When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election Yoko Rosenbaum, was at a watch party with a girl from an undocumented family. Rosenbaum watched the girl call her parents to see if they were okay.
“Honestly one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't really participate in that election as much as I think I should have,” Rosenbaum said. “It was a turning point for me and that's when I decided I was going to become a political science major in college.”
Rosenbaum wasn’t the only teenager who felt compelled to become politically active after seeing the results of the 2016 election. Approximately three in every 10 eligible people between the ages of 18 and 29 cast their vote in the 2018 midterms. This was the largest percentage increase for any age group — a 79 percent jump. It was also the largest portion of young voters in a midterm election in a quarter century.
During the 2018 midterm elections, more than one in four voters nationwide were from young adults, with three in every five going to Democratic candidates in the House of Representatives.
Even teenage voters, a notoriously apathetic voting block, managed to vote at much higher rates than usual. Six states were able to significantly exceeded the national turnout with their 18-19 turnout above 30%.
Experts in votings patterns expect such energy and influence to grow in 2020. A new survey by Chegg found that 80% of students plan to cast a ballot in the 2020 election. This is in contrast with a college-student turnout of nearly half in 2016.
Rosenbaum credits Trump’s surprise victory and his policies for the surge in political engagement among first-time voters.
“From then on I got involved in other campaigns. I worked on the Hill, I did whatever I could to become an activist and involve myself in the political process,” Rosenbaum explained. “So that I wouldn't have to have that feeling again.”
The Mass-Shooting Generation
Since 2016, Rosenbaum has immersed herself in local and national political activism, hoping to make a difference on the issues that matter to her generation.
Most recently, she founded the Trojans for Pete club at the University of Southern California. The group meets once a week to support the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Pete Buttiegeg.
Rosenbaum also spent the summer interning for the 37-year-old candidate’s campaign in Iowa. She worked alongside over 80 different college groups across the United States that support Buttiegeg and was encouraged by what she saw.
“The young people of this country are really getting involved,“ she explained.
Zoe Ginsburg, the communications director for Trojans for Pete, says she was also motivated by Trump’s election to get involved in politics.
“I was so shook about how he won that it changed my career path,” she said. “I came into journalism because I was disappointed in the way that it was covered.”
Ginsburg believes that many younger voters will stay with whichever Democrat that becomes the party’s nominee for one reason.
“We are the generation of mass shootings,” she says. “I think that's one thing that we can unite on as a party.”
Nearly half of voters (18-24) cast their votes in the midterm elections based on gun control after the Parkland school shooting, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
During the 2016 election, Federal Election Commission data shows the National Rifle Association donated more $35 million to Trump’s campaign.
Trump has been weak on gun-control. He’s openly spoken on the need for background checks, but after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas; the president pushed for immigration and mental-illness reform rather than gun control.
Glory Jones, a Tulsi Gabbard supporter and first-time voter, isn’t impressed with Trump on that front.
“I don't think anything has been done to make our schools safer as a whole,” she says. “So that sparked the whole March for Our Lives movement.”
Jones studies at Loyola Marymount University, but previously lived in Miami, which is close to Parkland. She felt personally affected by the 2018 shooting.
In her opinion, all Trump has really done while in office is raise the minimum age to own an assault rifle to 21-years-old.
“I read about this stuff - Sandy hook and the Las Vegas shooting - and I just kept thinking why is nothing being done?” Jones explained.
Once Parkland happened, she was officially tired of reading about another mass shooting and it motivated her to become politically involved.
Since then, she’s been an active supporter of the March for Our Lives movement and hopes it will push legislatures to pass stricter gun laws.
Rosenbaum agrees that the president’s words on gun control don’t line up with his actions.
“President Trump said that he was going to pass universal background checks and then the next day had a meeting with the NRA,” she said. “It is very concerning for me because it's proof that he’s not listening to the American people rather than who is funding his campaign.”
Save Our Planet
Rosenbaum doesn’t believe that gun control is the only policy the president can be bought off via campaign donations.
With constant climate change rallies, protests, and even school walk-outs, the concern about climate change is high among youth voters.
“When this administration says that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. It’s just more proof they're not supporting this planet and this country's best interest,” Rosenbaum explained. “They're supporting where the money is.”
Half of youth voters believe that climate change will affect them in their lifetime, according to Statista.
Theo Vasiloudes, an Elizabeth Warren supporter, basis his vote off which candidate he believes will do the most work towards climate change. He believes our vote impacts more than just the next four years of our lives.
“It's the future of not only your own life or the country, but it's the future of the world.” Vasiloudes explained.
Because of this he became one of the chapter leaders for Trojans for Warren. Vasiloudes wanted to make sure that young people were pushing the importance of climate change to the nominees.
“Donald Trump catalyzed more action within me and this recent election,” he says.
In the past, Trump has described climate change as a “hoax” and the “biggest scam in the history of the world.”
Since he’s been elected to office, Trump ended Obama’s clean power plan, withdrew from the Paris climate agree, dismantled US environmental rules around coal power, weakened fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks and more.
Recently, Trump attacked climate change activist Greta Thunberg after she was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Overall, the president’s stance on climate change has sparked controversy among young voters, but Rosenbaum believes things can be undone if the right nominee wins.
“Honestly, any of the Democratic candidates will make climate change a priority,” Rosenbaum says. “I think there's a consensus on that in the Democratic party right now.”
Looking Forward to 2020
The presidential election is less than a year away, and as the new year begins the race between the abundance of Democratic candidates is expected to thin out.
Many young voters have a specific nominee that they are in favor of, but if their choice doesn’t get the official place on the ballot it isn’t going to stop them from voting.
Rosenbaum hopes to see Buttiegeg in the White House after the November election. However, the Mayor of South Bend’s odds aren’t as high as they should be for that to happen.
He is currently polling at fourth in the Democratic nominee race, according to Real Clear Politics.
In the event that he doesn’t get the nominee, Rosenbaum plans to support whichever Democratic candidate that goes up against Trump in the presidential race.
“I’ll vote for the nominee,” she says. “Vote blue, no matter who. That's the most important thing.”