Student voting has seen a huge rise in the midterm elections, especially in college students. It is expected to see a similar graph in the next year’s presidential elections too. Researchers believe the efforts of activists and colleges to encourage students in civic engagements have finally seen the success. This report was prepared by Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy and Higher Education.
The midterm elections saw a rise of more than double in terms of percentage points. The rise in the voters can be seen for every age group but the drastic jump made by the college students’ age group was the most significant.
A data was compiled by the researchers of more than ten million students from more than 1000 colleges, along with their registration, age group and their participation in voting. It was found that if the students are in the vicinity of the polling booth, they are most likely to vote. Naturally, it would be wise to install a polling booth on the college campus.
Ever Since Donald Trump’s election as the President, there has been a spike in the students involved in political debates and there has been an increase in student activism. President Trump, ever since the vote, has been present in social media feeds, with his controversial statements or whatsoever. So, students had to stop looking from the outside and get themselves engaged.
Civic engagement by students is the highest now in the decade
If the racial criterion is taken, the numbers have still gone massively up. Only 24% of black women had cast their votes in 2014, but in 2018, there is an increase of 19 percentage points. Hispanic women have made a far greater difference, 24 percentage points.
With this spike, especially in college students, politicians and supporters have been to exploit the situation. Kim Reynolds, who is the Republican governor of Iowa was accused of keeping two major elections in the college campus when a certain group of students was unavailable.
Heightened activism has made many college presidents excited, as they would love to see the 60s and 70s student uprising movement.
