Youth Voting in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and Beyond

Early analyses suggest historic levels of youth turnout in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, yet young people still turned out at almost half the rate of older voters. This age gap in turnout is much worse in the United States than other democracies around the world. What explains dismal levels of youth turnout? And what policy reforms might solve it? Hillygus will present her new book with John Holbein, Making Young Voter: Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Behavior (Cambridge University Press, 2020) as well as lessons for the future of youth civic engagement from the 2020 presidential election.