41 million Young Americans between the ages of 18 and 27 will be eligible to vote this November analysts say they could make a difference in the presidential election not because of their age but because of who they are the younger part of the population is going to become much more racially diverse than that older baby boomber population so nearly half of these um you know geny youth are are young people of color um about a fifth of them identify as as lgbtq in some way um so you know we're talking about a really diverse generation not just in terms of their identities but in terms of their backgrounds and experiences and Views historically young people vote at a lower rate than older adults but this young generation is showing itself to be more politically active than other Generations were at this age so one of the big stories in recent election Cycles has actually been a big uh increase in in youth voter turnout um among youth um we estimate that 39% of voted in 2016 and 50% in 2020 when it comes to the midterm Congressional elections contests when the presidency is not up for grabs today's young people were more active than previous generations during the first midterms they could vote in the 2022 election was the first midterm where gen Z made up the entire 18 to 24 age range more than 28% of them voted that year that's a higher turnout rate than the Millennials gen xers and Baby Boomers the generations that came before them at that same age 28% of eligible young voters voted in 2018 that was more than double the youth turnout during the 2014 midterms which was 133% for people aged 18 to 29 23% turned out in 2022 Medina says young voters are motivated by issues that touch them directly like school shootings and the economy we're we're really talking about a generation of young people that has embraced their um you know their power their desire to make change and has been making good on that um both at The Ballot Box and Beyond in the 2022 midterms young people overall voted for Democratic candidates more than Republicans but young women voted for Democrats at a higher rate than young men and if uh if uh kamla Harris can get them out to vote uh they're probably going to vote more strongly for her than uh you know might have done been the case for for Joe Biden analysts say that without the youth vote Republicans might have swept the 2022 midterms looking ahead to the 2024 presidential election recent polls suggest vice president kamla Harris leads former president Donald Trump among the youngest voters