, like in the workplace, at school, among family and on social media.

But to some young organizers, that exposed lack of confidence doesn't mean less enthusiasm and interest.

"Yes, maybe you didn't know everything you needed to. Every single fact about the candidate that you were voting for. But the fact that you voted, means that you cared about it enough to show up anyways," said Marianna Pecora, a leader with the youth-led political organization Voters of Tomorrow.

Like Della Volpe, Pecora, 19, says there needs to be a more considerable community-wide change to help increase civics and political interest, both online and in person.

Though others have less sympathy. To 20-year-old Nyla Branam, Gen Z needs to make more of an effort - especially since they've spent their entire lives with access to advanced technology.

"People in my age group would rather just fill in a bubble and show up, then take time to actually research and find out who they're voting for because it's not beneficial and it's not an assignment," Branam said.

Branam is a student at Delaware State University, a historically Black college. On top of not knowing enough about politics, it frustrates her that some people at her school don't vote - especially when so many are passionate about issues like police and criminal justice reform.

"The local elections, the presidential elections, all those things matter because when your friend does get locked up, you know what judge they're going to. And that representative was picked based on morals and values that align to yours," Branam explained.

A majority of Gen Z gets their news from social media

Gen Z stands alone from older generations in how they consume news, according to the same SocialSphere survey data.

Among Gen Zers who said they wanted more information ahead of voting, 36% say they would turn to the internet to get it, compared to 12% who specifically say social media.

But when asked to select sources they regularly go to for news or current events, social media companies were at the top of the list.

YouTube leads with Gen Zers at 61%, followed by TikTok (57%), Instagram (51%), Snapchat (43%), Twitter (35%) and Facebook (33%.) Traditional media sources, including local television and major network and cable news networks, are much lower on the list - between 25-22%.

Gen Z has a particular hold on TikTok and uses it far more than Millennials do. Among Millennials, just under a third list TikTok as a regular source of news, instead, over half flock to Facebook and YouTube.

For Alex Ames, a leading organizer with the group Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, using social media as a primary news source can be limiting.

"A 15-second TikTok or so might give you some glimpse of some of the problems you care about," Ames, 20, said, "but isn't going to be quality controlled or as in-depth as a legitimate civics course in your school or a 12-page-long New York Times article."

Plus, when politicians and candidates try to engage with young people on social media, Ames says they often incorrectly frame their content as entertainment instead of education.

"Even if we are young people, we are still serious about the ballots we cast," Ames said, "So we shouldn't decide that youth engagement to us means our candidate has a TikTok account. Youth engagement should be actually teaching the young people in our communities how our policies impact the things that touch them."

To Ames, a good example of a national politician engaging on social media is Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who posts video updates and explainers to her 8.6 million followers on Instagram outlining her daily work and political decisions.

Similarly, Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-N.C., has developed a following over TikTok, which he started during his campaign and now uses as a House member. His account has already raked in over 341,000 followers, a much larger amount compared to Twitter, where he has 94,000.

Gen Z's political loyalty remains an open question

Democrats aren't the only ones who want to do a better job educating young voters. Some young Republicans say a change is needed within their party too.

"Young people aren't looking towards the policies that are really going to be directly affecting their lives. Instead, they're looking towards the big ticket items of major social and political discussion," said David Hora, a 22-year-old senior at Iowa State University who calls himself a proud Republican.

To Hora, who grew up in a farm family, Republicans need to take the conversation back - arguing topics like abortion, gun control and immigration reform distract young voters from more applicable concerns involving finances and the economy.

But that battle is a tough one for Republicans, given Gen Z voters overwhelmingly supported Democrats over Republicans in the midterms by 27 points - and prioritized protecting abortion access by a higher amount than any other generation, according to SocialSphere's survey data.

That said, a potential lack of party identity leaves hope for Republicans. Notably, just 30% of Gen Zers surveyed said they aligned with Democrats, compared to 24% for Republicans and 28% for independents.

"The Democrats don't own these votes. They're renting them," said Republican political strategist John Brabender. "There still is an open door, and I think there is both a want from these voters to hear more, but that door is not going to be open forever."

To Brabender, the upcoming presidential election offers momentum for the GOP to capitalize on young voters. The GOP's first objective should be to tighten the margins.

Putting the 2022 election in the rearview and looking ahead to 2024, some Gen Z voters do remain undecided.

Mia Kennedy, a sophomore at Miami Dade College, chose not to vote in the midterms because she felt she didn't have enough balanced information to make her decision.

"There's really extreme on one side, and then there's really extreme on the other side, and I just feel like I don't know where to go for information," Kennedy said. "I feel like I need a middle ground."

Kennedy is registered as an independent but says she leans more conservative. By the time the next election comes around, she's hoping to have a better understanding of where she falls.

"I feel like I'm not one of those people to just be like, I'll vote red because I'm red or blue because I'm blue. I want to know what I'm going into," she explained. "But regardless, I think I am going to vote."
The Walton Family Foundation is a financial supporter of NPR.

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Gen Z's political power: new data gives insight into America's youngest voters

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For 19-year-old Jenna Ruiz, voting for the first time was a thrill. "My group of friends and I were really excited," Ruiz said, a sophomore at Miami Dade College who serves as student government president.

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It highlights the importance of reaching out to these young voters by providing them with information on candidates and issues that matter to them, as they are more likely to support candidates who share their values and beliefs. The article also highlights the potential impact of GenZ voters on future elections and the need for politicians to pay attention to their views and concerns.

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A new post-election national report on Gen Z voters finds the youngest voters wish they had more information about candidates before they went to the polls, and that if political candidates and parties want to reach this generation, the usual bag of political tricks probably won't work.

The report is based on research from the Walton Family Foundation, education advocacy nonprofit Murmuration, and public opinion research firm SocialSphere. Its goal was to gather insights and information for those who want to figure out how to appeal to Gen Z voters, which it designates as youth aged 15 to 25.

"I think the overall theme of this suite of research that we're doing on this project is that a lot of people talk Gen Z, but they don't talk Gen Z," John Della Volpe, founder and CEO of SocialSphere and director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, told the Capital-Star.

"People in my position, pollsters, think about messages to engage with Gen Z. But for them it's about values, not messages, and not transactions. So there has to be alignment on values. And honestly, that is the biggest opportunity Democrats have and the biggest challenge that Republicans have," he said.

The began in May, with three big town-hall style groups in Houston, Atlanta, and Columbus, and two smaller groups in Arkansas. It also included national surveys of 3,805 people between 15 and 25, and about 1,108 people over 25. A second national survey in late August polled high-schoolers, and a third round included interviews conducted in the days and weeks after the November midterm elections.

Among Gen Z voters, 33% said they wished they'd had more information about candidates before voting. Seventy-eight percent of Gen Z voters considered it important to address systemic racism, and 29% said abortion and reproductive rights were the issue they were most concerned about when they voted in the 2022 midterms.

Rachel Janfaza, a freelance journalist and fellow with the Walton Family Foundation, conducted listening sessions included in the research. She also conducted election day exit polling with Gen Z voters in Philadelphia.

"One of the things that stood out to me was just this idea that young people are craving more information about the candidates who are on their ballot, the initiatives that are on their ballot," Janfaza said. "And while there is a lot of talk about 'go vote, go local,' that oftentimes gets lost on young people who are like, 'well, what am I voting for? Or who am I voting for?' They really want more information, and some of them even said they refrained from voting because they didn't have enough information and they didn't want to make an uninformed decision."

And this cohort showed up in significant numbers in those midterms, bucking the conventional wisdom that young people don't vote: A Tufts University report on exit polls found an estimated 27% of voters age 18-29 cast ballots, the second-highest turnout of that demographic in the past three decades.

But not all of them love the "Gen Z" label, her research found.

"The term Gen Z has been stigmatized in a way," a student at Dover High School in Delaware told her. "Especially older generations see [someone in] Gen Z as someone who is too sensitive or you can't say anything to them because they'll always get offended," she said.

Janfaza said many of the young people she interviewed spoke eloquently about issues that are directly affecting their lives, such as fear of gun violence, the climate crisis, wanting access to reproductive healthcare, college affordability or housing.

"You name it, it runs the gamut," she said. "But they're able to very succinctly point out these issues and how they're directly impacting them. And yet, aren't necessarily always making the links to how and if these issues are going to be affected by the candidates who are on their ballot."

Gen Z voters speak about wanting to see change, she added, but don't necessarily see voting as the vehicle for that change.

"There's a lot of talk about democracy that I think falls flat for our generation," one 20-year-old student organizer at Georgia Tech University said, adding she hopes for "Americans to have the power to change the things in their everyday lives for the better and not a political system that essentially just stands in the way of all that."

The top issue on the minds of Gen Z voters?

"Overwhelmingly in our conversations we talked about gun violence," Janfaza said, adding it wasn't restricted to young people in classrooms.

In the Philadelphia conversations, almost every young woman she spoke to said the issue driving them to the polls was reproductive health care and women's rights, Janfaza told the Capital-Star.

"They wanted to elect someone, especially for the governor's seat, who was going to make sure that there was access," she said. There was also a focus on gun violence. "Some of the people I spoke with in Philadelphia said this area has increasingly become more dangerous when it comes to daily incidents of shootings. And that was very palpable."

The researchers also found that while yes, Gen Z gets a lot of information from social media, it isn't enough for politicians to make a few TikTok videos and call it a day. Candidates need to meet young people where they are, both online and in person.

"Governor [Josh] Shapiro was all over college campuses," during the campaign, Janfaza noted. "And I think that made a big difference. I spoke with a lot of young people in Pennsylvania in the lead up to the election who said when they saw him on campus, it was like, 'Whoa, you know, he's actually here.' And they felt like she was listening to them. I think that that's something that across the country, young people are really craving from their elected officials."

And authenticity from candidates is crucial for this voting cohort, Della Volpe added.

"So be on TikTok if you're authentically comfortable on TikTok, right? That's how they poked fun at [GOP Senate candidate Mehmet] Oz. Remember the 'crudite'?" Della Volpe said, referring to Mehmet Oz's widely-mocked video where he tried to illustrate the high cost of groceries by describing a tray of vegetables as "crudite.".

The way Gen Z thinks about the issues in politics is different than the way millennials and other earlier generations did, Della Volpe said.

"There's an urgency that I didn't recognize in millennials." Much of it has to do with the fact that Gen Z are seeing first-hand the effects of climate change, and what it looks like to have reproductive rights stripped away, issues that may have felt a bit more abstract to earlier generations. "It is a concrete, tangible connection between a policy and an outcome."

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Now a political force, research shows GenZ voters crave information on candidates, issues - Pennsylvania Capital-Star

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A new post-election national report on Gen Z voters finds the youngest voters wish they had more information about candidates before they went to the polls, and that if political candidates and parties want to reach this generation, the usual bag of political tricks probably won't work.