US midterm elections: Gen Z gives Democrats their strongest support

Well, from a demographic perspective, one major takeaway from Tuesday's vote is that neither party can afford to ignore Gen Z. It includes people born between the years of 1997 and 2012, and it's set to make up the largest voting bloc in the United States in the coming years. For more on this, then, France 24's journalist Ophelia Jacobsen joins me now on set. Hi, Ophelia. Hi. So how did 18 to 29-year-olds vote last night? Do young Americans appear to to lean Republican or Democrat at this stage. Well, I think it's first important to note that 50 million members of Gen Z were eligible to vote in Tuesday's midterm elections. And we still don't know the full amount of how many actually turned out to the ballot box yesterday. There were some mixed polling before the elections that only a third would turn out. One poll said that 74% of Gen Z would turn out. But take a look at these numbers. What we do know is that young people across the United States overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates yesterday. Nationally, Unfortunately, 72% of young people ages 18 through 29 voted for a Democratic. Thank young voters are Putting their support behind these Democratic candidates, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are registering with the Democratic Party or affiliating with that party. Actually, Gen Z is identifying as independents at a much higher rate than any other generation at the same age, and that's significant. An NBC poll showed that more than half of voters, new voters that were eligible since the 2024 presidential election, they identified as no party without Either, you know, major party, Republican or Democrat. And another poll showed that 43% of young Americans have no party affiliation. I think that points to a larger distrust that these young Americans have with that two-party political system that we see in the states. Imagine certainly sends shivers down the spines of both Republicans and Democrats and Ophelia these So what are some of their top issues then? Well, just like the rest of the United States, the economy was number one. 91% of young Americans aged 18 through 29 said that the economy I mean, it was their top issue, followed by corruption in government at 88%. I would also argue that the Gen Z vote was a referendum on Trump. We saw that 63% described their midterm vote as a vote in opposition to the president, compared that to 14% who said their vote was in support of the president. So you combine the two, that's more than three quarters of Gen Z who said that Trump played some role in their vote yesterday. We heard Trump continually on the campaign trail say, pretend that I am on the ballot. may have backfired on him, especially when we're talking about young Americans who voted. Like Trump was on the ballot. Keep in mind, this is a generation that was in high school during COVID that was entering college, maybe entering the workforce. They had to deal with that four decade high record inflation under the Biden administration in 2022 at 9.1%. Just says they're trying to start a family. They're trying to start their lives, maybe buy a house, not to mention the threat of artificial intelligence. So these are all factors that definitely come into play when voters are thinking about who they want to vote for. And then when it comes to global issues, I think it's important to note that 50% of Gen Z believes that the country should stay out of world affairs, maybe focus more on those domestic issues that are hurting their pockets. But young people do tend to lean more towards supporting Palestine over Israel and maybe staying out of conflict in the Middle East. Certainly points to a major shift in American politics, Opheli. So those top issues aside, just how politically involved is Generation Z beyond voting? And were there any Gen Z candidates that actually ran and succeeded in these elections? Yes, there were. Discontent that I just mentioned pushed the more than 100 candidates we saw aged. 29 or younger to run for office this midterm cycle. Now, that only makes up 4% of all congressional candidates nationwide. But keep in mind, you have to be 25 years old to run for House and 30 to run for Senate. And of those 117 candidates, 16% filed as third party or unaffiliated. That may not seem like a big percentage, but if you compare that to other age groups, they are more likely to register and run as independents. As for the rest of the candidates, 52% ran as Democrats. 32% as Republicans. Now, before these midterms, there was only one Gen Z member in Congress. That was 29-year-old Maxwell Frost, who won his election when he was only 25 years old in Florida. He did win re-election last night, but he will be joined by other Gen Z members of Congress, 29-year-old Mila Kurosh in Colorado, a Democrat. She will be the first Gen Z woman to serve in Congress. And 26-year-old Michael Alfonso, he will be the first member of Congress that was born in the 2000s. So definitely a lot of history made with Gen Z last night. And sounds indeed like this might be one of the biggest, if not the biggest takeaway for both parties after these midterm elections. Ophelia Jacobson, thank you so much.