Young voters surged to Democrats in midterm elections to stave off red wave

Younger voters were part of the blue wall that fended off a so-called ‘red tsunami’ on Tuesday and contributed to a number of unlikely Democratic successes.Exit polls from the National Election Pool (NEP), which includes a consortium of news outlets and the Edison Research group, found that younger voters aged 18-29 were the only voter group by age to overwhelmingly support Democrats in the midterms. Sixty-three per cent of voters in that age group voted for Democratic House candidates, according to the poll, while 35 per cent voted for Republicans.The poll suggests that Democrats’ biggest hurdle to overcome involving younger voters is the turnout question: An ever-present issue that has dogged Democratic candidates for years. Younger voters have some of the worst turnout rates of any demographic, and this year was no exception: Voters aged 18-29 made up about 12 per cent of the electorate, a historically common share.Racial and gender divides were important to Democrats’ success on Tuesday as well; exit polls indicate the party won with women, Black voters, Hispanic voters and Asian-Americans, though the latter two categories were demographics that broke for Democrats by much lower margins than they have in previous years.Turnout in general appeared to be up over past election cycles, likely spurred on by a wide range of pressing issues including historic levels of inflation, the unprecedented attack on the US Capitol and the reversal of federal protections for abortion rights by the Supreme Court.Abortion rights were a serious motivating factor for voters in Tuesday’s contests, and it appears more and more as if the conservative movement’s decades-long effort to end abortion in America may have just cost the GOP a number of key races thanks to voter anger at their success. Four in 10 voters told exit pollsters that they were angry about the Dobbs decision overturning Roe vs Wade earlier this year, while less than half that number said that they were enthusiastic about the ruling.A number of key races remain uncalled, including the Arizona gubernatorial contest and Senate race, as well as neighbouring Nevada’s Senate race. If Democrats end up holding the Senate (and, potentially, even the House), they will have America’s younger, progressive generations to thank.