(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Newsfeed.

I'm Paris Jackson here at the University of Washington.

One place we visit where young adults don't mince words about the election.

- A lot of this generation, I think, don't feel like their vote is really having any impact.

- That's true.

- You know, abortion rights, LGBT rights, like everything is on the line in those red states.

- People are scared about being, you know, not even pro-Trump, but just supporting any of his views, just 'cause they're afraid of being, you know, scrutinized.

- Older generation has a lot of experience and they're very smart, you know, don't get me wrong, but they don't know what we're currently dealing with and the times have changed so much and they're changing so fast.

- Today we'll dig into the motivations and concerns of first time in young voters and whether they'll help sway Electoral College for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.

To help us understand Gen Z and important demographic for Republicans and Democrats, I caught up with University of Washington political science professor James Long to get more insight.

Welcome, James, thank you for joining us today on the Newsfeed.

- Thanks for having me.

- What are some trends that sure noticing around this mobilization of these young voters?

- Well, young voters have always been a very important constituency for the Democratic Party.

And in fact, a Republican ticket has not won a majority of young voters, which is defined between 18 and 29 since 1988.

And I think what's really interesting about this election is if you go back to 2020, there was a big youth surge in turnout.

About 50% of young people turned out in 2020, and they overwhelmingly preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump.

But if we go back even a few months before Biden stepped aside and Harris became the nominee, it was very clear that these young voters, they were not as energized as they had been in 2020.

Since Biden has stepped aside and Harris has taken the lead of the ticket, we've now seen that energy reappear like it was in 2020.

But of course, the Taylor Swift endorsement right after the debate is something that everyone has talked about.

And I think that's important, not just because it might convince younger women who, you know, may have been torn between Harris and Trump to go towards Harris, but what we also saw in the data was a huge surge in voter registration in the 12 hours after Taylor Swift made her endorsement.

- And why haven't Republicans seen a similar excitement?

- The Institute of Politics at Harvard University released a poll which focuses specifically on young people.

And one thing that they saw among Harris supporters was a lot of enthusiasm.

Republicans who otherwise support Donald Trump and are not gonna vote for Harris.

They were much less enthusiastic.

But it really seems like where the MAGA energy is coming from is in older age categories.

So that's why we haven't seen the surge in voter registration for young people on the side of what we think are likely gonna be Republican voters.

- And why is Gen Z this key demographic of potential voters?

Why are they so civically engaged?

Why are they so motivated to get involved?

- The epidemic of gun crime and of mass shootings in this country, that is something that Gen Z has grown up with since preschool at this point.

Same thing with reproductive rights.

I think young women and the men who support their ability to have an abortion and their right to choose, I think, that's a very, very hot topic, again for the whole country.

But because it differentially affects young people as well, that's something that they're thinking about.

And the second aspect I think of social media, this is a generation that has grown up with a smartphone in their pocket and been online their entire lives.

And so I think the fact that both campaigns now have tried to leverage their visibility online, I think that's gonna be an important thing to think about in dynamic for young voters.

- It was a pleasure speaking with you, James.

Thank you for joining us on the Newsfeed.

- [James] Thank you.

- If you would like to follow our continuing election coverage, go to cascadepbs.org.

(upbeat music) I am Paris Jackson, thank you for watching the Newsfeed, your destination for nonprofit Northwest News.

Go to cascadepbs.org.

Now, to PBS NewsHour.

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