The Force is With Gen Z

As the 2022 midterm elections are less than eight weeks away, politicians and activist groups are kicking campaigning into high gear; determined to flip, win, and create “waves” of red and blue. Amid recent election turmoil, the U.S party system has rarely seen such division and tension.
The competition is fierce, with much focus being spent on the young voter demographic. Data from Statista shows why this is a lucrative group to target, “In the 2020 presidential election, about 55 percent of voters aged between 18 and 29 participated in the election.”

Gen Z and its Power to Invoke Change

The up-and-coming group of young voters continues to grow each year and makes up “Generation Z” commonly referred to as "Gen Z," which the Pew Research Center defines as anyone born between the years1997 and 2012. This group of eligible voters is seen as “untapped potential,” where political activist groups and politicians can stir up and pull in new members. With a country that is so divided, every vote matters and historically, young voters are most likely to be swayed or convinced whereas older voters are set in their political parties and voting patterns.

Part of why the youth vote is so crucial is due to the similarity in viewpoints for topics that matter being shared with millennials. In a statement to NPR, Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, president and executive director of NextGen America, an organization that encourages the youth vote, she explains that the combination of millennials and Gen Z creates the largest voting demographic. A total of 65 million eligible voters.Gen Z has the potential to be a major force and drive major change which political parties and politicians alike are hungry for.

Emma Sharma, a field organizer for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and current Davison County, Tennessee democratic party campaign coordinator, shed some light on practices used along the campaign trail and how they were able to mobilize and drive the Gen Z vote.

“We just really tapped into youth voter registration more than ever before, a lot of times in past elections it’s been overlooked and people just kind of assumed youth voters don’t vote. And a lot of newly registered voters are becoming democrats. So especially with the democrat party, we find that valuable, because it helps us.”

With the demographic being so large, the next hurdle is mobilizing Gen Z to be engaged and make their voices heard through voting. And despite their potential to make profound change through voting, some Gen Z voters feel like their vote does not make a worthwhile enough impact to go and vote.

A poll from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School helps characterize the apathetic attitude some have towards voting. “There was a sharp increase in youth believing that “political involvement rarely has tangible results” (36%), their vote “doesn’t make a difference” (42%) and agreement that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing” (56%).” In response to this, the role of driving up engagement among young voters has primarily been driven by peers, young Gen Z activists reaching out to other members of Gen Z.

Shayna Druckman, 21-year-old Gen Z activist who is a senior majoring in Human Services and Social Justice at The George Washington University has been participating in student activism groups and local political campaigns she says this in relation to the importance of the youth vote.

“People get nervous about not knowing the process of how to get an absentee ballot how to vote, where to vote, it’s very confusing for someone who is new to it. I think people just simply haven’t done the research because maybe it’s confusing or it’s hard to find information that is valid about the different candidates and all of that I think is related to someone being embarrassed or just not knowing where to start.”

Infographic helping break down the voter registration

process. Created by Ries Allyn

This is part of what motivates Druckman’s continuing efforts to educate and turn out the Gen Z vote by driving up engagement.

Tik Toking to the Ballot Box

Reaching a younger audience has never been more accessible, yet at the same time, it’s harder to capture their attention and communicate a compelling message leading to action. In the new age of digital campaigns, politicians are turning to new ways to engage and interact over social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok to reach their most underrepresented demographic.

Current Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff succeeded in his run for office with this approach during his runoff campaign against incumbent Sen. David Perdue which took place on Jan. 5, 2021, after the Presidential election in November 2020. Ossoffs online presence and social media interaction demonstrated his ability to relate and connect with young voters. This campaign tactic was strategic after he saw how young voters turned out in significant numbers weeks prior for the presidential election leading to President Bidens electoral win in Georgia. In fact, The Civics Center reported that about 23,000 Georgia teens would be eligible to vote, on Jan. 5, 2021, and because Ossoff saw the power and potential of the youth vote, he directed campaigning efforts towards this demographic.

In an email statement to The Augusta Chronicle Ossoff's press secretary, Jake Best, conveyed that their campaign approach was "robust" and "innovative" through its ability to speak with young voters directly. Connecting with them on issues that matter most to young voters, on platforms and applications they use most. Twitter and Tik Tok proved to be key aspects in Ossoffs victory and how he connected with the Georgia community.

Voting by mail/absentee ballot demonstration Tik Tok created by Ries Allyn, to resemble similar media strategies to engage with Gen Z

It’s not just politicians trying to reach younger demographics of eligible voters but it’s also activist groups and political parties themselves who have taken to a variety of ways to drive up voter registration and turnout.

Ahead of midterm elections this Fall, Ulster County, New York, held a sticker design contest earlier this summer in the hopes that a “unique” or seemingly “cool” design might help motivate people to vote. Hudson Rowan, a 14-year-old, won with over 225,000 votes, drawing the attention of members within the community. Constituents participating in the midterm election will receive Rowan's custom sticker after voting. Ulster County officials hope this competition is a significant indicator for the midterm election’s participation in November. The goal being to mobilize and translate into the number of active voters who show up to the ballot box to vote during the real election, if not for politics but for a sticker.

Ulster County, NY "I Voted Sticker" contest winner design by Hudson Rowan, following are his opponent's designs. Source: Ulster County Board of Elections

Ulster County Voting Sticker Designed by Hudson Rowan_edited.jpg

A growing strategy has also been registering people to vote at concerts and events. Political action groups like Rock the Vote and Headcount approach voting eligible youth at concerts and events, going up to them while they wait in line to get into the venue and ask about their registration status, and if an individual is not registered to vote the activist members offer to get them registered. These members doing so with the ease of scanning a quick QR code to a link of a quick government survey to register, actively making the registration process a breeze and accessible.

A key component to consider about these groups is the volunteers are often young people themselves, it helps to have similar-aged peers registering their peers. In a comment to The Augusta Chronicle, Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, the director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, detailed how youth voting is influenced by "peer-to-peer" political engagement. More than ever youth are utilizing their personal social media platforms to boost and share messages that encourage civic engagement. Youth use these avenues as a way to promote issues they care about and politicians they favor.

A Generation of Grassroots Activism: Gen Z

After the campaigning, what causes drive Gen Z to go to the ballot box on Nov. 8, 2022? According to the Pew Research Center, issues impacting youth voter turnout is, Climate Change among others like gun rights, and reproductive healthcare which has taken a recent hike with the school shooting massacres across the U.S. and the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization which overturned federal abortion protection given by Roe v. Wade.

Many members of Gen Z first became civically active following the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This happening at a time when many Gen Z were just turning 18- years-old and a few months before the 2018 midterm elections.

The cause for gun violence prevention sparked a passion in youth that put political action at the forefront for many people. After the Parkland Shooting, a large amount of high school students across the country staged walkouts making a statement about school safety. Out of this came many activist groups mobilizing efforts to speak out further, like March for Our Lives which was founded by students who survived the Parkland shooting and, Everytown for Gun Safety which has two subdivisions: Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.

Speaking with Druckman who is a member of a few activist groups, she shared that the Parkland shooting is what drove her to become invested in politics because of the implications it has. Druckman shared what her efforts in these groups entails.

“Through Students Demand Action I participated in an event called the “Summer of Action” where we phone banked and registered young people across the country, and we did it every single night for the whole summer and into the fall leading up to the 2020 election in November. We registered 10,000 young people to vote which was huge. And having a young person be the one to call you, or be the one to text you, that’s really important too because we’re able to relate to them on another level that an adult wouldn’t be able to.”

Giving further insight on the rise in youth activism Druckman explains why she and other members of Gen Z feel called to vote. “The youth vote is very important because historically, we have a very low turnout, but we are the most progressive in terms of our views on major issues like climate change, gun violence prevention and reproductive health and I think Gen Z for the most part is very progressive... So if we did, if we turned out in bigger numbers, we really would make a big change.”

She goes on to share part of what was touched on earlier and the online culture surrounding modern political campaigning that is also behind Gen Z activism. Outreach from a variety of activist groups is successful due to their peer-to-peer connections.“We are a generation of “following” each other...Everyone wants to fit in, be cool, keep up with the trends and I think right now, activism is “trendy." So I think it’s really important that young people get engaged in this in this work and get excited about it then, in turn, get their friends excited about it, growing and expanding this network of people who are engaged and then go and vote."

Although the journey to political engagement and travel to the polls looks different, whether its Tik Tok, stickers, or major issues, that drive votes; the Gen Z turnout is projected to continue breaking new highs and is set to be a force.