Bradley Schurman, founder of The Super Age, breaks down how Gen Z and Millennials are taking control of the U.S. electorate and making it clear the issues that matter to their generations. This is leading to demographic shifts across the country and made a big impact on the 2022 midterm elections.

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Millennials and Gen Z Are Changing the U.S. Electorate

and wake up with chatter back everyone on this friday with Shannon Lanier, baker machado. And we're nearing maybe the end of midterm week. We think both still being counted for the battle of control of Congress. It still remains up in the air at this moment. However, what we do know is that younger generations gen z millennials may be guiding us into a new era of politics. So joining us for some expert insight is Bradley Sherman, founder and ceo of the super age and author of the super age decoding our demographic. Destiny Bradley. Good to have you here this morning. I think the big question heading into Tuesday was how much of the youth vote would matter. And then when you look at exit polls, it did clearly for democrats in particular, with 60% of young gen z voters breaking for democrats. So what's your reaction to this week's election in some of your big takeaways? I mean, the reaction to this week's election is, wow, I don't think any of us really expected this type of outcome, nor did any of us who have been in politics and in Washington for a long time expect that for the third election cycle, gen Zs would show up in math and vote consistently progressive and bring in not a blue wave to hold the line in some areas and bring in some really diverse candidates through the Congress and to some governorships across the country. Yeah. And what does this demographic change say to us about our nation right now and where we stand. Yeah, there's a couple of things happening in the country right now. The first and foremost, is that rural areas across the nation have become smaller, Their populations have actually contracted over time. What you see in these areas is that older and wider and more conservative population. So those areas really remain red. Those are strongholds for the Republican Party. However, on the coast, they remain relatively young. They're also becoming more and more diverse in terms of race, gender, sexual identity, even gender identity in these places. And that's bleeding into the conversations around these populations about who should be elected for us and who should serve. Yeah, and gen Z millennials getting a major shout out from President biden earlier this week. What did they sort of show up for? Was there an issue in particular that rallied young voters to hit the polls here? Absolutely. We have to remember that each generation comes to an election with their own set of lived experiences. So gen Z, the oldest ones of gen Z and the youngest members of the millennial generation really have had it tough. They come into this world either either born into a recession or living through a recession right now as well as covid a lot of things are out of reach for them and affordable education, affordable healthcare, affordable housing. Um they're fighting to get jobs that pay well. Um they have a different set of attitudes than any other generation has. They also, I really believe in government. They believe government can come in and really be that great equalizer. That helps people out, not excludes people from the larger conversation. So their top issues are of course affordability, uh, the environment, they're also looking at equity and inclusion issues. Um it's really quite a dynamic force that looks unlike any of the generation That are currently in the electorate and part of what's driving that is their reality. Not only are they earning less, not only are they saddled with debt from college, but they are also living at home, believe it or not during the pandemic, 52% of 18-29 year olds were living at home with their parents. So some of their attitudes actually affected their parents voting behavior too. Yeah, not only all those gen z is getting more involved. There are certainly some states that have shifted in recent years. Maybe it's because of that, Maybe because their parents, but which states are changing the most, having the most significance in those changes. And can you explain what the factors are that are at play here? I think the single biggest state that we saw shift around this time is pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has been, was a solidly blue state up until about a decade ago. Then it started falling into this purple category. This election during uh, during this year. Really illustrated that for a statewide race, if you put forward good candidate really on either party, you can win. But both Fetterman and Shapiro one pretty resounding races in that state wide effort. Um You'll find that though, I think overall election electors are actually looking at um bringing some sanity back into politics. They're looking at people that can actually govern. That's why even in Republican leaning states, you'll find major wins because the people could identify with some degree of sanity, some degree of governorship. Um They were more willing to vote for that person than somebody who perhaps denied the election of 2020 or perhaps called for election denying in this in this case to Yeah, I guess the big question heading into, let's just even say, 2020 for millennials and gen z as we get older, we're likely gonna become one of the largest voting blocks out there. So what demographic trends do you see for the future and how is that going to impact our democracy moving forward? Yes, you have you have an inverse trend happening right now. So, boomers for a long time held the majority of the vote. Um They were 76 million when they entered this world today. They're now 70 million combined millennials and gen z are actually larger than that population. In fact, millennials make up 72 million people nationwide. When you add on a few million of gen z that have come into the electorate there, really a force to be, to be reckoned with. But I think across the board, you're seeing something else happen here. You're seeing intergenerational coalitions building around certain issues. And that to me is a real symbol of promise and symbol of the future. But like we said at the onset of this, none of this would happen if there was apathy amongst those younger voters. Those younger voters are ecstatic. They're energized, they see that their vote counts, they see that their vote means some And they're willing to bring change in ways that not just affect the body politics but also the issues that are out there of the day. Think about the fact that during this past election we elected the youngest member of Congress at 25 years old Maxwell frost to the Congress that he's one of the youngest members to ever serve in the US House of Representatives. We also opened our elected the first openly gay latino to the congress from from southern California Garcia and two lesbian mayors. So this generation of people doesn't look at the same archetype as perhaps older generations view of who conserved a lot of changes. A lot of first and I'm sure a lot of both sides will be going after that younger demographic now. So thank you so much Bradley Sherman. We appreciate your time and your insight