Do the Election Results Reflect the Millennial Vote?
On November 8, 2016, millions of Americans cast their vote and chose their President-elect, Donald Trump. This left some in despair and some in celebration. The final results totaled 279 electoral votes for Trump and 228 for Clinton. Millennials, people ages 18–34, were able to take part in the election this year to ensure they had the right candidate in office.
Millennials are the nation’s most populous generation, passing Baby Boomers. The total number of millennials total 75.4 million while Baby Boomers total 74.9 million. Millennials are very large in number, but receive numerous criticism from the public. USA Today writes of one stereotype that most of the nation and millennials themselves are most likely familiar with, “the spoiled, narcissistic millennial.”
On top of that stereotype, millennials also experience criticism for their sometimes lack of political involvement, but this could be due to their minimal trust in government. A study from the Washington Post concludes that 88 percent of millennials barely trust the government- it’s either “sometimes” or “never.” However, on the contrary, this article from Texas State University writes that millennials are actually highly engaged in politics. They demonstrate this through volunteering and social media.
“I see a lot of the time that we are called lazy and complacent, but that’s a huge generalization. I’ve met so many people my age that were so involved with not only the general elections, but the primaries and caucuses,” says Kaitlin Buckley, a fellow millennial and University of Nevada, Reno student who voted in this election.
The election this year was possibly a turning point for millennial voters. According to a recent poll conducted by USA Today/Rock the Vote, millennial voter registration numbers have increased since January- a total of 83 percent of millennial voters in America are now registered to vote. This increase in percentage could be caused by millenials’ high enthusiasm and their activism on social media.
Previous polls found that the Democratic millennial vote was more likely to go towards Bernie Sanders, but since it boiled down to Clinton and Trump, millennials became reluctant to support Clinton. During the pre-election season, millennials’ voting enthusiasm peaked when Bernie Sanders was campaigning for office. Although Clinton tried to appeal to young voters, the number of millennial votes dropped to 29 percent in August.
Millennials were able to cast their vote this year; however, their overall views do not necessarily reflect the outcome. Clinton took the popular vote among young voters, but those votes were no match for the Electoral College.
This poll originally conducted by CNN proves that millennials were more supportive of Clinton than Trump. In the youngest age group, 18–29 year olds, 55 percent of the total age group voted for Clinton.
Mya Yazbek, a Democratic millennial and a student at the University of Nevada, Reno believes the outcome of the election does not personally reflect her views.
“I disagree with our President-elect on a wide range of issues and feel his behavior throughout the election does not represent the average American citizen, and have found that many of his supporters also agree with this statement,” says Yazbek.
In 2024, it is reported that millennials will make up 45% of the electoral vote, giving them more of an advantage when the time comes. Since some millennials are not happy with the results of this election, it is possible that millennial voter turnout could be larger than it was for this election. However, there are no estimates as to how much or how little the change could be.
“Voter turnout rates are among the lowest in the modern world for all age groups in America and I think that this is a major issue that needs to be addressed during the next election,” says Yazbek.
