While it may be too early to tell how young voters will vote in the 2018 midterm elections, new polling indicates that nearly two out of every three millennials are not familiar with the candidates running in their local elections this year.
According to a new survey from NBC News/GenForward Millennial, 59 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 said they were not familiar with their local candidates running in their district. Despite an apparent indifference to research which candidate to support, a majority still plan on voting for some candidate, as 57 percent of those polled said they planned to vote on Nov. 6.
While they may not know much about the candidates themselves, young people appear poised to stand behind Democrats once again. Nearly 50 percent of millennials preparing to vote are planning on supporting Democrats, while only 29 percent plan on supporting the GOP and its candidates.
Among issues millennials cited as being the most important, healthcare was the top choice at 11 percent, though immigration (8 percent), and income inequality (7 percent) were not far behind.
Despite efforts by the March For Our Lives movement to elevate gun control as the most important issue facing young people this year, their efforts seem to have had little effect on millennial adults. Only 6 percent of Americans 18 to 34 years old cited gun control as the top issue facing them this election.
When it comes to the current president and Congress, millennials aren’t particularly thrilled with the job either has been doing. About 59 percent of young people expressed disapproval at the job President Trump has been doing, while 54 percent said they were unhappy with the current Congress.
Despite renewed voter enthusiasm, millennials have historically voted in midterm elections at lower rates compared to older generations. According to a researcher from Pew, if turnout patterns follow that of the 2014 midterms, millennials will make up a majority of all eligible voters, but a minority of actual voters.
“If past turnout patterns hold — and taking into account that each generation has aged four years since 2014 — the data suggest that Gen Xers, Millennials and post-Millennials would not be a majority of voters in 2018,” predicted Richard Fry, a senior research analyst at Pew.
John Patrick (@john_pat_rick) is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012 and has continued to contribute regularly.
