Mariana Alfaro, an anchor on Post Politics Now for The Washington Post, joined Cheddar News to discuss how Gen Z can transform the 2022 midterm elections

Mariana Alfaro, an anchor on Post Politics Now for The Washington Post, joined Cheddar News to discuss how Gen Z can transform the 2022 midterm elections. "I think that Gen Z has the social issues, the social agenda a little bit more top of mind then, I think, the elder generations," she said.

How Gen Z Could Affect the Midterms

joining us now to discuss how that's going to impact the midterms? Is Mariana Alfaro, anchor of post politics now, over at the Washington post Mariana Good to have you here. Thanks so much for joining us. Midterm elections historically generate lower voter turnout than presidential elections do. So what do we know so far about gen z turnout? And are we expecting to be higher than normal? Yes. Well, you know, um Jen's ears and I think voters, young voters in general turn out that way, smaller percentages and their elders, you know, I'm looking at the numbers from the last 20, midterm only 36% of young voters turn out then, but that's still up from 25% in previous midterms. So, you know, I do expect to see a trending up. I do think we could reach maybe 40% this year. I know that a poll from Harvard's Institute of Politics said that 40% of young people said they would definitely vote this year. It's still not the numbers that we hit in 2020 for the presidential election, but again, presidential turnout way more people than a midterm, but again, don't expect to see youth turnout in the levels of, you know, the 65. Okay. Yeah, exactly. Because that's pretty much the most dominant group of people that continue to go to the polls year after year after year. We know when we look at a lot of these polls, Mariana the biggest issues voters are facing right now inflation, the economy, crime, abortion, social issues. What key issues are gen z voters watching here? Um, I guess it's not that surprising that inflation is also at the top of their mind. I know that maybe we're thinking, oh, they're still in college, they're not like out in the workforce, but actually this is something that they think one in four young adults say that say that inflation is one of their top issues, but also once we go beyond that, I think that gen Z has the social issues, the social agenda a little bit more top of mind then. Um, I think the elder generations, you know, I think that it was um, I want to say abortion rights, especially after the summer is one of the top issues among democrats, young young democrats, but also we're talking gun control, we're talking the environment. I think that in talking about climate change is one of the few spots that both liberal agenda years and conservatives agree on that, that is something that they want to work on. So I think that they're more open about their views on social issues um than uh, you know, the older generations, even millennial's Mariana, let's talk about the candidates here because this, this is the first election with gen Z candidates actually on the ballot, democrat Maxwell frost of florida, I think he's like 25 years old and then there's also Republican Caroline leavitt in new Hampshire, they would become the first gen Z members of Congress if they win their elections today? Is this basically the start of more jen's ear is going to jump into running for office and what would a win for these candidates essentially mean for this generation, this is the start, I think that that is one of the most exciting things about this elections, that we're seeing a whole new generation jump on stage and be like, no, it's time for us to take some power. And these two are very interesting case studies just in the way both parties are going, if you see a Maxwell, he has, you know, has been an activist since he was very, you know, I think he was 15 when he started working in activism, he was part of March for our lives, he is very outspoken for gun control. Um he, you know, is um a man of color, he's been talking about racial equality, he's been talking about like LGBTQ rights since he was 15 and so, you know, that is kind of where I see the Democratic Party going, you know, embracing more of these candidates that have just very diverse and very um different views and maybe, you know, the leadership of the party too, sometimes more progressive in that end. And then you see Caroline Caroline is a former trump aide, she um is still young, she is 25 or 26 but she espouses a lot of that trump agenda. She definitely knows how to cater to the base of the elder trump vote and you know, I think it's very interesting because I've talked to Conservative jen's ears and they are very much open to talking about LGBTQ rights are very much open about talking about climate change and realizing that climate change is real, but when you see Caroline's platform, she very much is just echoing, you know, what the elder republicans are voting for. And the other thing that's sort of fascinating is how they get their content. A study from Pew found that 26% of adults under 30 got their news from Tiktok. So what role Mariana does that app play in voter outreach when it comes to gen z? Yes, and you've seen it a lot this campaign of, you know, all of these millennials and gen xers trying to reach out to the young vote through tiktok, um, it's no longer that much twitter and facebook, I think it's definitely trying to meme their way through the elections. Um, I think we saw it a little bit with the Fetterman campaign that they really kind of nailed that gen z humor, but it is maybe a little concerning just because of the quality of the news and information that is spread. Um, you know, we are dealing in an era of widespread misinformation left and right and so it is kind of concerning that, you know, on a platform like tiktok, it's very hard to bet, you know, where you're getting your facts from. So it is one thing to keep looking for, especially as we reach a presidential election, um, just kind of making sure that, um, there's still places where gen z can get their information. They're not going to like, you know, the Washington post dot com all the time, but it's definitely, you know, keep an eye on how we can stop the spread of misinformation on platforms like Tiktok. Absolutely. Even though I would love them to go to the Washington post of that Mariana Alfaro, anchor of post politics now, over at the Washington post. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.