Forget condescending articles from out-of-touch boomers bemoaning that young people aren’t voting. Instead, look at the data. Early voting by young and new voters is through the roof. Two important points. 1) They will be voting strongly Democratic and 2) Probably aren’t going to be tracked much in polls. This means Democratic vote nationwide could be much stronger than polls are showing. In close races, a couple of unexpected extra percentage points by young voters voting Democratic could decide a race.
The number of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 who have cast ballots early has surpassed turnout levels from the last midterm election in just about every state, according to several sources tracking early vote totals.
In some states, especially those with hot races, the increase in turnout is staggering. In Texas, 332,000 voters under the age of 30 have cast ballots already, up nearly five fold from the 2014 midterms. In Nevada, the 25,000 young voters who have cast a ballot is also five times higher than in the same period four years ago.
Georgia’s young voter turnout is four times higher than it was in 2014. In Arizona, three times as many younger voters are turning up.
“Voters under the age of 30, relative to their ’14 turnout, are outperforming every other group,” said Tom Bonier, a Democratic strategist whose firm TargetSmart tracks the early vote. “It’s not just like a presidential year surge where you’re getting younger voters who only vote in presidentials coming out in a midterm. A lot of these young people are voting in their first election period.”