Youth Vote Takes Center Stage in Midterms
In response to the promise shown by preliminary youth voter participation in the midterms, NextGen America President Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez released the following statement:
“Our determination, passion, and belief in creating a better future has fueled our youth movement for nearly a decade. Young people are relentlessly committed to building the infrastructure needed to harness the full power and potential of the largest and most diverse generation in American history. From abortion access to economic justice, young people recognized the stakes and mobilized to address some of the most challenging issues our country has ever faced. Young people just sent a clear message: the future belongs to us – and there’s no room for hatred, greed, or fear in the country we will continue to build.”
NEXTGEN AMERICA 2022: BY THE NUMBERS
TOTAL SPEND: $25 million
TOTAL ORGANIZING STAFF: 217
TOTAL CALLS AND TEXTS MADE: 24.5 million
TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS COMPLETED: 78,750
TOTAL VOLUNTEER BASE: 28,000
TOTAL STUDENT POPULATION OF CAMPUSES: 3.1 million
TOTAL CAMPUSES TARGETED: 245
TOTAL PIECES OF DIRECT MAIL SENT: 6.9 million
TOTAL POTENTIAL AUDIENCE OF INFLUENCERS: 180.8 million
2022 youth voter turnout was powered by an intentional investment of $25 million by NextGen America, which reached over 9.6 million young voters ages 18-35 ahead of November. NextGen communicated with young people across the country through a robust influencer program, informative ballot guides, and millions of conversations via texts and phone calls.
This cycle, NextGen’s get out the vote efforts sought to modernize and innovate civic engagement through a multi-prong approach that allowed its target audience to become active participants in building a fully representative democracy. The organization’s efforts included parties to the polls, free rides to polls for college students, dorm storms, phone banking, text banking, and rallies.
Additionally, NextGen America deployed the largest influencer program – with a total potential audience of 180.8 million – in the nation and leveraged the power of college athletes to activate and mobilize students across 245 college campuses. Our base of 28,000 volunteers helped make millions of calls and texts, and this cycle NextGen sent nearly 7 million individual pieces of mail to prepare young folks to get out the vote.
Our initial data from Youth Vote Indicator Precincts shows that young people NextGen registered or pledged to vote turned out at 6 points higher than young people overall during the early voting period. And early turnout among young voters in precincts organized by NextGen exceeded nationwide averages. This includes, for example, precinct 500900 in Washoe County, NV, where NextGen organized at University of Nevada, Reno, and youth vote is exceeding the statewide average by 5.8%.
Of the young people NextGen registered or pledged to vote, 25% voted early. And early voting overall increased to 34% for folks we had at least one phone conversation with. As final numbers continue to roll in, it is clear that NextGen played a significant role in mobilizing young people to make their voices heard in the midterm elections.
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About NextGen America
NextGen America is the leading national organization for engaging young people through voter education, registration and mobilization. We invite 18-to-35 year olds — the largest and most diverse generation in American history — into our democracy to ensure our government works for them and to find new solutions to the dire challenges facing our society and the world. Since 2013, NextGen America has registered more than 1.4 million young voters and educated many millions more.