Why do so few young people in the United States vote? Researchers have investigated.
For some reason, there’s a big gap between young Americans’ intention to vote and the chance that they will actually do it.
Duke University professor D. Sunshine Hillygus says she’s heard it all about why young people don’t vote: “that young people are apathetic, that they’re disinterested, that they are selfish and narcissistic and too busy taking selfies rather than thinking about the common good or civic life,” she says.
But her research shows that’s not the case. “The vast majority of young people are interested in politics; they care who is elected.”
Hillygus and colleague John Holbein decided to focus on the gap between intention to vote and actual turnout. This episode of the Ways & Means podcast focuses on what they learned:
A transcript of the episode is available here.
Hillygus and Holbein are also coauthors of the book Making Young Voters: Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Source: Duke University
