The midterms were a youth revolt
Vox · Rachel Janfaza ·
How Gen Z led a blue wave.
One of the most consequential subplots of the 2026 elections is that young voters swung back toward Democrats — hard.
Early data shows that 66 percent of adults under 30 voted for a Democrat for the House of Representatives, compared to just 31 percent who voted for a Republican — a gap of 35 percentage points — according to an analysis of exit polls from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.
That’s a stark shift from 2024, when young voters backed Democratic House candidates by only a 14-point margin (and the Democratic candidate for president, former Vice President Kamala Harris, by 4 points). Prior to that, in 2022, voters under 30 supported them by 28 points, all according to CIRCLE.