Republicans Made Midterm Gains With An Unlikely Group: Young People
Republicans made gains in the midterm elections among voters under 30, a demographic that tends to lean heavily Democratic, according to the Associated Press.
Young voters swung 53% for Democratic House candidates and 41% for Republican candidates, according to the AP. The result marks a decline from recent elections: voters under 30 chose President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump 61% to 36% in 2020, swung for Democrats 64 to 34% in 2018 House races.
The midterms were otherwise viewed as a disappointment for the GOP; Republicans had hopes for a massive red wave, but the party failed to win the Senate.
“Youngest people also have the weakest partisan attachments, so they can be more susceptible to partisan swings nationally,” Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, told the AP. “There’s no reason why Republicans can’t rebound among younger people.”
Voters under 45, however, were more likely to support Democrats in 2022 than they were to support Biden in 2020, according to the AP. About half of young voters said the overturning of Roe v. Wade had driven their decision to vote.
Biden moved to issue $10,000 in student loan forgiveness to borrowers earning under $125,000 annually about two months before midterms in an apparent bid to win over young voters.
Democrats will rely heavily on voters under 30 in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, according to the AP, so poor performance among young voters may be read as a warning sign for the party. McDonald, however, said the waning support for Democrats may be an anomaly and a symptom of inflation.
In addition to winning over an unusually high proportion of young voters, the GOP also won the popular vote in the 2022 election.
The Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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