New National Youth Turnout Estimates for 2018 Elections

Posted by CIRCLE on June 3, 2019

We recently published a new estimate of young people’s participation in last year’s midterm elections: 28.2% of youth turned out to vote in 2018. This estimate, calculated using the voter file and using data from all 42 states where youth voting data is available, represents a remarkable increase from the 2014 midterms, when we estimate (using the same methodology) that only 13% of young people cast a ballot. We’ll be digging into what these estimates mean, and the differences in data source and methodologies behind various estimates, in an upcoming post.

This new estimate further illustrates what all of our statewide and national data have shown all along: young people more than doubled their participation at the polls compared to the previous midterm, and they directly influenced election results.

Read more about our new estimate, and our reflections (with links to previous research!) on some of the reasons for the 2018 increase in youth voting.

Explore State by State Youth Turnout.