I’ve always been a late bloomer.
Despite growing up in a household where politics was served each night around the dinner table, I didn’t feel pulled to participate until I was in my mid-30s.
At that time, Bill Clinton had just been elected president in 1992. Besides his compelling personal story, (before the scandals) what interested me most was his wife Hillary’s efforts to pass universal health care. In addition to her goal, I admired her tenacity and smarts and hated how her expertise was so cavalierly dismissed.
I was then a newly divorced mother of three and felt very nervous making my way. As a first lady who broke from tradition, Hillary became somewhat of a polestar in helping me navigate uncertain territory, as well as good friends and a supportive pastor. Whatever lay ahead, I knew it was a challenge I was meant to take.
Which goes to show that politics is personal. It’s when our leaders and issues become relatable that many feel called to get involved.
TODAY, that appears to be happening to more and more of our younger generations.
For the last three election cycles — 2018, 2020, 2022 — the youth vote tilted the scales in favor of Democrats in a majority of swing states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Ohio and Arizona.
Nationwide, pollsters say last week’s election experienced a “Gen Z wave,” according to John Della Volpe of IOP Polling. “Youth today vote at levels that far exceed millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers when they were under 30.”
Volpe attributed voter engagement to anxiety about the future — “of our country and planet.”
They see democracy being attacked when lawmakers curtail voting access and even undermine the election process.
Overwhelmingly, they report a feeling that their rights, and the rights of others, are being attacked, according to Harvard’s Institute of Politics, including those that concern abortion, a clean planet and same-sex marriage.
Turned off by the divisiveness of today’s politics, the majority of today’s youths say their votes are in support for their party, rather than a rejection of the other. In other words, they don’t hold their noses to vote for someone they don’t like just to spite the opponent.
THESE YOUNGER generations also appear to be more generous in spirit than their elders.
My 40-year-old daughter who teaches at the college level ventured that in one more generation’s time, issues concerning one’s sexuality will be a thing of the past.
“People will stop labeling themselves and each other as gay or lesbian, trans or bisexual. They won’t get hung up on someone’s sexual orientation,” she predicted.
Though the official results haven’t been posted on the Kansas Secretary of State’s website, I wouldn’t be surprised if those aged 18 to 29, played a significant role in Gov. Laura Kelly’s re-election. If so, the credit goes to the voter mobilizing effort for the Aug. 8 primary election that included a measure on the Kansas Constitution’s protections for abortion.
