Tapping the untapped potential? A research note on salient ballot initiatives and youth turnout in the 2022 midterm election
2025-08-29
This research highlights the impact of state ballot measures on youth turnout. The primacy of ballot initiatives addressing issues salient to younger demographics, such as marijuana legalization and reproductive rights, varied across states, allowing for the statistical comparison of ballot initiative types by state and generational standing. By analyzing data from the 2022 election, this research extends prior studies, focusing on the role of ballot measures in mobilizing youth voters to test whether these mobilizing effects hold for a new generation entering voting age, as well as whether these effects persist for Millennials as they age into different life stages. Leveraging the Census Bureau’s Community Population Survey (CPS) November Voting Supplement File, this study models the impact of youth-salient ballot measures on voter turnout across different generational cohorts. The results reveal a significant association between the presence of youth-salient ballot measures and increased turnout among Millennial and Generation Z voters generally, and particularly for younger female voters. These findings show that when young voters are given the opportunity to vote on issues that are salient to them, they participate at higher rates.