After President Biden Delivers Historic Student Loan Relief, Priorities USA Action Emphasizes the Importance of Engaging Young Voters
With President Biden’s recent announcement providing sweeping student debt relief and Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act delivering wins on crucial issues like climate, health care and jobs, there is a clear path for Democratic candidates to run on. Many voters, specifically young voters, tuned out the news after Trump left office. The current moment is pulling voters back into politics and proving to be a critical moment to re-engage the electorate.
Internal analysis by Priorities USA supports increased investment in communicating with young voters, who will likely decide battleground contests in November. This cycle, voters under 35 make up 41% of the total Priorities USA Action digital mobilization audience and 71% of voters that Priorities is urging to check their voter registration are under 35.
Also, young voters of color are a key audience that Priorities is engaging this cycle. While voters of color under 30 make up 5% of the battleground electorate, these voters comprise 13% of Priorities’ mobilization audience. Additionally, in Priorities’ message testing research, Black voters ranked President Biden’s previous actions on student loans in the top third of the most convincing reasons to vote for Democratic candidates out of 25 messages. President Biden’s latest announcement on student loans goes far beyond what was done previously.
Young voters have already started to exercise their political power and shift the electoral landscape. In every congressional special election after the Dobbs decision, localities with concentrated college populations have shifted these districts farther to the left.
By forgiving billions of dollars in student loan debt, President Biden is showing young voters that Democrats are working for them. On the other side of the aisle, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court handed down a devastating decision to gut abortion rights and young voters are energized and looking to use their power to fight back. Priorities USA Action is doing the critical work to communicate this strong contrast message to young voters on the online platforms where they’re spending their time and giving them the tools they need to make their voices heard in November.
“After watching Democrats deliver historic policy wins to young people while Republicans work to turn back the clock on crucial abortion rights, young voters are engaged in politics at an unprecedented level,” said Priorities USA Chairman Guy Cecil. “The conventional wisdom ahead of this election is shifting rapidly, and the activation of young voters plays a huge role in that. Priorities recognized this trend early on in the cycle and made the strategic investments necessary to drive newly engaged voters to the ballot box. Democrats must take this opportunity to engage these voters on the media channels where they are already looking for information and communicate our strong contrast message.”