Both US parties scramble to win young voters via influencer operations. The evidence doesn’t support their efforts

In tight races, any group that shifts a few points can be called decisive. In 2024, however, gen Z voters actually earned the spotlight.

Take Michigan, where Donald Trump won by about 1.4 points: he and Kamala Harris evenly split the youth vote, a 24-point collapse in the Democratic edge since 2020. If young voters made up just 15% of the state’s electorate, their swing toward the president would be worth roughly 3.6 points, larger than Trump’s entire margin of victory.

Alex Bronzini-Vender is a writer living in New York