How to Reach Young Voters
- By Saha Guerrero
For the first time in two decades, the Democratic Party lost the popular vote—not just to any Republican, but to Donald Trump. This was not a matter of Kamala Harris’s candidate quality—the problem runs deeper. One of the most significant shifts in this election occurred among young voters. While they still leaned Democratic overall, the Republican share of the youth vote grew by nine points compared to 2020, and the percentage of young people identifying as Democrats declined by five points. As Trump stands at the apex of his political power, it is vital for Democrats to reckon with how they lost and what must be done if they wish to avoid being locked out of power for a generation.
The Democratic Party’s struggles with young voters aren’t just about moderate vs. progressive shifts—they’re about failing to meet the urgency of this moment. It’s a divide between those who are willing to fight in this new political landscape and those who aren’t. Two-thirds of young Democrats want the party to block the Republican agenda. This growing frustration reflects a more profound shift that has allowed figures like Trump to resonate with a demographic increasingly skeptical of establishment politics.
If Democrats want to rebuild with young people as the backbone of a lasting coalition, they can’t rely on stale resistance tactics or cautious centrism. They must act as if the house is on fire—because it is. The party needs strong leaders who can confront Republicans, fight unapologetically for an economy that isn’t rigged for billionaires, and take steps to defy the status quo.
The biggest challenge facing Democrats isn’t policy, it’s how to talk to young voters about it. Too often, the language of party insiders and advocates has created distance rather than connection, alienating the people it’s purporting to reach. Jargon that resonates in the echo chambers of Washington and think tanks feels foreign to everyday people. In contrast, Trump’s blunt, plainspoken style makes young people feel part of a movement that understands their frustrations. The success of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Fighting Oligarchy Tour shows that direct, relatable language resonates. However, it’s also crucial to center those whose rights are at stake, which is why town halls and other outreach efforts are vital—they give everyday people a voice in the conversation and ensure that their concerns are heard.
Instead of framing messages as if analyzing struggles from a distance, leaders need to speak directly to young people, using language that meets them where they are. Democrats often sound as if they’re talking at young voters, using sterile, academic language, rather than addressing their economic anxieties in clear terms. To regain ground, Democrats must rethink what they say and how they say it, prioritizing clarity over complexity and crafting a message that resonates not just in blue states but in red and purple states where elections are won or lost.
I’m 21 years old and have spent a quarter of my life working in Democratic politics. Having helped with the Biden campaign’s digital efforts while in high school, I went on to work on voter-education tours across New York’s battleground congressional districts and then served as the national political affairs director for the College Democrats of America. Through every campaign and every conversation, I’ve seen how young people feel that the Democratic Party isn’t serious about fighting for them—and how quickly they’ll walk away if the party doesn’t speak to their concerns.
That’s why I’ve made it my north star to build bridges between young people and the public servants who are able to connect with them on their terms. In my work, that has meant translating complex policy jargon into accessible, grounded messages that resonate across different communities. For the Democratic Party to succeed, it must offer young voters something real to believe in. As a young Democrat, I’ll keep pushing the party to do better; it cannot give up on building an organization at the state and local level that earns the trust of a new generation.
Young people want reassurance that if Washington won’t meet this moment for our generation, state and local leaders will. They understand that the real fight against Trump’s extremism may come down to the state and city level, which only raises the question: What are Democratic figures not doing that they should be, or what are they doing that younger folks are not seeing?
It’s not just that Democrats need to win the messaging battle; the party must offer young people an alternative to Trump worth fighting for. Relegating ourselves to the 2017 resistance playbook is catastrophic. The party must fundamentally change or risk repeating a cycle in which young people vote for its candidates because they present themselves as the party that is “not Trump,” only to let those young voters down by failing to offer a liberal alternative to the fundamental change Trump promises his base. If the Democratic Party doesn’t evolve, it will keep winning one election and losing the next, until it becomes one more relic of American political history.
Business as usual will not cut it when everything the Democratic Party fought for in the eras of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson is on the line. Democrats must stop chasing compromise with Trump and start acting like a party that believes that democracy is on the line. Young voters reject any hesitation—why would we want our leaders to play by the rules when the other side has thrown out the rulebook?
Right now, Democrats are being wholly outmatched in the messaging battle. To begin, Democrats must invest in candidates and organizers—at every level of government—who understand how to use social media creatively, not just as a bulletin board for policy updates but as a tool for authentic engagement. Young voters are not tuning into cable news or reading press releases—they are on TikTok and Instagram. Democratic elected officials must focus on mastering the art of short-form videos that cut every 10 seconds to maintain the viewer’s attention. They must be encouraged to write their own tweets in their authentic voice and film candid selfie-style videos. Young people have short attention spans, so messaging must be concise yet pack a punch. Without elevating digital strategists and organizers who understand how to engage young people, Democrats will continue to seem disconnected from the current reality. This format isn’t optional—it must become the norm in the party’s digital outreach.
And Democrats need to show up everywhere, not just in friendly spaces but in the places where they can challenge and persuade skeptics. That’s what has made Pete Buttigieg’s approach—smart communications and a digital strategy rooted in authenticity—so effective. He goes on the “bro” podcasts, not to pander but to persuade. He brings his message to them with intention, using storytelling grounded in personal experience, like describing what it meant to serve his country as a gay man who didn’t yet know what love was. These aren’t gimmicks. They’re acts of good faith. As transportation secretary, he went on Fox News, Jubilee, and countless other platforms, to communicate with people who might otherwise tune Democrats out, not to chase clout. This is who he’s always been. Buttigieg shows up where it counts. He is not trying to win the internet; he is trying to win hearts and minds.
The authenticity of candidates matters. Having the right policies on paper is insufficient if young voters don’t believe leaders will fight for them. This is how to break the cycle of “partisan capture,” where voters feel trapped between two options but uninspired by either. It’s how to win back trust and bring more young people into the coalition, by proving that Democrats aren’t just running to hold power but
to wield it for the people who need it most.
If today’s Democratic elected officials fail to be authentic and show that they are in touch with the anger, pain, and anxiety so many Americans experience, they do not deserve to hold office. Their seats should go to a new generation of leaders, especially those removed from Washington, who can bring something tangible to the table—who won’t just hold the seat, but will use it to combat fascism in America. Trump
may appear invincible, but that’s only because Democrats are ceding power through their own inaction.
David Shor, head of data science at Blue Rose Research, noted that people under 25, regardless of race or gender, are significantly more conservative than millennials. This shift reflects Trump’s growing cultural relevance. Among young men, particularly in Latino communities where machismo and strength are culturally rewarded, Trump’s appeal isn’t rooted in policy but in performance. He fights. He never backs down. His ability to project confidence and conviction, even when grounded in propaganda and lies, is what draws people in. It’s the narrative of strength, not necessarily conservative values, that’s winning over these voters. Politics is performance, and Americans need to see Democrats show up.
There are Democratic leaders who have begun taking meaningful steps, supporting young men and promoting policies to address male underachievement in education and in the workforce. These governors understand what is missing in the party’s outreach to groups lost to Trump, and it is important to listen to them. The share of young voters of color in Trump’s electorate increased by 5%, primarily driven by young non-white males. Democrats must respond to their needs rather than brush them away.
Simultaneously, the Democratic Party must stop believing that full-throttle opposition to Trump will alienate young people who voted for him. Some will argue that a more combative stance pushes away the “moderates” the Harris campaign sought to court. However, the historically close popular vote in a divided electorate proved that young voters who swung toward Trump are not bound to one party or the other. These are voters who supported Democrats in the 2020 election. Harris won young voters by just four points, far from the 25-point margin Biden secured. They supported Trump because he projected strength in his conviction to listen and fight for them. By failing to project strength, Democrats allowed Trump to claim the mantle of economic populism.
But without a clear, compelling vision, even the best candidates will struggle to inspire young voters who are losing faith in the system. Simply moving to the right will not increase support or restore trust. Many young voters will be the first to feel the effects of Trump’s efforts to dismantle the federal government; as they seek to build their futures, they are the ones who will pay the price.
The Trump administration is bent on locking out a generation of aspiring public servants; this section of the authoritarian playbook requires attention. It is essential to bring young people into the conversation and organize them in their communities. The Democratic Party needs to recruit young candidates for political office who come from the communities they aim to represent. Young voters want leaders who do more than just poll-test positions. A strong message doesn’t just follow public opinion, it shapes it. Democrats must not simply echo what is already popular. They must make a case for what needs to be.
This does not entail abandoning trans rights or the LGBTQ+ community or watering down fundamental values to bring disaffected young people back into the fold. The real opportunity lies in adopting an economic populism that unites Americans around a common enemy: billionaires like Elon Musk. The party must be clear-eyed on how one of the greatest lies ever told is that billionaires will save us. Trump, Musk, and their billionaire buddies will gladly defund public education if it means lining their pockets. These are the actors who will destroy America, not immigrants.
A change in youth voting dynamics does not signal the end of the Democratic Party’s relationship with young voters; but it is a stark warning that the party ignores at its peril. Young voters want leaders who fight for them, not ones who fold in the face of fascism. A successful movement cannot abide timid politicians who cling to old-fashioned strategies.
As John Lewis reminded us, we must get into “good trouble, necessary trouble.” Right now, there is an opening. Trump is facing historic levels of unpopularity. His efforts to dismantle the federal government and impose steep, devastating budget cuts are starting to sour even among voters who once backed him, and young people are paying attention to what Democrats will do. The party must take advantage of this moment before it loses the chance to do so ever again.
About The Author
Saha Guerrero is a proud New Yorker and Bloomberg Public Service Fellow at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He served as president of the NYU College Democrats and national political affairs director for the College Democrats of America.
