America is in the midst of a voting-age population shift the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the 1960s. Over the next four years, millennials and Gen Z'ers will become the majority of our nation’s eligible voters. This year alone, almost 41 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote, adding 8 million potential first-time voters.
Recent polling shows that this generational cohort isn’t being driven to the polls by candidates or parties, but is highly animated by issues and ideology. Young voters are looking for candidates who have real plans for addressing the existential crises of our lives: climate change, affordability, unrestricted access to abortion. Politicians ignore these issues at their own peril.
If President Biden wants to win the White House again, it’s high time that he and his advisors start acting on the demands of young people. Last night’s State of the Union speech simply did not lay out plans that are responsive enough to the needs and lives of this ever-growing cohort to drive them to the polls.
In the face of the courts dismantling efforts to vote, young people want to know what is the plan to make sure they and people of color are able to vote without impediment. How is Biden going to step up and fight right-wing authoritarian white nationalism and the threats its adherents pose to democracy and voting rights? Will this administration push for automatic voter registration or make sure there are sufficient polling places on college campuses? What do Democrats plan to do to restore voting rights to individuals who have been disenfranchised by past convictions, when legislatures like Florida’s override the will of its residents who would like to assure those people can cast their ballot? If Congress doesn’t send the president the Freedom to Vote Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, then what?
As we watch TikToks of teenagers being arrested for hopping a subway-fare gate, young voters want to know what is the plan for ending the criminalization of poverty, which unfairly targets low-income communities of color. Rather than simply increasing the number of police roaming our communities with qualified immunity for the harm they cause, how does this administration intend to hold police accountable for their crimes against us?
While people are getting indicted for miscarriages and courts try to create personhood for frozen embryos, young voters want to know what is the plan for protecting and expanding abortion care access to everyone who needs and wants it. Just saying that if voters elect enough Democratic representatives President Biden will “codify Roe,” a system that didn’t even work to get abortion care to all those who needed it, is just not sufficient. We need to see a plan for breaking down the systemic barriers that prevent communities of color and other marginalized groups from accessing health care, and banning deceptive practices by fake clinics.
As we hear about new global temperature records being broken month after month, young voters want to know what is the plan for promoting environmental justice and affirming the right of all Americans to live in a clean and healthy environment. The Inflation Reduction Act has increased production of green technologies, but we need to see more efforts toward building community-owned, renewable-energy projects and public utilities.
As rents and housing prices skyrocket to more than 50% of our take-home pay from sub-living wage jobs, young voters want to know what is the plan for investing in affordable housing, pushing rent control measures that help keep people in their homes, and supporting the legal rights of tenants.
Think pieces like to point out that our generations are demanding more than previous generations did. But when houses that cost $18,000 in the 1950s cost nearly $400,000 today, with barely a change in wages, and when, due to a corrupt Supreme Court, we lose the right to bodily autonomy that had been enjoyed by generations before us, we have no choice but to raise our voices.
Young voters are demanding more than incremental change and half-measures. Young voters, who make up nearly half of eligible voters in 2024, expect President Biden to lead boldly on the issues that matter most, and they are not going to turn out to vote in the numbers Democrats need to hold the White House if they don't see a firm commitment to making this country work for them too.
When we talk about young voters being animated by “the issues,” this is what we mean: President Biden and his advisors need to respond to our generations' clarion calls for liberty and dignity for all. Chants for a ceasefire in Gaza are only growing louder, with more young people joining the call and demanding that the United States stop supplying weapons to Israel. Young voters demand leaders who acknowledge the inherent dignity of every immigrant by transforming rhetoric into legislative action; we demand the kinds of leaders who would never refer to the immigrants in our country and at our borders with the slur “illegals,” as the president did last night. Young voters are begging those in power to do something to shield the next generation from the trauma of sheltering in place in schools because of inaction on gun violence. Young voters don’t just want to hear that the president supports trans kids, we are looking for elected officials to take real action to protect LGBTQ+ youth from the legislative and administrative attacks that lead to violence, as in the recent death of high school student Nex Benedict in Oklahoma.
If President Biden is serious about reelection, he needs to show us bold leadership and fundamental change. If the Supreme Court and Congress are blocking progress, issue executive orders. Take a real stand. Show us that the voices of young people are being heard and taken seriously.
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