October 2023
THE POWER OF THE YOUTH VOTE
Ever wonder why:
Many red states allow gun permits but not student IDs for voter identification, and shrink the number of polling places on college campuses?
Vivek Ramaswamy wants to raise the voting age to 25 for most young voters unless they pass a test?
GOP strategist and lawyer Cleta Mitchell, caught on leaked audio speaking to private donors, urges tougher voting rules for college students?
The right-wing has reason to worry about the youth vote (commonly defined as those between 18-29 but often including anyone born after 1981). According to Catalist, “In 2022, the Gen Z and Millennial cohorts grew from 23% to 26% of voters,” while the two oldest, more conservative generations’ vote share declined. Before 2006, the youth vote split fairly evenly between the parties. Since then, however, young people have been voting overwhelmingly Blue, and these trends tend to continue as they age.
Today’s youth are motivated by policies and issues, not party affiliation.Over the last 10 years especially, there’s been a marked shift toward favoring more progressive policies in this age cohort. Young people care a lot about school shootings, abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, climate, universal healthcare, affordable housing and college, and student debt relief. Around 4 million Americans turn 18 every year. And contrary to popular opinion, they’re not just sitting on the sidelines.
Conventional wisdom tells us that young people are less likely to vote than older people, but the real problem is that fewer are registered. Once registered, voters under 30 now turn out at a much higher rate than previous generations. That adds up to a powerful, motivated voting bloc. Exceptionally large numbers of young people voting in heavily contested races were key to Democratic victories in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Indeed, even with the unfavorable environment for Democrats in 2022, youth turnout in battleground states exceeded that of 2018’s Blue Wave.
These up-and-coming potential voters present an enormous opportunity for a sustained progressive future. Unfortunately, while Census voting data reveals near-historic levels of youth political engagement, it also highlights major differences in participation by race and ethnicity. In 2022 the racial turnout gap was among the highest it has been in recent decades, with white youth turnout between 7 and 11 percentage points higher than AAPI, Black, and Latino youth. The rash of voter suppression laws since 2021 have played a part, but there is clearly more work to be done in registering more young voters and in motivating young voters of color to turn out for elections.
Airlift and our Partners are keenly aware of this challenge and opportunity. Our whole focus is to engage and mobilize those typically left out of the political process, particularly young people and people of color. Airlift Partners get it, and they know how to reach young people about what matters to them, often hiring young and creative organizers and digital and social media influencers who employ TikTok, K-pop, battles of the bands, and dance concerts to engage young people wherever they hang out.
Here’s a sampling of how Airlift Partners focus on building youth power and the youth vote. They may not match Taylor Swift’s ability to register 35,000 new voters in an hour, but these numbers are crucial for expanding our winning margins, especially since once our Partners register young people to vote, they follow up to get them to the polls.
Wisconsin’s youth-led Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) organizes on high school and college campuses. Just last month, LIT participated in Welcome Week at all 11 campuses of the state college system, holding over 2,000 conversations and collecting more than 1,600 pledges to vote. During National Voter Registration Week, they successfully registered hundreds of young people. LIT holds annual statewide action gatherings for student leaders, and puts out voter guides specifically targeting young people. For the 2022 midterms, LIT called over 250,000 young people with voting and registration information. They also knocked on more than 120,000 doors in Milwaukee neighborhoods with the highest number of young people and the lowest historical voter turnout. LIT was similarly involved in educating and mobilizing young people to vote in Wisconsin’s recent state Supreme Court race.
Arizona’s Worker Power (WP) is actively engaged in registering at least 4,000 youth voters in 2023 and 2024–20% of their total voter registration goal. They’ve been working with the academic and administrative leaders at 17 community college campuses in Maricopa and Pima counties to educate and register their students to vote, plus giving classroom presentations on the importance of voting. WP addresses head on the voting disparity low-income and students of color face when compared to their wealthier peers.
Together with WP, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) helped pass a ballot measure approving in-state tuition for Dreamers and defeated two anti-voting-rights propositions. Arizona saw historic turnout among young and Latino voters that grassroots organizations like LUCHA and WP have been working to register and mobilize for a decade. Young voters–many of whom became politically active during the “Show Me Your Papers” era and the reign of terror by Sheriff Joe Arpaio–have been central to Arizona’s shift away from anti-democratic elected officials.
Carolina Federation has a robust Organizer-in-Training program. They specifically focus on recruiting young people to learn the ropes of all that’s involved in political organizing. Young trainees are also placed within CF-endorsed local campaigns so they can gain direct experience. Such early exposure often sparks lifelong involvement and infectious outreach to peers, creating the leaders and voters of the future.
Florida’s Dream Defenders, like LIT, is also explicitly led by and focused on young people and people of color. They routinely hold voter registration and GOTV campaigns on college campuses, in rural communities, and in Black and Brown urban areas around the state. Dream Defenders’ activism centers on issues of immense importance to young people, including student debt cancellation, decriminalizing marijuana, racial justice, diverting people from the criminal-legal system, gun violence prevention, and mental health.
The grassroots organizations supported by Airlift are trying to build a better, fairer nation now and for generations to come. They are ready to unlock Youth Power and the progressive opportunities the Youth Vote can bring. Help us support them in their transformative work.
Read on for a deeper look at Keeping Florida on the Map and a Special “Live from the Frontlines” event featuring Dream Defenders and the first GenZ member of Congress, Maxwell Frost.
KEEPING FLORIDA ON THE MAP
When President Obama won Florida in both 2008 and 2012, the state seemed to be shifting blue. But many claim that the national Democratic Party has offered little support since then. Republicans, by contrast, have poured considerable funding into statewide and local elections for decades. They have also successfully reversed the voter registration advantage that Democrats held in the Obama years.
Ron DeSantis, after squeaking into the governor’s mansion by less than half a percentage point in his first 2018 bid, was re-elected in 2022 by 19 points, an astonishing red victory in an otherwise dismal showing for the GOP nationwide. But this may be less a Deep Red mandate than a sign of the other side’s failure to invest in the state.
What are the chances of catching up in Florida? If we give up, none. Floridians and the nation will suffer from letting the state sink into a deep red sea. But there’s a good argument for long-term success in this large and important state if we make the proper investments. With new leadership in Florida’s state Democratic Party, President Biden’s pledge to re-invest on the campaign trail, a potential abortion initiative on the 2024 ballot, and the energy of progressive grassroots groups, there’s reason for hope.
That’s why Airlift is bullish on Dream Defenders (DD), a young and dynamic statewide organization with a focus on disengaged and infrequent voters, particularly among communities of color and young voters. DD routinely holds voter registration and get-out-the vote campaigns on college campuses, in rural communities, and in Black and Brown urban areas around the state. They have nurtured the development of several leaders out of their volunteer membership, including Maxwell Frost, recently elected to Orlando’s District 10 U.S. House seat and the first GenZ member of Congress.
Airlift is proud to announce that Congressman Frost will headline a special “Live from the Frontlines” presentation on October 17 to benefit Dream Defenders. Frost brings 10 years of activism with him, starting at age 15 when he traveled to D.C. to protest gun violence with the Newtown Action Alliance following the Sandy Hook School massacre. He went on to work for the ACLU and served as the National Organizing Director for the March for Our Lives movement. During Frost’s tenure with these organizations, they successfully won passage of Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to returning citizens in Florida (now made moribund by DeSantis and his legislative allies who have flaunted the will of an overwhelming majority of voters).
One of Congressman Frost’s first pieces of legislation is a jointly sponsored bill with Senator Chris Murphy to create the Office for Gun Violence Prevention to coordinate the work of all of the agencies involved in gun violence prevention and develop data on both the problem and the solutions to gun violence. With the leading cause of child death in the U.S. now due to gun violence, his focus on the issue will help save lives, and prevent trauma due to gun violence.
Congressman Frost and Dream Defenders are making lives better for Americans, and have a lot to say about the political landscape and what we can do to shape it.
Please join us to hear Congressman Frost and Dream Defenders as they share their message of realistic hope about Florida.
Meet Congressman Maxwell Frost
SHAPING A NEW FLORIDA: YOUTH POWER
October 17, Tuesday, 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET
Come hear Dan Pfeiffer, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Pod Save America co-host, update us on what’s at stake in Virginia and nationally this November, and what we can do about it. Dan will be joined by Luis Aguilar, Director of CASA in Action - Virginia, one of Virginia’s savviest and most effective grassroots groups with a great ground game to mobilize Black and Latino voters.
If you can’t make it, but would like to help Dream Defenders succeed in shaping the Youth Vote for Florida:
BE A SMART INVESTOR
Dan Pfeiffer, political analyst, best-selling author, and Taco Tuesday night chef in the Pfeiffer home, gave warm kudos to Airlift when he spoke at our Frontlines event in September:
”The reason why I've enjoyed working with Airlift is that for years Airlift has been investing in organizations who are building sustainable progressive power. What tends to happen is that in election years, there’s all this money put into campaigns, then election day happens. You win or you lose, and everyone goes home. The model that we know works to truly build sustainable power is to invest in organizations that are in it for the long haul. They can deliver in particular elections, but then on the first Wednesday in November, they're back to work. That’s what Airlift does.”
We can’t say it better. For sustainable power, invest in organizations in battleground states that work year-round.
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Thanks!
Airlift is an all-volunteer organization. Less than 2% of all proceeds go to expenses, the rest goes to our partner groups.
FIELD NOTES
Down Home North Carolina's September Surge! To push back against the right-wing outrage machine that’s disrupted school boards throughout the state, “Public Schools Strong” teams showed up in nearly 40 counties last month to make sure teachers, kids, and schools are truly supported. Read more.
Michigan Liberation lobbies state legislators in favor of pretrial release, which study after study shows enhances public safety. Their mantra to counter jitters about “Soft on Crime” accusations as the House discusses bail reform legislation? “Strong on Community Safety.”
