As the uncertainty over the outcome of the 2020 presidential election sorted itself out, one data point was clear as day: The racially diverse youth vote was “instrumental” in sending former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris to the White House. According to researchers at Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), young voters aged 18-29 preferred the Democratic ticket by a 25-point margin. Their cohort, particularly young people of color, played a key role in “flipping” battleground states including Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and the estimated youth turnout increased significantly from 2016.
Given such numbers, it’s not surprising that the misbegotten impression holds today that the younger the electorate, the more favorable the electorate for liberals. But the decades-long push to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, which culminated in the 1971 ratification of the 26th Amendment, came about because young Americans of different races, genders and political persuasions came together, taking on an ambivalent and
