This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. Boise State University senior Cade Syvock opposes abortion. As president of the school’s chapter of the conservative group Turning Point USA, the organization founded by the late activist Charlie Kirk, Syvock helped coordinate anti-abortion protests on campus.
But he’s not spending much time this fall campaigning against an Idaho ballot initiative that would restore abortion access. Not for lack of interest — he calls the proposed law “very, very extreme” because it allows abortions after viability in certain emergency cases — but because of pressing economic issues he’d rather be working on. In Idaho and Missouri, where voters will decide the future of abortion access on November 3, campaigns are trying to reach a generation dealing with rising living costs and skepticism toward politics.
For some young voters, abortion remains a defining issue. But for many others, it ranks behind more immediate economic concerns. Idaho’s initiative would restore abortion access.
Missouri’s measure seeks to reinstate a near-total ban jettisoned by voters two years ago. People pushing for and against both measures are making their appeals to young voters, using social media and canvassing to increase turnout on Election Day, but they’re competing against other issues for Generation Z’s attention. In most elections, it’s difficult for campaigns to achieve high turnout among young voters, especially in between presidential election cycles.
Less than half of the 40 million Gen Z Americans between ages 18 and 29 who were eligible to vote in 2024 cast a ballot, a study by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University found. This year, the number of eligible Gen Z-age voters is estimated at nearly 50 million. But there are some signs that turnout could be higher this year.
Nonpartisan youth vote organization The Civics Center noted a significant increase in voter registration among 18-year-olds compared with the 2022 midterms, from 35 percent to 42 percent. And the Tufts survey points out that there are many signs Gen Z is active and engaged on political subjects, but that connecting issues to candidates and ballot questions is the challenge. The majority of Gen Z adults support abortion access, according to a September poll from The 19th and YouGov.
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