SALT LAKE CITY — If millennial Instagram was any kind of bellwether, Bernie Sanders would be winning right now. Young people would be turning out like never before. Joe Biden would be toast.
But social media is not reality. The recipes for melted gummy bear parfaits, the tricks for perfectly coiffed hair, and, it turns out, the number of people actually voting for Sanders, end up with disappointing results.
The results from Tuesday’s primary have firmly placed Biden as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and many are wondering what happened to the engaged groups of young people that were showing up to Sanders’ rallies and voicing their support on social media.
“Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in? The answer is no,” Sanders said.
In fact, in many cases, fewer young people are voting in the primary compared to 2016. In Alabama, only 10% of voters that were in the 17-29 age range turned out compared to 14%. Fewer young people turned out in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia as well.
Despite a push to get out the youth vote, the youth are not coming out. They show up to rallies. Post about their support on Twitter and Instagram. But when the big day arrives, they’re absent. Why?
The system does not make it an easy process
Young voters are confused by voter registration rules, are less likely to vote if a polling place gets moved or voting simply falls by the wayside, according to an article by John Holbein published in the Conversation, a public policy and education professor at the University of Virginia.
Holbein writes, “Simply put, many young people want to participate, care about what happens in the political arena, and plan to participate. But they find doing so too big of a hassle to actually follow through on their good intentions.”
The bureaucratic processes of voting create major impediments to young people with unstable living situations, jobs and schedules, Jamelle Bouie, an opinion columnist for the New York Times, wrote in Slate.
In order to vote, you need an address, a form of identification and time off work. All these can serve as barriers to young people who want to vote, Bouie argues.
If more young people are going to vote, the process has to be simpler.
They are disillusioned
Although Sanders has tried to appeal to young people by talking about things they say matter to them (climate change, student debt, income inequality) many remain disillusioned.
Before the 2018 midterm elections, New York Magazine interviewed 12 young people on why they don’t vote.
One young man from Texas explained that he thought, “OK, my vote is largely symbolic in this election because I’m in Texas. Even if Texas went blue, I’m pretty sure my vote wouldn’t matter anyway.”
A 21 year old from California said, “I feel like the Democratic Party doesn’t really stand for the things I believe in anymore.”
Some young people also voice disappointment when progressive candidates do win but little changes. They want action faster than what the slow, cumbersome process of politics allows.
Civics education is lacking
Academics point to a poor educational foundation in civics education as another reason that most young people in the United States consistently don’t vote. The decline in youth voting may have started as early as the 1960s, when civics classes “started to atrophy,” according to an article by education and family reporter Alia Wong published in the Atlantic.
The American Center for Progress conducted an analysis that showed improved “civics education can lead to greater civic engagement, including the increased likelihood of voting.”
One study found that the state of America’s civics education was so bad, that only 1 in 3 Americans could pass the country’s citizenship test.
The authors of the American Center for Progress study argued that “American youth must be civically educated in order to discern fact from fiction and remain invested in the state of their democracy.”
With confusion about what news to trust, young people may have a harder time deciding who to vote for, or knowing where to get reliable information on candidates.
If candidates truly hope to garner the votes of younger generations, they may have to start the education process much sooner.
What it means for the general election
It’s unclear how the poor young voter turnout will affect the results of the general election.
The turnout for the primary may not necessarily be an indicator for the general election, Ben Wessel, of NextGen America, a group focused on young voter turnout told NPR.
Biden has been doing well with baby boomers, and overall turnout is up. If he wins the nomination will he try to convince Sanders’ young supporters to turn up for him instead?
“I think given what is at stake is huge — beating Trump — we will see young voters and black and Latino voters come out in 2020,” said John Anzalone, campaign pollster for the Biden campaign, according to the Washington Post.
But some young people are saying Joe Biden is a deal breaker.
Millennials still point to an interview Biden did with the Los Angeles Times in 2018, when he said, “The younger generation now tells me how tough things are. Give me a break. No, no, I have no empathy for it. Give me a break,” as proof that the former vice president is not the candidate for them.
The Sunrise Movement, described by Teen Vogue as a “network of grassroots youth climate justice organizers,” tweeted that Biden would turn an entire generation away from the Democratic Party.
If young people decide to stay home in the general election, maybe Biden won’t care, instead, he might continue to focus on the older generations that are showing up.