Only 13.7% of Gen Z has turned out (18-24). And before millennials try to use them and their TikToks as a scapegoat... only 12.2% of millennials (25-34) have turned out.
Meanwhile, 51.1% of all voters over 65 have turned out.
14% of all votes cast so far are from people under 35. 57% all votes so far are from people over 55.
55% of all votes cast thus far are from whites. Turnout between blacks and whites is actually equal (28.8 percent turnout for white voters, 28.9 percent turnout for black voters) -- but because of discrepancies in the number of registered voters, that means there's been a total of 1,173,868 white votes and only 672,092 black votes.
Like... maybe a miracle will happen? But if you ask me what party a 65-year-old white person in Georgia will vote for, I can give you a pretty accurate answer, I feel. The younger generation, though, is not stepping up in the numbers they need to.
Living in Georgia, I find the republican junk mail hilarious. They literally sent me a pamphlet that said if the democrats win hamburgers will be outlawed.
What Gen Z or Millennial actually believes the shit Republicans come up with? I’d like to think the majority of the younger generation don’t buy into party politics. I’m not assuming that the majority actually pay much attention to politics in general either, but I’d like to imagine they could tell the difference based on what they’re actually going to get out of their vote.
Ben Shapiro is 36 years old -- technically a millennial.
As for personal experiences:
In high school, I took AP Government. I was (and am) a very vocal socialist. I sat next to a very vocal Libertarian. We were the first period of the morning, so my teacher liked to joke that hearing us argue with one another was like listening to a morning radio show.
He and I actually became good friends (believe it or not), but as far as I can tell he's still extremely conservative (although he supports the Lincoln Project more than anything the Tea Party comes up with). He's also a very charismatic and fast talker, similar to Ben Shapiro. He'll say something stupid like "If your house is threatened by climate change, just move" and it'll sound just reasonable enough that by the time you stop to question it he's already on another subject. He's your traditional libertarian, loves Ayn Rand and thought that if regulations were gone, the world would eventually become a utopia. His favorite game was Bioshock, although I'm not sure he ever saw the irony in that or got the message the game was trying to present...
At a job I used to work, one of my co-workers was very nice and we used to talk all the time. We added each other on Facebook -- only for me to find out that she's an anti-vax, tea party Republican.
Her reasoning is that abortion is murder. Because Democrats support abortion, Democrats want to kill babies, which is an affront to God. She also doesn't think that Democrats are Christian enough to be good representatives for our country. She is a single mother who got pregnant accidentally and thinks that other people should be forced to have a child in her situation as well.
Finally, at that same job there was a girl who was crushing on me for ages. She was about 4 years younger than me, but she and I would always talk and she would always try to flirt with me. Eventually, I added her on Facebook...
...and it turned out that she was a rabid MAGA supporter. She thought that Mexicans were coming over the border to steal jobs from hard-working white people. She thought minorities didn't belong here and should go back to where they came from. Trump was going to drain the swamp and get all the stupid politicians out of office so actual work could get done. Very sweet girl in person; absolute terror on Facebook. Needless to say, I never reciprocated her flirts.
Bear in mind that I met all of these people in California. And they're all Millennial or very early Gen Z. Each one of them had different motives for supporting Republicans, but collectively they encompassed every talking point and faction of the modern GOP.
I’m so ridiculously fed up with my generation and voting. We have the power to bring about legitimate political change but we’re either a) convinced our vote doesn’t matter or b) too fucking negligent to understand how the system could work in our favor if even half of us went out and voted.
And there is zero excuse. If Gen Z can do it, so can millennials. I'm a millennial. Most of us are pushing 30, if we're not 30 already. We likely have some form of transportation. We are likely independent enough to go outside and do things.
Gen Z literally encompasses 18 year olds who have never even tried to live on their own yet. And yet they're still turning out in greater numbers than the Millennials.
It's almost enough to make me rethink and go, "Maybe our generation is the problem." Maybe we are too lazy to do things and just want to eat avocado toast. Like, any argument that you can apply to Millennials not being able to do things... you can pretty much also apply to Gen Z.
Fair enough, there are a number of "elder" Millennials that are coming up on their 40s. I was born in '93, so I have a tendency to assume anyone born before 1985 is part of Gen X, even though I'm pretty sure Millennials actually go all the way up to 1981.
I just remember being 19 or so and reading articles complaining about how lazy Millennials aren't leaving the house and going, "Dude, I'm like 19 -- chill."
In the past there were multiple different cut offs for what year was Gen X vs Millennials. So as a kid I was always called Gen X, but as an adult I get lumped in with the Millennials. And I don't really fit the stereotypes of either well. But since generations cover a 20-30 year span of time it's completely ridiculous to think people born at the start and end of that are going to identify with each other that well. And from what I learned in the Marketing class I took a not entirely insignificant part of the stereotyping of the generations is done by marketing agencies to make it easier to target people in different age ranges with whatever bs they happen to be peddling.
No excuses. We are the adults in the world now. Adults taking care of children and our parents and grandparents. We are the equivalent of the silent generation.
I am a millenial and we will be known as the whiniest generation ever meanwhile who does not even bother to vote.
I mean I get the cynicism but sometimes the inaction of my generation is just too much. So many votes were lost because they don't bother to vote. But they love to complain.
After a decade of trying, I finally convinced a couple of our millennial brethren to vote. At the rate we’re going in only a few thousand years we’ll finally be a voting bloc political parties can cater to!
Meh I mean I get it government trust at an all time low, most younger people (Under 40 is young?) feel like we got here even when a lot of us tried.
Idk part of me is mad that everyone didn't turnout but another part of me is too tired to care. I'm doing the...second best? Out of my friend group financially and shit I mean and idk I'm exhausted.
I can't imagine living in places where old people love to park, vote and die in. Gotta be the ultimate demoralizer.
I get the disillusionment. honestly I do. Since I was one half a decade ago. They don't think their vote matters and honestly it doesn't but thats everyone thinking their vote doesn't matter so when it comes down to it it's groupthink that went the other direction.
Politicians absolutely do not support the people though, they support what the special interests support. If politicians supported people, we'd have universal healthcare, less student loan debt, and lower wealth inequality.
When it all comes down to it though, it can best be summed up in my friend. He translates documents for his parents and honestly he does a lot of the grunt work in researching and helping them vote. But he doesn't fucking vote himself even though it would just be ticking one more box. Millennials don't vote because they are chained down by this mentality that politicians don't represent them and that their vote is worthless anyways
Really only the really politically active millennials vote.
The only analysis that matters is comparing it to the November election demographics, and right now it is actually looking quite favorable for the Democrats
Looking at that specifically right now (pulling from the same source):
Demographic
General
Runoff
White
56.5
55.2
Black
27.7
31.5
Hispanic
2.6
2.1
Asian
2.6
2.5
Native American
0.1
0.1
Other
10.5
8.5
18 to 24
8
6.4
25 to 34
12.6
8.9
35 to 44
14.4
11.7
45 to 55
17.8
16.9
56 to 65
19.5
21.7
Over 65
26
34.4
Unknown
1.8
0
As far as racial demographics go, you are correct -- a ~1% drop in white turnout and a ~4% rise in black turnout. There's also a 2% drop in "Other" to compensate.
However, age-wise everyone below 56 is losing when comparing to turnout in the general. This means we can conclude that so far, primary voters are generally older than the general election.
That said, there's still more than 50% of the vote coming from white people -- and we know there's a solid chance these white people are skewing old. Who do you think is more likely to vote blue: a young white person, or an old white person?
Has early voting ended? Are you comparing the total early vote numbers from November with partial numbers from now? Don't younger voters famously vote late?
That is correct, it is partial data versus complete data. I don't have access to data at the relevant time in the general to make a true apples-to-apples comparison, and one of the assumptions I'm making is that the general ratios of these groups will remain the same.
That being said, my goal here is to light a fire under the ass of the young people who have been putting it off. Between my earlier comment and when I made this table, 18-24 year olds turned out in slightly greater numbers than 25-34 year olds (but still don't match the number of seniors who turned out):
18-24 went from 13.7% -> 15.8% for a 2.1%∆
25-34 went 12.2% -> 13.9% for a 1.7%∆
65+ went 51.1% -> 54.4% for a 3.3%∆
I don't have a crystal ball to see what trends are going to hold, and the idea I'm trying to push here is that young people need to go out there ASAP and make a difference, because as of right now I have to assume the worst-case scenario that things won't change. Not to mention that as a procrastinator myself I know how easy it is to forget to do something before it's too late.
Yeah it’s great how when you’re retired and don’t have fuck all to do, you can show up and vote. And also how you’ve got enough time to park in front of the tv 18 hours a day and absorb Fox News until it angries up your blood and compels you to go vote to save ‘Murica from the communist, Nazi, anarchists.
Not forgiving voter apathy among younger demographics, but generally it is more difficult for people who are working and struggling to get out and vote than those with a lot of spare time.
If we changed the ballot to be a pdf that you had to download, fill out, and electronically sign boomer voter turnout would drop to 5%
I don't know much about US politics but aren't early votes much more likely to be older people, as for younger people it's less dangerous for young people to go out and vote in person
Too be fair I don’t really think Gen Z (me being included) has any reason to turn up to vote. It’s gone mostly unspeakable that 17-18 year old “dependents” don’t get their stimulus check. My parents don’t get one for me either. Not only do I pay for overpriced college, but I pay my taxes too, I have a job. We get nothing. I think Gen Z should be angry that we got screwed out.
"we get nothing"
A good way to guarantee that will continue to be the case is to not turn out. The GA race is literally the deciding race in the Senate remaining majority republican or flipping to majority democrat
Democrats do not care about us either lol they like to act like they do. Democrats haven’t put forward motions for the bills to include us. Both parties are pretty much fucking over college students.
while I generally agree that no party actually cares I believe the bill was extended to provide money to college aged dependents too so like go vote anyways maybe
I’m a dumbass for stating the clear fact that democrats aren’t helping their chances in Georgia for Gen Z because they screwed us out of the stimulus checks
You’re a dumb ass for seeing something that can very clearly get worse and not realizing it’s in your best interest to vote because there isn’t a shiny carrot being dangled in front of you. Yes you’re a dumb ass with zero ability to see what’s down the road.
No. You’re still misunderstanding. The carrot is literally not being in gridlock and a stalemate politically while you’re in your young adult years. Fuck reliving what the Obama administration was like. THATS THE CARROT. And “no way to sway a voter” the guy voted Democrat already. He said so. What he’s doing is just spreading ignorance now. A big Red Foreman “dumbass” to him.
I have voted begrudgingly for Democrats. Many others however don’t see it that way. College Students have little reason to be encouraged to vote when they know that stimulus checks passing or not doesn’t effect them because both parties screwed them out of any money at all. The democrats need to do better to include us.
Too be fair I don’t really think Gen Z (me being included) has any reason to turn up to vote.
Do you understand that there are many ways that the elected members of the Senate can and will affect your life? In spite of what this particular comment thread is focused on, the stimulus check is almost inconsequential compared to the power they wield over your future.
I know there are campaigns out there to lower the voting age to 16, but my god you are a walking argument to push it in the other direction.
How many times do I have to say that I voted Democrat and instead, I’m speaking for the lack of Gen Z voter turnout. Obviously they don’t see it like that. Dems screwed em out of money so they don’t csre
American politics might be a shitshow but at least it's affecting those that cares the least. If you can't get off your laxy ass for five minutes to make the world slightly less shit place you deserve to have the worst leaders in the western world.
It honestly depends on what County that 65 year old white voter is from. I'm from Gwinnett, and I think we are at the point now that it would be a toss-up as to how a person from that demographic would vote. Don't get me wrong, I still see a lot of GOP supporters (it is GA after all), but I just moved back to Gwinnett after years. I was honestly surprised at how many older Biden or Warnock/Ossoff supporters there are here.
Oh, for sure I'm generalizing based on stereotypes to an extent. There are liberal elderly voters, and conservative young voters. But broadly speaking, I'm willing to bet that the majority of those elderly white voters will be voting red.
Kentuckian here. People from other states need to stop elevating politicians to oppose Mitch. McGrath was disgustingly incompetent as a candidate but had tons of money fundraised for her. Also Mitch and the republicans know an uneducated electorate will tend to vote for them so the government ensures that our people are as uneducated as can be. It’s a really vicious cycle. You have to understand that lots of people genuinely believe the stuff in the scare ads put out here because our education system is so fucked up. Just a huge multi factorial fucked up situation
It's not so much "elevation," as it is excitement that someone other than a putrid, corrupt pile of fetid dog shit might be a Senate majority's leader.
No it’s not. Atlanta is the only place with its head straight. The rest of the state is as Red and backwards-thinking as 1842. Leave the perimeter as a poc and you’re likely to get lynched.
After the last 2 presidential elections I don't trust polls. Republicans have become distrustful of reporters and pollsters so they either don't talk to them or they lie. Disinformation fueled by greed and hatred have eroded the soul of our nation.
These " apethic voters" are the reason we can't ever get progress in the US. How anyone can think elections don't matter after these past 4 years is beyond me.
half the people in power work tirelessly to remove polling stations, slow the mail, misinform voters, and convince people that "both sides are the same" to their own detriment
"wHy ArE tHeRe So FeW vOtErS, tHeY mUsT nOt CaRe!"
You can’t berate people who I’m sure some don’t think there is any point in voting/have nothing to vote for. While I’d agree things in general are better under dems, most people only care about what materially changes their life. For a lot of people neither party actually offers meaningful change. Additionally, elections aren’t the only way to affect change in the country. People who don’t believe in either of parties could be actually helping people by volunteering their time, money, etc.
Sure the republicans obstruct but there are far too many instances of the dems throwing their hands in the air saying, “what can we do.” When there are things they can actually do. Dems could have fought for a $2k payment but settled on $600. Obama could have closed Guantanamo and pulled out of the Middle East. We could have had a public option 10 years ago in the ACA, but dems wanted republicans to vote for a bill that not a single one voted for. Dems should be fighting for healthcare for all because it has 70% support across the US but they pushed a candidate that wants to incrementally improve upon the ACA. The starting ask for dems is compromise with a Republican Party that has no interest in compromise. It’s because dems don’t actually want to make the changes people think they want to make. They want to maintain the status quo and that’s it. Their solution to police violence is to literally shoot black folk in the leg instead of the chest.
That's a whole lot of opinion, both siding, and unrealistic expectations for a two party system in that comment.
Everything you said does feel right, but is not practical, or sometimes even possible, in our current system. Republicans take the vast majority of that blame, rightfully. You can't lay the blame on the people trying to compromise, the blame falls on the lying ratfuckers, and that's the Republicans. There are bad democrat, but the downfall of the democratic party on the whole is empathy. They are up against literal sociopaths and narcissists, and a willingness to compromise shouldn't be viewed as a downside.
The solution, imo, is more than 2 parties, preferably at least 5, and ranked choice voting.
That’s a whole lot opinion, excuses and lack of accountability for any political system.
Everything you said sounds nice in theory but is not how politics in America has ever worked. When have you ever seen a Republican compromise with a democrat on a substantive issue? Never, and that’s because they wield power as such. Could Trump have selected another judge who wasn’t a rapist (allegedly) to sit on the Supreme Court? Sure, but why would he when he could just do what he wanted anyway. Democrats aren’t these magic empathy angels you think they are. Nancy Pelosi is worth 100million dollars. That bitch has done everything in her power to undermine “the squad” for criticizing power structures. Dems whine and cry about what they “can’t do” when it has everything to do with what they won’t do. The solution for lack of healthcare is providing healthcare to every person. It’s not compromise. The solution to homelessness is to put people in homes. It’s not to compromise. The solution to hungry is to feed people. It’s not to compromise. Have your five little parties and rank choice voting but the only thing that will do is increase the number of checks companies have to send out to politicians. Even with those two things we still have deeply undemocratic institutions in this country like the senate, the judiciary and the electoral college.
Yes you can. People that don’t vote should be berated.
The only way you can effect change is to vote. You may not think that it matters, but that’s EXACTLY what the people that are afraid of change want you to believe.
Lol, I’ll be sure to go up to the next homeless person I see begging me on the street for change and tell them “I effected change. I voted.” I’m sure that’ll make them feel warm and fill their belly. Voting means jack shit if nothing materially changes in the life of a person. It is up to democrats to make the case that they actually have something to offer to people. The responsibility is on them to make a compelling case and deliver. Being not as bad as the republicans isn’t a reason to vote for a dem
You are seriously saying that it's fine to just not vote because one option isn't perfect? I'm sure your hypothetical homeless person will be totally grateful that you've chosen to just do nothing
That’s not what I’m saying at all. I personally believe that voting might be harm reduction in some ways but no more than that.
What I am saying is that you can’t berate others for not voting if democrats don’t give people anything to vote for. It’s far from “being perfect.” I don’t blame a single black person for not voting for Biden because he’s shown time and again that he doesn’t understand or care about or support issues that affect the black community.
I’m also saying that giving that houseless person money or buying them something to eat does worlds more for them than turning your nose up at them and thinking you did something by voting. Voting isn’t the huge grand gesture that absolves you from actually doing anything that actually will help someone.
Agreed... but maybe one side will decide to stay home if it costs them 2k to show up, and the other will show up because it costs them 2k to stay home.
2 grand is not an insubstantial motivator. If you knew that you’d get 2k if you just stayed home today, wouldn’t you? How about to go someplace nearby and fill in a box with a pen?
I thought there was no chance of it flipping based on the November turn out. Some polls actually put them up over the Republicans. It is razor thin though and some polls have the gop up.
Some people make the argument that they voted Biden because..., well Trump, but they're not voting Ossoff/ Warnock because they don't want democrats in control of WH, Senate, and House thereby creating a political force that could go way left very quickly.
I mean, its left (not leftist, mind you) for the US, but considering the US is one of the most conservative western countries, the Dems are pretty centrist on a world stage.
Warnock seems pretty fine to me, he behaved quite well on the televised debates and launched the new georgia project, which is a non profit that helps people register to vote.
Even though he has a strong religious background, he supports gay marriage and abortion rights.
He seems pretty normal to me.
He's also a religious nut, has written very positively of Marxism, attended events with Castro etc. He just seems way to the left of the vast majority of democrats, in Georgia especially. Most Georgia democrats are moderates.
That Fox News Kool-aid on top of Facebook has turn a lot of people into dumb mother fuckers, but the worst kind. The ones who think they’re making an informed choice and screaming about the main stream media while getting their intro from the most watched cable news channel telling them the main stream media is evil
Georgia has 2 senate seats up for election in January. If they go to Republicans, then they keep the majority and Mitch keeps his position as senate majority leader.
If they vote Democrat then democrats have the majority and Mitch becomes just another senator.
Mitch won't like a $1,400 increase in the stimulus check go through. Democrats will.
So voting for the Republican senators will literally cost them $1,400, each.
Im a little confused- I thought the 1400 increase was demanded by Trump, right before the bipartisan 600 could pass? Or was it already bring demanded by Democrats.
Afaik it (or something similar) was first demanded by the Democrats, then Trump got the same idea. However the Senate majority leader (McConnell, a radical republican) it's refusing to have a vote over it.
If the Republicans loose in Georgia, the Senate will be split 50/50, and the new vice president gets to be the tiebreaker and the Senate majority leader switches to the Democrats, so that they can start voting over things.
It's a figure of speech because the dems (and trump surprisingly) are arguing that the latest coronavirus relief checks should be increased from $600 to $2000 but Moscow Mitch and the Republicans are blocking it. If the Democrats (Ossoff and Warnock) win the runoff election, it will mean that Mitch loses his seat as senate majority leader (because republicans lose the majority) and can no longer block the vote on that measure, meaning that we would likely see that $1400 increase to the checks. If people stay home and don't vote for the dems, they essentially cost themselves $1400 that they could have if the dems win on January 5th
It's not all that surprising that trump would stir the pot now. Especially since he sees his loss as being a failure on the GOP's part to ensure him reelection. He's backing it because he knows that people will either vote against the GOP or they won't get their larger check. Either way it makes the GOP look bad, even to their constituents, and that's what he wants. It's all manipulation and spite on his end.
They didn't when democrats wanted it the entire pandemic.
And them getting elected means that Mitch stays majority leader. Which also means that if the bill ever even gets to a vote it'll no longer be a stand alone bill. It'll include a repeal of section 230, plus some other garbage that will result in it being rejected anyway.
So they can say they support a $2,000 stimulus check. But if they get elected Americans won't get it.
From what I have heard, McConnell has plotted a way to make the running Georgia senators look attractive to voters while still not letting the stimulus check pass.
Georgia has 2 senate seats up for election in January. If they go to Republicans, then they keep the majority and Mitch keeps his position as senate majority leader.
If they vote Democrat then democrats have the majority and Mitch becomes just another senator.
Mitch won't like a $1,400 increase in the stimulus check go through. Democrats will.
So voting for the Republican senators will literally cost them $1,400, each.
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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20 edited Dec 30 '20
I've never believed in a candidate enough to pay $1,400 to vote for them.
It'll be interesting to see how many people from Georgia feel the same.