Young Voters' Disengagement Skews Politics; Graying Electorate's Issues Predominant, Fueling Trend
The nation's electorate is rapidly graying, with the cadre of older Americans who plan to take part in the Nov. 5 elections outnumbering people younger than 30 by more than 2 to 1, creating a distorted national politics in which the issues that dominate campaigns and Capitol Hill reflect an ever-smaller slice of the country.</br></br>This underrepresentation of young voters is becoming more acute: If current trends continue, the number of people 65 and older who vote in midterm elections is likely to exceed that of young adults by a 4 to 1 ratio by 2022.</br></br>These findings emerge from a study conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, which surveyed the political beliefs and behavior of Americans of different ages and created a forecast of future elections based on population patterns and recent voting habits.</br></br>The study shows that young adults hold beliefs quite distinct from those of their parents and grandparents -- more conservative in many of their views of government, more tolerant in many of their social values -- and yet are not expressing them at the polls.</br></br>The net effect is an accelerating cycle of political disengagement. "If young people don't vote, their issues don't get addressed, which further diminishes their incentive to participate in the process and keeps the downward spiral going," said Thomas E. Patterson, a Harvard political scientist, who studied public attitudes during the last presidential campaign. "We've got a real disconnect between the rational strategies for candidates to win elections and good strategies for maintaining a healthy democracy."