They have awakend the sleeping giant
Millenials and Gen Z are registering to vote in record numbers and MAGA is scared
The ‘kids’ are excited
These are real numbers in this chart from TargetSmart about new voter registrations in the week following Kamala Harris’ taking the Democratic nomination for President. Yes…in one week compared to 2020 new registrations have exploded and the trend is continuing today according to reports starting to trickle in from across the country.
Young voters are in the fight.
Harris is paying attention
We saw it very clearly at the DNC in Chicago. The direct inclusion of so many Creators not just to report on the events but including them in the program like Olivian Julianna and others who spoke each night. The Harris-Walz campaign has placed young voters and POC front and center in their priorities and created a robust young voter outreach effort partnering with groups like Voters of Tomorrow among others.
It’s paying off. Harris led a wildly popular college tour over the last two years that while it flew under the radar of the press it certainly didn’t with the college kids who came out in droves to see her. Lines of hundreds snaked across campuses at HBCU’s and community colleges.
Now they are paying back that love, and the listening she did, with energy, volunteering, and hopefully with votes. Polls are bending her way dramatically and continue to improve according to my guest this week, John Della Volpe, of Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
He lays out their latest polling of the youngest cohort of Americans and their attitudes about this election on this week’s episode. We also talk about the growing and utterly huge gender gap between Trump and Kamala Harris as well as the impact that adding Tim Walz to the ticket has for both young voters and women.
Another fascinating and informative conversation.
The Show
John Della Volpe
John Della Volpe is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and the author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America (St. Martin's Press, January 2022). John is also founder of SocialSphere, a Cambridge based public opinion and analytics company. He is the very first three time guest of On Democracy with FPWellman. We don’t have any fancy swag but when we get it he will be the first!
Young people had better get excited and stay that way. This election will determine their future. Every election has consequences. We’re still living with the drubbing Democrats got in 2010 so there can be no let up by any of us. Pay attention, stay engaged and always remember, you are the future you want it to be. Do big things.
I am so excited to see this. We must not only voters, but as the leaders of our country in every way. These last few years have shown how old and ineffective our efforts are. I embrace our youth 100% dragging my old ideas to the trash when needed