The Democrats can say thank you to them – Joe Biden did not hesitate to do so. In the United States, young people helped the presidential camp avoid the electoral rout that was promised to it in the mid-term elections in early November. The day after the election, the tenant of the White House held ” Especially “ to greet those under 30, who “voted again in historic numbers – as they did two years ago”.
And who have especially supported, by an overwhelming majority, the Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives : 63% of 18-29 year olds gave their vote against 35% to a Republican, according to exit polls. What to give a smile to Joe Biden, surprisingly relaxed at a time when the results were still uncertain. “ They voted to continue tackling the climate crisis, gun violence, for their individual rights and freedoms, and student debt relief,” he congratulated himself.
In the night and the cold
In some universities, long queues formed in front of the polling stations and students waited several hours, in the dark and the cold, before being able to deposit their ballot in the ballot box. The youth participation rate – 27%, according to estimates by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (Circle) – is at the high end of recent years.
“ It’s a very good level, the second best we’ve seen for midterms in the last twenty years.”, indicates Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of the Circle, which depends on the university Tufts, in Massachusetts. This figure may seem low, but when the essentials are at stake, every vote counts. Even if his plan has since been suspended by the courts, Joe Biden knows it well, he who had chosen to announce at the end of August the cancellation of part of the student debt.
Without the major turnout of younger voters, we would have seen a very different outcome in last night’s elections.… https://t.co/wHur1Q7u3S
“Without the significant turnout of young voters, the outcome of last night’s election would have been very different”, tweeted Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont, the day after the vote. This is especially true in Pennsylvania, where the Senate race was largely undecided. the Democrat John Fetterman finally seized the seat at the expense of the Republican Mehmet Oz, with just over 4 points difference, giving his party a decisive victory. Young people are not there for nothing : 70% of 18-29 year olds supported him, against 28% for the Republican, according to Circle estimates.
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