The picture of Professor Michael Bitzer comes from Catawba College.
There could be big changes in the General Election if young people vote on November 5. This is what Michael Bitzer, the Leonard Chair of Political Science and professor of politics and history at Catawba College, says.
Bitzer regularly writes about North Carolina politics on the website Old North State Politics. He said that students often complain that politicians and other people aren’t addressing their problems, which include things like student loan debt, the cost of housing, and other problems that 18–22-year-olds face.
Bitzer said that they tend to stay politically indifferent as adults.
Bitzer said, “I think what political science knows is that as you get older, you do become more involved, you do understand how things work, and you do realize how important it is to do things like vote.” “However, the millennials aren’t necessarily following the same pattern as previous generations.
This means that those millennials who are now adults, starting families, and having what we consider to be secure jobs and employment aren’t necessarily showing up to vote at the rates that they should be, at least not in this state.”
Bitzer spoke on Friday, the last day of the North Carolina Affordable Housing Conference, which took place at the Raleigh Convention Center. More than 1,300 housing advocates, developers, bankers, and other people working in the housing industry got together at the meeting to talk about the challenges of building affordable housing and to celebrate the successes.
With Vice President Kamala Harris taking over for President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, Bitzer said, the troubling trend of young people not voting could change.
According to Bitzer, there is more excitement and energy than usual, and the youth vote is back to where it should be. However, they will have to wait and see what happens on November 5.
He showed charts that showed 62% of registered millennials and 61% of registered Gen Z voters went to the polls in 2020. That number dropped by a huge amount in the 2022 midterm elections, when only 35% of millennials and 24% of Gen Z people showed up to vote.
“That’s a plurality right there if you look at them both as a percentage of people who are registered to vote,” Bitzer said. “However, I think it will always be hard to get them to care and see what they can do.”
Bitzer told people at the conference that he thinks North Carolina will have another close race. In 2020, former President Donald Trump won there by only 75,000 votes.
He said that 97% of voters in the state are evenly split between voting for a candidate from one of the two big parties. The remaining 3% could be swing voters.
Bitzer said, “So small changes in North Carolina’s electorate can have big effects.” “In honor of former Speaker Tip O’Neill, all politics aren’t local.”