The Pew Research Center defines Gen Z as individuals born between 1997 and 2012, which means many people in this age group got their first chance to vote in a presidential election this year. Approximately 15 million young voters were registered to vote since 2016, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).
Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan, who in 2017 became the youngest person ever elected to the Nassau County Legislature at 23 years old, said he has seen “a tremendous amount of young people registering to vote” in recent years. He added that this year, “Young people were the largest voting bloc in the country.”
In the 2016 presidential election, approximately 42% to 44% of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 cast ballots, while in 2020 it is estimated that 50% to 52% of voters in that age group cast ballots, according to CIRCLE.
Lafazan added that young people have increased not only their voter turnout, but other forms of political participation as well.
“We’ve seen a staggering increase in participation … young people [are] organizing rallies, attending town halls, reaching out to their elected officials and holding them accountable,” Lafazan said.
Rosanna Perotti, an associate professor of political science at Hofstra University, shared similar thoughts regarding activism among young voters, particularly when it came to organizing civil rights protests earlier this year following the murder of George Floyd.
“This summer was really [a] great example of young people’s ability to, first of all, organize civil disobedience but then also to participate in it, to get it all going, to get allies, to mobilize allies among older people, particularly older white people.” Perotti said. “It was just a phenomenal effort.”
Gen Z students agreed that their age group is highly politically engaged in comparison to older generations.
“Gen Z is really unafraid to speak up and push for reforms for what they believe in … We’ve seen it all, from gun control walkouts, climate strikes, women’s marches and Black Lives Matter protests,” said Lindsey Hill, a sophomore political science major. “And now that … young people in this generation are eligible to vote, they are able to do more by voting for politicians that advocate for what the majority of Gen Z has been pushing for.”
Gen Zers also differ from older generations in the issues they see as most important.
“Gen Z voters are way more interested in the environment, women’s rights [and] reproductive freedom than older voters,” Perotti said. “You folks really do have opinions that are different than your parents’ generation.”
Perotti says the significant differences between Gen Z and older generations is based on the social and political environment they grew up in.
“Your generation is much more racially, ethnically diverse, and it includes a greater percentage of children of immigrants than my generation,” Perotti said. “It’s a really distinct difference in [demographic] composition as well as in opinions, and the change in opinions partly is a result of a change in composition.”
Gen Zers have also grown up alongside the development of social media, which has made it easier for young people to interact and encourage each another to get involved in politics.
“With Gen Z, we also see the rise of social media,” said William Mason, a sophomore political science major. “Those two combined have made both registering to vote and actually voting a large movemenT.”
Since Gen Zers tend to focus on issues of advocacy and activism, their political ideology gravitates toward one party that they perceive to be more open and supportive of their issues of concern, even on Long Island.
“There’s been a surge of enrollment for Democrats in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and a disproportionate share of them are people 18 to 29 years old,” said Lawrence Levy, the executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. “When you turn 18, you get to enroll for the first time, so you would expect some of it, but political insiders tell me it’s more than we’ve seen in a while.”
Approximately 61% of individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 voted for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, while only 36% of people in that age group voted for incumbent President Donald Trump, according to CIRCLE data.
Despite the data showing that young people are actively involved in politics, experts encourage them to keep researching issues and come out for every election, not just presidential ones.
“It’s a wonderful thing that young people are involved,” Levy said. “I would say that they need to keep themselves really well-informed – read material from all sides [and] learn the tools of news literacy – so they can discern propaganda from proper news. And be patient and willing to compromise, so that we can at least move forward and have progress.”