If you thought last week’s Texas school shooting just outside of Santa Fe where 8 students and 2 teachers were killed means their deaths will be in vain, think again. This time, instead of marching and mourning, students are mobilizing.
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In a huge wake-up call to Republican politicians who have been in bed with the NRA and their “we need more guns, not less” response to gun violence, the message is clear: your days may be numbered. The young people of America are tired of being shot at. They’re tired of going to school and not knowing if they will come home alive. They are tired of asking for help and getting talked down to and turned away. They have unified, they have strengthened, and they are ready to demand a fix in the best way possible: at the ballot box.
Since the deadly Parkland, Florida massacre and now the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting, new voter registrations among young people in crucial states is off the charts. For anyone with a brain, it should be clear that this is not the typical display of marches America has seen over the past dozen or so school shootings. This is a new form of anger and political organization that has discovered the magic formula to create results.
Only hours after the Texas school shooting, young people were less interested in a candlelight vigil with tears and more interested in a proper political response with action.
To the students and faculty of Santa Fe High School, we are with you. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/3DYXOhmwsP — March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) May 18, 2018
“Santa Fe High, you didn’t deserve this,” Emma González, the outspoken organizer from Parkland, posted on Twitter. “You deserve peace all your lives, not just after a tombstone saying that is put over you. You deserve more than Thoughts and Prayers, and after supporting us by walking out we will be there to support you by raising up your voices.”
Until recently, young people had little or no interest in politics. However, the NRA gun debate has awakened a new generation and has GOP operatives taking notice.
“The shooting at Parkland high school was the tipping point for these kids,” said Christine Matthews, a Republican pollster. “The bravery and activism of the Parkland kids ignited their peers across the country, and these newly minted 18-year-old voters are already motivated. The school shooting in Texas surely adds to their resolve but, honestly, they didn’t need any more motivation.”
The numbers are startling.
In recent voter data from March and April, registrations among young and new voters have peaked in the crucial states of Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. In Florida alone, newly registered voters under 26 jumped from less than 20% to nearly 30% by March, the month of the gun control rallies.
In North Carolina, new registrations from those under 25 jumped from 30% to 40%.
In Pennsylvania, new registrations among young voters increased from 40% to 45%.
However, the data that should have Republicans shaking in their boots is that the majority of new registrations have identified as Democrats.
Among new voters ages 25 and under in Florida, 33% registered as Democrats, 21% signed up as Republicans, and 46% opted to register as either unaffiliated or with another political party.
Interestingly, a new poll of younger voters conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics discovered that not only is the involvement of new registrants set to make a difference in future election outcomes, but these voters are more likely to turn out and actually vote.
“What I have seen is what I am calling a once in a generation attitudinal shift about the efficacy of participating in the political process,” said John Della Volpe, the director of the institute, who has specialized in polling younger voters for almost 2 decades. “I am optimistic that the increasing interest we have tracked in politics will likely lead to increased participation in the midterms.”
He added that the Harvard polling strongly indicates Democrats will likely be the beneficiary of the increased commitment to voting.
“Also, just the sheer number of individuals who say they will definitely vote, 37%, is as high as it’s ever been,” Della Volpe said. “That’s likely to only grow stronger. The number among Democrats is 51% saying they will definitely vote.”
Although younger voters were not excited by either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump’s election reawakened them “only to be brought to life in more powerful ways in the last two months, post-Parkland shooting,” Della Volpe added. “This [new voter registrations] now has the potential to turbocharge that.”
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In an interesting sidenote, young people are overwhelmingly less supportive of Donald Trump’s “wall” and immigrant discrimination as a means to diminish crime, recognizing that the persons responsible for the Texas school shooting and nearly all the others were conducted by homegrown terrorists — better known as American white males.
In more activism news, 28-year-old Katie Fahey of Michigan took a single Facebook post and turned it into a 10,000-person volunteer organization that is working to end the practice of gerrymandering in the state. She started the nonpartisan Voters Not Politicians organization shortly after the election, gathering 425,000 signatures in just 100 days from all 83 Michigan counties for a ballot initiative that would make the drawing of legislative districts nonpartisan.
“I was just tired of excuses and tired of waiting for somebody else to fix it,” she said. “I don’t trust politicians to deliver on promises.”
Is this new political activism among today’s youth a fad that will soon fade, or is this younger generation more “woke” than ever before? Do they have the wherewithal to see this fight all the way to the finish line, or will college and other youthful events distract them from their goal? Could this be the “chosen generation” American politics has been waiting for?
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I want these young people to keep going. They are our future and they have all the power to make real change happen. I was skeptical at first because we have tried and failed before to fight the NRA. But these kids are serious and mean business. The more people try putting them down they just get stronger. I love it.