Arizona young voters survey

What role might young voters play in this November’s election?

Arizona State University researchers just finished compiling results of a new, rare comprehensive survey of the political beliefs of Arizona adults age 30 and younger.

The findings: Two out of three Gen Z registered voters in Arizona, a battleground state in this year’s presidential election, say they plan to vote in November. But four in five say the two major political parties don’t represent them.

66% of Gen Z registrants said they plan to vote in the November general election. Of those, a like number of Democrats and Republicans, 78% each, say they plan to vote, as do 53% of independents.

Cost of living and housing affordability were the top concerns.

We were joined by Thom Reilly and Jacqueline Salit, Co-Directors at ASU Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy, School of Public Affairs, to learn more.

The survey aims to answer questions about what political issues Gen Z voters prioritize and how they feel about the current political system that’s in place. 

“In 2020 and 2022, we saw some of the highest participation of young people voting. But there’s indications that’s falling off and perhaps young people might be sitting out. So what we wanted to do is to look at Arizona Gen Z voters, those under the age of 30, to figure out, ‘Are you going to show up? What are the issues that are most important to you? And what are your feelings about the political system in general?,’” said Reilly. 

Young voters believe people from the Democratic and Republican parties are dishonest and the two parties have limited the political system. 

“Close to 60% think that all politicians are corrupt; that’s an incredible number. They feel that the parties have restricted the political process, so if you look at some of the data points, we saw that 95% of young people think that all voters should have complete and equal access to the electoral process regardless of their affiliation,” said Salit.