How nearly 40M Gen Zers are being motivated to vote [FULL SPECIAL REPORT]

[Music] gen Z has 41 million eligible voters it's the largest voting Block in America being surrounded by so many other passionate individuals that are all young vice president kamla Harris has been successful at energizing young voters online I would have a beer with her like I like her she seems interesting and former president Donald Trump's popularity has grown amongst young men he's a winner he's a fighter and he's going to take down kamla but will this popularity TR translate to engagement come November we discuss this tonight on decision 2024 young [Music] voters welcome to decision 2024 young voters my name is umit Singh and in the past two years alone jenzy voters have grown by 8 million people becoming 1th of the American electorate it's a voting block that could determine the outcome of the presidential election and swing some hotly contested r around the country and right here in California question is how do we reach them to start it's important to understand the issues that matter the most to young voters T turano spoke to young voters about the issues that are top of mind when it comes to this election if the future is in the hands of the Next Generation 19-year-old Ashi jaer says they're well equipped to handle The Changing Times she's the co-executive director for voters of Tomorrow a genz Le organization that civically engages and empowers Young voters Civic engagement and Progressive policy is really the Forefront um of all change she and the team of teenagers are assembling voter registration kits for local high schools and community colleges ASI says she was motivated to get involved after dealing with chronic illnesses that she says revealed how many disparities and systemic issues exist within the Health Care system being part of this movement and being surrounded by so many other passionate individuals that are all young realizing that we can write policy we can have voter registration drives we can turn out people to vote as the daughter of two Vietnamese refugees 19-year-old Zeon TR says immigration policies are top of Mind along with the environment we're looking at a climate disaster that's ahead of us especially for young people I mean we're the Next Generation and we want to make sure that the Earth is sustainable for future generations to live in um and also reproductive Health especially women's rights these are the top issues driving this generation notice how I'm pre-registering and registering to vote very C UCLA Professor Veronica tkz says as the Director of the Cho studies Research Center she's conducted extensive research on youth voting trends that reveal young voters are motivated by environmental justice health and education Jen Z cares about their communities and when provided the proper information about how elections matter to their everyday lives to the lives of their families their communities they vote this is seen across the age and socioeconomic Spectrum she says and even though 15-year-old prah sha can't vote yet she's proud to make a difference at that local level I never thought that I would get the chance to go to the capital and Sacramento and actually have a chance to have meetings with all these various representatives and discuss policy that actually relevant to what I believe in they're laying the groundwork says Ashi in hopes of creating a better tomorrow for a generation like our it's really daunting to go out into the world um knowing that we can't really afford things anymore um so I think there's a lot of issues that are at stake and hopefully that those issues are what's going to bring us to the polls harnessing the political power of gen Z that could decide elections and legislation very professional very no doubt the economy top issue for voters across the board but how do they view these issues compared to older generations to help answer that question we have Steve Kaplan instructor at the USC anenberg School for community and journalism also a strategist a person who has run campaigns you've thought a lot about these demographics Steve great to be here thanks for having me today it's great to have you and if we think about these young voters everyone wants to understand their beliefs who they are we see in ppic polling since 2006 they've shifted a little bit to the left in their attitudes beliefs and also identification with the Democratic party tell us more about them their beliefs sure I mean young voters for many years have been moving towards the Democratic party have certainly become an audience that Democrats could count on uh the question is that level of commitment just how enthusiastic they are and the level of support that those young voters have towards the nominees on both parties and what we've seen is really a remarkable turnaround just in this last month I know Republicans want the answer to this question what's motivating this somewhat leftward shift that we see showing up in the data yeah I think that um younger voters have less concerns about government involvement in making a difference in people's lives over inly they look at things like immigration they look at issues around criminal justice not as negatives in as much of a sense but as almost positives and you see that with issues like immigration you see that with issues like criminal justice and we've seen that recently in the last several years with some of the um incidents that have occurred across the country that have motivated and inspired young people in different ways in this ppic polling we've been talking about they they looked at the way that people are identifying with these parties versus identifying with these issues and say say there's some disconnect between folks that are claiming to be Republican and their actual beliefs in other words young voters are thinking differently between labels and the issues themselves what do you think is behind that and what more could we do to understand that yeah I mean I certainly think that most young voters don't immediately subscribe or think of themselves with a party label they think of themselves as activists and Advocates on a number of issues so they're less bound to party affiliation than M many generations previously had have been so um whether you want to change that or not I'm not sure that is a challenge it's certainly a challenge for the political parties to keep and capture those young voters and make them loyal Democrats or loyal Republicans uh but I think young people now are less tied to these labels uh that they've many of us have been used to for many years and when you talk about keeping capture of course we're talking about attracting people to parties and here's the billion question for a guy like you for the campaigns that are watching how do candidates parties issue oriented people approach young voters in a way that feels authentic and might actually bring them to their cause well you know every cycle and every four years we see a different platform at least since 2000 that is used to attract and retain voters and we've seen it change just in 2016 look the president Trump campaign his successful campaign was based largely on his work on Twitter and the things he did on Twitter using that platform to its maximum effect it's 8 years later and there's different platforms now and it appears that whether it's the Democrats or more organically uh young people have flocked to platforms like Tik Tok and other multi-media type platforms to share their vision and their thoughts about the candidates it's really the most striking thing that's occurred in this election and it's unlike anything we've ever seen because now you've got different platforms that are being used not by the campaigns necessarily but as I said organically organically meaning by users who generate their own content and in the case ofla Harris it really was a remarkable prebuttal almost to what um we would have expected to see coming out of the gates you talk about platforms and social media there's a lot to talk about there but there's also just the language right and the Optics outside agnostic of platform but the way you talk to a voter there any best practices around that anything that we see that particularly resonates when people are approached with political messaging yeah I think the one the one thing that Mark marketers and political candidates need to keep in mind is authenticity is everything with this generation they're very skeptical of voices that they see as inauthentic and it's a real challenge for a marketer too because when you try and ride that wave of something that's organic and put your own stamp on it it can backfire it does come down to Communication in so many ways and I think there's more to talk about with you there Steve we'll get to that after the break what young voters are doing to reach others their age and how the state's trying to engage this demographic at an early age well right [Music] back according to the Center for inclusive democracy registered gen Z voters would have been enough to flip races in Battleground congressional districts in the 2022 midterms enough of these districts exist in California to impact the balance of power in the House of Representatives Taylor sha spoke to two young Party leaders about their efforts to influence down ballot races knocking on doors sometimes feels like a full-time job for Adam tabis but these days he wouldn't have it any other way I'm using an app that tells me where uh my neighbors are and what you know their voter registration is just so I can talk to them as the head of the Orange County young Democrats Adam is driving from neighborhood to Neighborhood determined to make every conversation count I love knocking doors and I can go all day Adam says the switch from Joe Biden to KLA Harris said the top of the ticket has particularly engaged the younger diverse voters they see a presidential ticket that looks like them he says well the campaign Savvy use of social media has reeled them in it's the power of personal connection that will get them to vote so he's laser focused on reaching out face to face I think it's a an age group that is politically not really catered to putting the fire to our local electives is what we must do to win in November on the other side Ariana aoker chair of California's young Republican Federation is also pushing a multi-prong strategy using social media open events and yes still most importantly canvasing door knocking is an old-fashioned way to a lot of people but it allows individuals to dispel things that they may have heard Ariana is not just thinking about the presidential race for her it's the local battles in California that really matter she says young Republic Republicans are using the energy from the top of the ticket to fuel several key Congressional races in Orange County and the Central Valley along with some other smaller races our city council our school board our County Supervisors affect our day-to-day life and have a bigger impact than say the president and the vice president of the United States political Professor Matt Lena says both parties know the youth vote is crucial with Gen Z making up a fifth of the electorate this year according to the T Center for civic learning and engagement the age with the the lowest participation rates tends to be 18 to 35 there's a 20-year-old Democrat in this house like his Republican counterpart Adams determined to change that by driving energy into local races especially in tightly contested Orange County we have so many seats from Congress down to local city councils and waterboards that really affect our daily life with both parties buing Tech with old school tactics the focus is on getting this vital voting block to the polls 18 states in Washington DC have taken a step forward in encouraging young civic participation by allowing voters to pre-register as early as age 16 Jimmie Kennedy tells us more about the efforts to engage voters from an early age creating voting awareness art with friends might not be every young person's idea of fun but for 17-year-old Anushka Kalan she say she loves it so we called it like an artivism event um and we're making just a couple of like bracelets and different um things that we coloring the high school senior says even though she can't vote she wants to encourage other young people who can Anushka says she wishes more civic education would happen at schools so younger people may be more inclined to vote and be civically involved overall it's at least in my school it's not the norm to talk about voting or be excited about things like that but I wish it was like that though adults aged 18 to 34 make up 31% of the state's voting population but only 18% of likely voters according to the public policy Institute of California which is a stark comparison to those 55 and older who make up 35% of the voting population but 50% of likely voters Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon is one of those pushing for more civic education across the state he says he would like civic education to start earlier than in high school our younger people are being exposed to sophisticated ideas on the internet on the on the social media earlier and earlier and they have absolutely got to understand how our government works another way State leaders are engaging young people is pre-registering them to vote since the state began allowing it in 2016 the Secretary of State's office says over 1 million 16 to 17 year-olds have pre-registered with the current total sitting around 131,000 in Sacramento County Ken Casper with the county elections office says they have roughly 5,300 pre-registered and are working to have more sign up we do what we call High School Mock elections um so we go out into the community and uh as many high schools as we can get out to um this year we're doing 17 of them and we um essentially introduce them to elections Anushka says she is pre-registered to vote but only knew it was an option through getting a driving permit did know that only because I had a few friends tell me about like how to register for your permit um and like they like walked me through the questions that's kind of the only reason why I knew pre-registering is now something Anushka says she openly talks about and hopes she and her friends can Inspire others to be more civically minded when we come back the role that social media plays in politics and how it could be a vehicle to reaching young voters according to a recent Pew study almost half of Tik Tok users from the ages of 18 to 29 use the app to keep up with politics or political issues 45% of that group also think that Tik Tok and its political content is mostly good for democracy Chase Beach spoke to a political influencer and explains the role that Tik tok's playing in this election okay so boom we was mad at Big T for being with it's politics in a genz format that's AB Burns Tucker specialty the 35-year-old is a content creator and law student and she's always ready to record everything that a Creator could need her videos cover different aspects of politics and right now the upcoming election is her Focus which I love cuz this was like my Super Bowl season AB regularly posts videos like this explaining to her audience what's happening in the world of politics she considers herself to be an independent voice but always has some editorial flare country for me to go ahead and shake the spot and this Tik Tok has over 11,000 likes AB says that's why she started posting to get younger people more engaged I realized like oh there's a whole audience of people who might be not informed or misinformed right because they don't necessarily understand the language of politics and major political players are taking note this year ab and over 200 other influencers and content creators were credentialed at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago they were given special access to the convention floor will stand to say the great state of Minnesota gives X number of delegates to Harris walls for some creators in attendance DNC was an opportunity to share their own messages with politicians Carlos Eduardo espia is an influencer with over 10 million Tik talk followers he says he was there to talk about immigration and not just as a Democrat value but as a republican value as well I mean look at Ronald Reagan's last speech as president he talked about the importance of immigration and that's really the message I've sent on social media for the past four years that I think has resonated with so many Latinos so many immigrants here in the United States according to recent polling from Pew Research Center 48% of people aged 18 to 29 use Tik Tok to keep up with political news Shaya Crowder is assistant professor of political science at loyol laary Mount University and she studies how social media can impact political Behavior people are not you know subscribing to the news or even reading the news in the same way that they have historically and so it's really important if you want to that message to reach certain people to have that information put out through social media she says Jen Z and Millennials want to hear from individuals they trust like AB I'm I'm really honored to kind of play that medium and be that resource the new news and attention political parties are vying for in the palm of her hand back with us to talk about the online social media of it all is Steve Kaplan instructor at the USC School for communications journalism also campaign strategist the person who understands this stuff well so when I say internet online you think I think digital I think about my cell phone that's not in my pocket right now that's right and that's exactly where people are living on that cell phone that's usually attached to people's hands um and especially Young Folks on these phones I mean it's one of the ways in which campaigns are trying to reach them right absolutely and you know we talked about a little bit earlier I mean not to give you a history lesson here but it wasn't that long ago that there were three major networks that were responsible for almost all the advertising at least broadcast that Americans saw as a advertis as a marketer as a political candidate you would know who was watching a show at a certain time You' buy that TV ad and boom there they would be myi TV you buy friends and you have an audience now that audience in the media environment is so dispersed that you have to find the voters where they are young voters are living on their phones they're living in digital um and frankly they're changing platforms even more quickly so it's really about um the platform but but also the message what are you saying and how are those platforms being used and it is uh I would say a bit of a trick look the Harris campaign has uh a fully operational digital team um my understanding is that they have a half dozen folks running that who are under the age of 25 um for many years giving that kind of power to people who weren't particularly seen as experienced professionals would have been a risk that most campaigns would be afraid to take yeah can't say that now absolutely and when it comes to young voters who are digital natives coming up in this environment what do you see that's resonating with those voters in this way well certainly um it's one of the more interesting examples of a successful social media campaign or uh platform was the use of the coconut meme this is a remarkable moment where um quite frankly a candidate style that may have been seen as a quirk or a challenge and I'm sure many GOP Consultants were thinking oh we're going to get her on some of the way she talks the style that she uses the laugh um sure enough organically those issues and those challenges were met uh with memes that took off like wildfire and showed uh her as a human being uh being very human one last question as a question everybody's wondering you see the enthusiasm for both these campaigns online how did the campaigns translate that enthusiasm into people actually go and filling out a ballot well it's the million or in this case $17 billion doll question because that's how much it's going to be spent on political advertising this year um among young voters look um in 2022 I believe the voter turnout was something like 25% of young voters as opposed to 63% of older voters that Gap um almost always exists it's one thing to get people engaged and encouraged and excited it's a whole other thing to get them to the polls and that will be a challenge so we'll see how that goes translating enthusiasm and to votes has always been the issue and it exists even in the digital space uh Steve K thanks so much for your it's great to have you thank you for having me thank you there is no doubt young people could decide the 2024 presidential election but our country has one of the lowest rates of Youth voter turnout in the world so come November will it be the same story we'll find out together my name is umit Singh thank you for watching and whatever your age be sure to get out there and vote [Music]