Republicans made gains in the midterm elections among voters under 30, a demographic that tends to lean heavily Democratic, according to The Associated Press.
Young voters swung 53% for Democratic House candidates and 41% for Republican candidates, AP reported. The result marks a decline for Democrats from recent elections: In 2020, voters under 30 chose Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump 61% to 36%; in 2018, they swung for Democrats 64% to 34% in House races.
This year’s midterm elections otherwise were viewed as a disappointment for the GOP; Republicans had hopes for a massive red wave, but the party failed to win the Senate.
“Youngest people also have the weakest partisan attachments, so they can be more susceptible to partisan swings nationally,” Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, told AP. “There’s no reason why Republicans can’t rebound among younger people.”
Voters under 45, however, were more likely to support Democrats in 2022 than they were to support Biden in 2020, AP reported. About half of young voters said the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade had driven their decision to vote.
Biden moved to issue $10,000 in student loan forgiveness to borrowers earning under $125,000 annually about two months before the midterms, in an apparent bid to win over young voters.
Democrats will rely heavily on voters under 30 in the 2024 presidential election, according to AP, so poor performance among young voters may be read as a warning sign for the party. McDonald, however, said the waning support for Democrats may be an anomaly and a symptom of inflation.
In addition to winning over an unusually high proportion of young voters, the GOP also won the popular vote in the 2022 election.
Neither the Republican National Committee nor the Democratic National Committee responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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