Young people are set to change politics, whether that be running for office or heading out to the polls in larger numbers than ever before. Generation Z will leave *** huge mark on American politics for years to come. This is clarified the boundaries of generation Z birth years span from around 1996 to the early 20 tens. Meaning they range in ages between 11 and 27 years old today. The are they and what have they been defined by? They've grown up in *** much more fragmented, less cohesive society in America. That's Morley Winograd, *** senior fellow at us C Annenberg and an expert in young people and politics. He says certain events define every generation for Gen Z COVID-19. Climate change. And Donald Trump's presidency are just some of the tumultuous events that have shaped their lives so far. But that's not one of the major events in their life was the dos decision and the taking away of rights around reproductive freedom that the country experienced. You have *** global threats to democracy in both the Ukraine and in Israel. As we speak, these events have made, the generation cared deeply about freedom and democracy. This generation is different from others in other ways too. They are digital natives. Most unlikely to remember *** time before smartphones. The majority of them get most of their news and information from tiktok, youtube or Instagram. They are also incredibly diverse with just under 50% of the population being nonwhite. Many of them also less religious than older generations. Gen Z is *** much more activist generation. They vote at higher rates than millennials did when they were their age and they're much more inclined to take direct action to solve problems than they are to engage in what some people would call click action as in not doing anything but clicking on social media. How are they poised to change elections going forward? Well, they care more than other generations about certain issues like climate change, mass shootings and mental health. Other ones that have to do with the cost of health care, the cost of higher education, student debt and the related issues there. But the cost of education in general and the cost of housing, they're also the most democratic leaning generation in America. In the latest midterms, Gin Z has supported Dems over the GOP by 27 points. Those under 30 50% planning to vote for Biden 11% voting for Trump. That's *** huge, it's not *** margin that's impossible to overcome. And now more Gen Z are coming of voting age. In fact, since 2020 16 million Gen Z have become eligible to vote. Meanwhile, in the same time frame, 10 million Americans usually on the older end have died. The 2024 election electorate will be about 10% points younger and more liberal than the 2020 electorate. Keep in mind the 2020 electorate elected Joe Bide. But by narrow margins in *** in some critical states battleground states that may well be the shape of the state by state electorate in United States in 2024. But since populations in terms of age and gender tend to be relatively spread evenly across the country, it does suggest that there impact on politics will be to create *** terrain that's more favorable to the Democratic Party and its candidates at all levels of the ballot. This creates some challenges for the GOP. And so even though the Republicans haven't relatively appealing economic message for young voters, let's do something about inflation. Let's do something about the cost of education and health care and so forth. They are unable to take advantage of it to *** great degree because the social issues get in the way of young voters. That being said, Gen Z is *** demographic that cares more about the issues and the council than the party. Young people really are not into partisan loyalty voting, they care about issues, they care about their values. They're looking for candidates whose positions clearly are in line with their values of inclusion and tolerance and collaboration and passion and at the we've already talked about, but the values are very, very important as *** new block of young voters enters the polling booths, politicians tend to be closer to the age of those voters. Grandparents. The current average age of *** member of us Congress is 58 and in the Senate it's 65. That's significantly older than the average age of Americans, which sits at 38 recently. Though Maxwell Frost, *** Democrat from Florida became the first ever Gen Z member of the House energized by the success of other young politicians. More Gen Z are running Frost who is also of Cuban heritage is 25. The first Gen Z member of Congress like many voters his age, he sometimes feels ignored by older politicians but in races age doesn't even come up. Right. That's Mason Morgan, co founder of runs an organization encouraging young conservatives to run for office. *** lot of these American voters are fed up with the state of the economy or any number of issues and they just want to know that they're going to be voting for somebody who is principled who is going to work on the issues that they ran on. Um And that is going to be *** fighter for them in their city council or in their state legislator. He says Gen Z politicians can be successful with fresh thinking and cooper operation, but they are willing to go into the legislator and work uh whether that's across the aisle in some cases. Um But in other cases, work with their colleagues on the conservative side of things. Uh to say, look, we've been talking about this same issue the same way for 30 years. What if we start talking about it in *** different way? Maybe there's *** solution over here that we can find between running for office and making ways as the newest members of the electorate. There's no doubt the Gen Z will make *** bust in the upcoming election and for years to come, it's, it's no longer enough for Gen Z and young millennials to exercise their voice. They have to demand their seat at the table because they bring *** fresh perspective and new ideas to existing and continuing issues that the older generation seems incapable or unwilling to address. But it's gonna be *** younger and younger electorate, bringing us *** more inclusive, *** more tolerant, *** freer and more freedom loving in terms of democracy electorate than we currently see.