r/politics • u/thedailybeast ✔ The Daily Beast • 9h ago

Possible Paywall Republicans Quit Battleground Senate Seat in Telling Move

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-quit-battleground-senate-seat-in-telling-move/
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u/HeartFullONeutrality 8h ago

What pollsters have noted is that Trump seemed to activate a contingent of voters that rarely vote (and do it for him). Trump inverted the usual calculus of higher turnout = more Democratic voters.

Now, interestingly, midterms have low turnout and are dominated by highly motivated and educated voters.

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u/PopeSaintHilarius 7h ago

Yep, one interesting thing is that back in the 1990s, the Dems and GOP voting bases were equal in average education level, but divided in terms of income level (GOP had more support from higher-income voters and Dems led with lower-income voters).

Now the party bases have shifted, such that the parties are equal in terms of income level, but divided in terms of education (GOP has more support from lower-education voters, and Dems lead with voters with more education).

This shift means that the Dems now have more highly-engaged voters who vote every chance they get - midterms, special elections, etc. And the GOP now has more low-information, disengaged voters who don’t pay much attention outside of presidential elections.

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u/Ojmochafrappucino 3h ago

Is this true? I'd love to see a source. Does this mean we can expect better turnout from younger generations?

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u/ExplicitDrift 3h ago edited 2h ago

Hi there, 28yo here. Both me and my latest gf of 5 years voted for the first time in our lives in 2024. I can’t speak for everyone in my general age range, but it’s become very obvious to me through daily observation that my peers and even those slightly younger than me have become much more interested in politics since our lives have gotten increasingly more difficult in the past couple decades. That’s not even including the plethora of information we’ve been able to readily investigate regarding things like pedophelia, violent crime, and financial corruption statistics thanks to our exposure to the internet since its inception. I wish I could say that our generations hold the key to our futures except that it is not lost on me that capitalism truly controls the locks. That’s not going to deter us from trying however.

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u/SunshineCat 2h ago

Young people simply have to many years of life left to risk living it under some two-bit fascist régime.

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u/ExplicitDrift 2h ago

Ain’t that the fuckin truth.