- Last year, Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for Clinton over Trump in a landslide. Only 43 percent of citizens in that age group voted, however. By contrast, Americans over age 65 supported Trump — and 71 percent of them voted. Similarly, Americans in their 30s were more likely to support Clinton, and less likely to vote, than those in their 50s.
The pattern also exists across ethnic groups. Asian and Hispanic voters went for Clinton in a bigger landslide than millennials, but most Asian and Hispanic citizens didn’t vote.
And the gaps grow even larger in midterm elections. A mere 17 percent — 17 percent! — of Americans between 18 and 24 voted in 2014, compared with 59 percent of seniors.
Compare and contrast. A survey of 14,000 people after they had voted by former Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft found that two-thirds of 18- to 24-year-olds cast their ballots for Mr Corbyn’s party.And the gaps grow even larger in midterm elections. A mere 17 percent — 17 percent! — of Americans between 18 and 24 voted in 2014, compared with 59 percent of seniors.
According to Sky News data, the turnout for 18- to 24-year-olds was 66.4 per cent, up from 43 per cent two years ago.
I haven't really dug through it, but there is an interesting graph in here: Young-Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964–2012 https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p20-573.pdf In '76, the oldest fuckers began their upswing in voter participation. They're the only age group where participation isn't trending downwards.
There's a number of interesting graphs in there, actually. The one that pretty much indicates the youth vote is driven by inspiration (first term Clinton, '92, first term Obama, '08) is one. The one that indicates the female vote under 30 has gone down while the female vote 30-44 has gone up is another. I'd say the first graph is about engagement. I'd say the second graph is about this: "won't anybody think of the children?"
Uneducated citizens might not have the opportunity to understand how important voting is, but for those that have education, the blame is theirs. Many millennials qualify. We've suffer from the expectation that a candidate must inspire, or be idealogically fit. The more a populous sincerely engages government, the more the government will reflect their needs and disposition. Putting a requisite upon engagement itself is self-defeating. Your apathy is the ally of those opposed to your worldview.
It seems like modern American politics have a theme of "Put you're foot down, don't compromise, and if you don't get your way, don't play ball." Look at the rhetoric. Look at the lack of bipartisanship in congress. Liberals seem to have much more of a diverse world view than conservatives, so liberals seem to have much more complain about their candidates, so it's no surprise many of them often don't vote. They don't like the candidates offered to them so they're not gonna play ball and vote.