GBH News: Youth voters have been turning out in historic numbers. Will they do so again in Massachusetts?
Originally published November 3, 2022 | GBH News
At a rally last week, former President Barack Obama had a message for young voters: “Put down your phone, and give TikTok a rest and vote.”
Joke’s on him — and he knows it. Obama then went on TikTok to encourage this critical voting bloc to cast ballots this year.
“In 2020, a majority of people under the age of 30 voted in a presidential election the first time in history,” said John Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. “So even 2008, when Obama and all the enthusiasm — when millennials were this cohort — they voted less than 50%.”
Young voters have been turning out at historically high rates in recent elections. And with polls showing that voters under 30 favor Democratic control of Congress by a nearly two-to-one margin heading into the midterms, the group might be nationally decisive in preventing a Republican Congressional takeover.
In Massachusetts, young voters recently have been the deciding factor in pushing progressive politicians into federal office. But the state’s legislative elections are the least competitive in the country, and have been for four election cycles, which leaves some struggling with when and how to make their voices heard.