Gen Z鈥檚 Political Paradox

Zoomers are politically active but electorally absent. A reporter explores why her generation is disillusioned with both major parties.

Over the past several years, media pundits have repeatedly documented Gen Z鈥檚 unique engagement with politics. Nearly three-fourths of 鈥淶oomers,鈥� the generation , They are the age demographic with the highest likelihood of being politically motivated to participate in boycotts, and almost 75% of them believe that being 鈥溾€� However, where they lack political presence is at the polls.聽

If voting is considered to be a baseline criteria for being 鈥減olitically engaged,鈥� the percentage of Zoomers that fit the bill would drop from 75% to 28.4%, which is . It is true that young people, historically, tend to have lower turnout in elections. . But why is a generation described as the most not translating that fervor into votes?

Daijah Wilson, a 19-year-old college student from New Jersey who currently lives in Texas, says, 鈥淚 primarily see people around my age advocating on social media and in person [because] we鈥檙e tired of just sitting on the sidelines. We just want to be involved because it seems like if we don鈥檛 talk about it or if we don鈥檛 call it out, then who鈥檚 willing to?鈥� She adds, this is 鈥渂ecause the older generation seems to have given up.鈥�

Wilson also notes that Gen Z鈥檚 anxieties about the future play a large role in their political engagement. 鈥淎 lot of the issues that are being talked about, voted about, and acted upon are going to affect us the most because we鈥檙e the upcoming generation.鈥� She cites the specific ways in which her generation is impacted: 鈥淲e鈥檙e coming into not being able to afford rent, not being able to buy homes, not being able to find jobs, competing for resources, and facing environmental problems.鈥�

Wilson speculates that Zoomers are pessimistic about their voting choices. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if the leadership is Republican or Democrat; we have been facing the same issues time and time again. Nothing鈥檚 really changing. I think our generation is cynical about voting but not about social issues.鈥� In other words, she believes that 鈥渨e can have a better world, but it just feels like my vote doesn鈥檛 matter. The candidates don鈥檛 care about us.鈥�

Her words echo Michelle Cottle鈥檚 recent in The New York Times that Gen Z is more motivated by issues and values than by candidates or parties. Peter de Guzman, a researcher at (CIRCLE), speaking more broadly about people aged 18 to 24, says, 鈥淵oung people are more likely than older people to not affiliate themselves with a political party, and there has been a [of independents among] young people recently.鈥� Those youth who do identify with a political party are significantly more likely to identify with Democrats, but that may be changing as Zoomers鈥� with Biden and Democrats grows. Young people think Democrats are not doing enough when it comes to climate change, the violence of policing, and Palestinian oppression.

Zoomers鈥� connection with political issues and disconnection with voting might also have to do with the fact that they get from the internet, particularly . De Guzman explains that 鈥渨e鈥檝e seen throughout the surveys we鈥檝e conducted that young people are really interested in a variety of issues 鈥� and [are] using social media to talk about these issues with each other.鈥� This is consistent with Wilson鈥檚 personal experience. She says, 鈥淪ocial media is where I get a lot of information; once it鈥檚 on my social media, it鈥檚 on my radar.鈥�

The problem is that social media is not as good at disseminating logistical information about how to vote in one鈥檚 county as it is at increasing political polarization and playing on people鈥檚 emotions鈥攂y . The result: Gen Z is well informed about social and political issues but is lost on the basics of voting. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of advocacy work going on social media [because] a lot of Gen Z is focused on more emotionally targeted political issues, and then the specifics kind of get lost. Like, how to enact change for the things that they believe in,鈥� says Wilson.

De Guzman adds, 鈥淲hen we ask people why they did not register or why they did not vote, they often cite information or access barriers.鈥� To combat the lack of access to information, de Guzman points out that 鈥渋ncreasingly, we see young people use social media [for information]. It鈥檚 really about meeting people where they are.鈥� Further, he believes that election administrators 鈥渃ould be doing a better job of social media messaging to get that information out.鈥�

What exacerbates confusion about the logistics of voting is that young people frequently move out of their home state or county for college. Wilson points out that the differences in switching voter registrations can create an additional barrier for young people who want to vote. 鈥淚 think having a universal or standard [system for registering to vote] would be a lot easier, because a lot of people don鈥檛 even think about voting until it鈥檚 getting close to voting time because they simply don鈥檛 have the time.鈥� She adds that 鈥渞estricting the registration period to weeks before the actual vote is also a problem.鈥� Nearly half of all states do , but many young people may not be aware of this.

Making voting easier directly fuels youth voter turnout. De Guzman explains that 鈥渟tates that have facilitative election laws鈥攕uch as pre-registration, automatic voter registration, and online voter registration鈥攈ave higher rates of youth participation.鈥� Inversely, it is for younger people to vote in states that have more restrictive voting laws.

For example, 19-year-old Patricia, who lives in Texas, the state to vote in, was not able to cast a ballot in a recent election despite registering in Harris County. She assumed that she did not have the right identification to vote in person. 鈥淚 did register to vote,鈥� she says. After she obtained the appropriate documents from volunteers, Patricia says, 鈥淚 was able to fill out a short little form that had all my information, and I got my receipt. Then, I was looking on the website [for instructions] on how to go vote, and I thought I needed some sort of identification, like a Texas driver鈥檚 license, a Texas ID, or a passport. I said, 鈥極K, I don鈥檛 have a Texas ID because I鈥檓 from Florida, and I don鈥檛 have a birth certificate or my passport with me.鈥� I just figured I鈥檓 probably ineligible,鈥� she says.

She realized only after the election that she could have filled out a Reasonable Impediment Form that would have allowed her to vote. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to make it as hard as they can for people like college students to vote,鈥� she adds. barring college students from using student IDs to vote is poised to create a similarly confusing experience for youth in that state. De Guzman says, more broadly, 鈥淵oung people have less access sometimes to IDs. They might not have a driver鈥檚 license, so a college ID might be their best form of identification. If they can鈥檛 use that to vote, that鈥檚 another barrier they鈥檙e facing that may dissuade them from participating.鈥�

As November approaches, there鈥檚 been increased scrutiny on what Gen Z鈥檚 voting tendencies might mean for the 2024 election and how to get the eligible youth voters . This is especially challenging as some because they don鈥檛 see either party working to end Israel鈥檚 genocide. Overall fewer young voters are in November 2024 than in 2020.聽

Rebuilding the link between caring about politics and actually voting will require various solutions. As de Guzman points out, 鈥淭here are so many factors that impact participation.鈥�

Two of the more straightforward solutions are reducing barriers to voting and leveraging social media to better inform youth about elections, voter registration, and other logistics. Reiterating the importance of facilitative voting practices, de Guzman adds, 鈥淲e have seen that if you control for factors like education and income, voter registration was higher among young people in states that had automatic voter registration.鈥� And since 鈥渁 lot of young people don鈥檛 have information on elections, social media can be a way for them to get that information.鈥�

Combating young voters鈥� cynicism with candidates, especially their current dissatisfaction with Democrats, is trickier. When asked about in primaries and, de Guzman doesn鈥檛 have an answer but hopes to learn more after the election. 鈥淥ur upcoming survey will be a post-election survey. It would be interesting to see how young people ended up voting, and if more voted third party.鈥�

For now, it is clear that Israel鈥檚 assault on Gaza, and President Biden鈥檚 unconditional support via arms sales and the decades-long oppression of Palestine more broadly, is an . 鈥淲ith the genocide going on right now, I see a lot of my peers involved, and I see people around my age attending rallies and events and boycotting. I boycott as well and try to allocate my funds to places that better represent my values,鈥� Wilson points out.

The mass on college campuses across the nation in the form of protest encampments suggests that Gaza will remain a crucial political issue come November. Andrew de las Alas, a junior at Washington University in St. Louis, participated in the encampment there and was among the . De las Alas says that while he is still processing his arrest and suspension, 鈥淲hat stands out to me is that our current president has both the political authority and the diplomatic capital to push for an end to the genocide, but he hasn鈥檛. Instead, billions of dollars were promised to Israel. I know that I won鈥檛 be voting for Biden again.鈥�

De las Alas says he is considering voting for the Green Party presidential candidate, at Washington University鈥檚 encampment. 鈥淚 am going to be looking more at the Green Party and other parties and really weighing my options. I think it鈥檚 important to reconsider all of our options every election, but with this one, we know that millions of lives are on the line,鈥� he states.

But the dissatisfaction of young voters and their disconnect from both major parties鈥� presumed nominees for 2024 is not just about . 鈥淕en Z is tired of the BS; we are tired of being told to go vote without tools to go vote, and then the candidate that we elect鈥攆or example, Joe Biden鈥攄oes not do the things that they said they were going to do,鈥� explains Wilson.

She adds, 鈥淲e鈥檙e tired of people being in office who don鈥檛 look like us or care about what we care about.鈥� But she, like other young people, is optimistic about and the causes she cares about. 鈥淚 think politics is definitely going to change in the future with this generation. We just need more tools about how to actually enact that change.鈥�

Lajward Zahra is a freshman at Rice University in Houston, originally from El Paso, Texas, studying political science, Spanish, and French. Her journalistic work has been seen online and in print in Business Insider, The American Prospect, The Nation, Prism, and The Rice Thresher. She speaks Spanish, English, French, and Urdu.

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