Young Voters Embrace Post-Racial Politics in a Digital World

This survey is part of CSS's regular Teen Snapshot series, which are quick pulses on young people's media tastes, interests, and opinions about current events. Learn more here.

Key Takeaways

  • 29.3% of Gen Z respondents who said they were not motivated to vote in the upcoming election before Harris’s nomination say they are now motivated to vote for Kamala Harris

  • 57% of Gen Z respondents who stay informed about the news express interest in voting for Kamala Harris, while 70% of those who do not follow the news say they will not vote for Harris or are unsure of who they will vote for

  • 82.7% of Gen Z respondents cited reasons other than Kamala Harris’s racial or gender identity to explain their motivation to vote for her (including “I agree with her stance on most issues,” “She’s an exciting candidate that gives me hope,” and “I like what I’ve seen about her on social media”) 

  • 77.7% of Black Gen Z respondents expressed confidence in the political system to serve their and their family’s interests (20.4% more than White Gen Z respondents)

Today, the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA released new research about young people’s perceptions of the 2024 presidential election and American politics. Insights were developed from a diverse sample of 1,653 Gen Z (ages 16-27) and Millennial (ages 28-40) participants surveyed across the United States. Together, these findings paint a picture of a new political generation — where diversity is normal and being online is key.

Media is Influencing Young People’s Opinions

Kamala Harris’s campaign has readily embraced meme culture and internet language in a way that seems to be resonating for Gen Z. While many have been speculating about this over the past few weeks, we now have the data to show for it:

In our survey, 48.2% of Gen Z respondents said they were not motivated to vote (or were unsure if they would vote) in the upcoming presidential election prior to Kamala Harris’s nomination as the Democratic nominee. Of those previously unmotivated to vote at all, 29.3% say they now feel motivated to vote for Kamala Harris.

The internet appears to be having a strong influence on young people across the aisle, with Millennials and Gen Z respondents who frequently consume media reporting motivation for voting for Kamala Harris at higher rates than those who report not using media at all.

We found that more than half (56.4%) of Gen Z respondents were very informed about social issues, current events, and news related to their communities. And 57% of those respondents who are informed about the news want to vote for Kamala Harris. On the other hand, 16% of Gen Z respondents said they don’t follow the news, with 70% of those who don’t follow the news reporting that they will not vote for Kamala Harris or are unsure of who they will vote for.

Young People Are More Concerned with Issues than Identity

Despite claims from Republicans that Kamala Harris is a “DEI Hire,” the majority of young people (82.7% of Gen Z respondents) cited reasons other than Kamala Harris’s racial or gender identity to explain their motivation to vote for her (including “I agree with her stance on most issues,” “She’s an exciting candidate that gives me hope,” and “I like what I’ve seen about her on social media”). 

As the most diverse generation in this country's history, it appears that young people are making a shift away from identity politics and are increasingly dis-invested in hard and fast boundaries around identity. Researchers have reported that younger generations are less likely to tout strong political affiliations and are making both political parties more diverse in composition than ever. Our findings seem to further confirm this: 15.5% of Black Gen Z respondents identified as Republican and 16.5% of Black Millenials identified as Republican. This is notable considering that since 2016, Black voters have made up only 1-2% of the Republican party. And in 2020, 92% of Black voters cast ballots to elect current President Joe Biden, while only 8% voted for Donald Trump.

Despite an increase in conservatism among young African American voters, most are still motivated to vote for Kamala Harris in 2024. 62.1% of African American Gen Z survey respondents indicated that they feel motivated to vote for Kamala Harris in 2024.

When asked how confident they are in the political system to take care of them and their family’s interests, 77.7% of African American Gen Z respondents indicated they were either “somewhat confident” or “very confident” — the highest percentage of any other racial/ethnic group. This finding runs in stark contrast to recent findings from other polls showing two-thirds of Black adults believing that the U.S. political system was designed to hold them back. Young Black voters reporting greater trust in the political system could point to the impact of entering adolescence during the Obama era, where they watched a Black family reside in the White House and likely saw their parents cast a ballot for the United States’ first Black president.

Young Black Voters are Expressing Greater Trust in the System

All in all, these findings suggest that Gen Z and Millennials are ushering in a new era of American politics in ways that are overwhelmingly positive. Young voters care about the issues and are looking more towards the substance of candidates’ stances than the appearance of their identities; they are continuing to blur racial divides across party lines; and young voters of color are expressing greater trust in the political system, which could result in stronger motivation to participate in the election process. For young people, who report upwards of 9 hours of media consumption a day and overwhelmingly get their news from TikTok, the way campaigns show up online is becoming increasingly important. And it appears that Kamala Harris’s presence across social media and messaging of joy, hope, and vibes is resonating with young people who continue to battle unprecedented rates of anxiety and depression in the face of an uncertain future.

Voter Registration and Political Action Resources for Youth: 

NextGen America is the nation's largest youth voter organization, mobilizing millions of young people each year to support progressive candidates and causes.

TurnUp is the largest and fastest growing coalition of youth turnout advocates united by a shared commitment to increase youth voter registration and turnout at the polls. 

The Alliance for Youth Action grows progressive people power across America by empowering local young people's organizations to strengthen our democracy. 


New Voters is a Gen Z led organization that inspires civic action by mobilizing high school students to register 80000+ youth to vote across the United States. 


The Youth Voter Movement is a nonpartisan effort to ensure youth have a voice in the future of this country by making sure they register to vote and then vote. 


LOUD for Tomorrow is a grassroots youth-led organization based in Delano, California building youth power to transform schools and communities. 

Generation Citizen offers tools for the rising generation to build civic skills and make America the inclusive multi-racial democracy that we need. 

Authors

  • Alisha J. Hines, PhD

    Research Director

    As director of research, Dr. Alisha J. Hines leads the research team and oversees all studies conducted at the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA. She earned her PhD in History & African American Studies from Duke University and is a former faculty member of Wake Forest University's History Department.

  • Atlas Burrus

    Research Coordinator

    Atlas Burrus assists with data collection, coding and analysis at the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA. They also lead regular lab meetings for research students. With a particular interest in queer representation and mental health, Atlas received their BA in psychology with a minor in education studies at UCLA.

  • Yalda T. Uhls, MBA, PhD

    Founder and CEO

    Founder and CEO of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers, Dr. Yalda T. Uhls is an internationally recognized, award-winning research scientist, educator, and author, who specializes in studying how media affects young people. She received her MBA and PhD in developmental psychology from UCLA, is a former movie executive at companies like MGM and Sony, and is a proud Gen Z parent.

Acknowledgements

Annie Li, CSS Intern

Dan Li, CSS Intern

METHODOLOGY 

Survey Design

The CSS research team designed a survey to collect data from a diverse sample of adolescents across the country. Consisting of quantitative and qualitative questions, the survey aimed to investigate research questions related to Gen Zer and Millennial sentiments toward American politics, the upcoming presidential election, and the effect of Kamala Harris’s candidacy.

Participants
The target population for this study consisted of members of Generation Z and Millennials, across the United States. For this study, Generation Z includes survey respondents between the ages 16 and 27, and Millennials refers to participants between the ages 28 and 40. A total of 1653 participants completed the survey, representing diverse gender, sexuality, and racial/ethnic identities. Survey respondent demographics closely reflected the U.S. Census in terms of race and gender.

Gen Z Race Demographic- n=803

Gen Z Gender Identity

Gen Z Region

Gen Z LGBTQIA Identity

Millennial Race Demographic- n= 850

Millennial Gender Identity

Millennial Region

Millennial LGBTQIA Identity

Survey Administration and Data Collection
This study was approved by the UCLA Institutional Review Board in July of 2024. The CSS team contracted a third-party survey recruitment platform, Alchemer, to conduct a survey of 16- to 40-year-olds from across the country. Participants were compensated by Alchemer to complete the survey and  were provided instructions on how to access and complete the survey online. Participants under the age of 18 were required to have parental/caregiver consent upon participating in the survey. The survey took approximately 5 minutes to complete. Survey responses were collected between August 1 and August 15, 2024. 

Limitations
It is important to acknowledge some limitations of this study. As with any self-report questionnaire, there is a possibility of response bias or social desirability bias. In order to capture the sentiments of younger adolescents, 16 and 17 year olds were included in the study although they are not currently eligible to vote. Finally, the dataset was not weighted or balanced, meaning some demographic groups might be over- or underrepresented.

Data Analysis

Once the survey responses were collected, the data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and crosstabs were calculated to summarize the overall responses from teens and regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between key independent and dependent variables. The data analysis was performed using the statistical methods software SPSS.