The Youth Vote: A Parade of Non-Partisan Politics [Voices of Democracy series]

Following the 2018 midterms, I fell down the rabbit hole of youth political engagement (as one does) and came across a staggering statistic. Only 56% of young people, ages 18-24, choose to affiliate with the Democratic or Republican parties, according to CIRCLE at Tufts University. This number shocked me: do over 40% of youth voters really feel alienated by the two-party system? And for how long has this been the norm? 

These questions prompted me to research the history of youth political identification. Let’s take a journey to 1971 when the 26th Amendment––the law that gave 18-20 year-olds the right to vote in federal and state elections––was ratified. According to Hazel Erskine’s 1971 public opinion research paper “The Polls: The Politics of Age,” the trend toward nonpartisan politics began even earlier. The 1960s, Erskine states, “witnessed a widespread movement toward nonpartisan political identification, and the youth have led that parade.” In January 1971, the first year in which 18-20 year-olds were allowed to register and cast ballots, “48% considered themselves independent voters.” 

This statistic reaffirmed to me that our modern-day political alienation is far from a new phenomenon. In fact, this trend has remained constant and is abundantly clear: half of all young voters have not felt at home in any American political party for nearly 50 years. Is this lack of passion and excitement what keeps youth vote turnout numbers so low? And, more importantly, why has nothing changed?

Annika Reff is an intern and Project Assistant with The Civics Center. She is taking a gap year to help improve youth civic engagement and will be a first-year at Pomona College beginning in Fall 2021. The Civics Center’s “Voices of Democracy” blog series celebrates and highlights the voices that matter to us most: those of young people working to improve civic engagement and participation in our democracy.