The latest school shooting in Texas has activists are calling on younger people to register to vote and cast ballots in the upcoming midterm elections. But historical stats show those calls may go ignored in Ohio.
When more 18- to 24-year-olds vote, Democrats are more likely to win. But when more older voters turn out, Republicans do.
Elections analyst Mike Dawson says stats from the Secretary of State’s office compared to U.S. Census figures show tough races for Democrats in non-presidential years since 2000.
“And in those nine elections, a Democrat here in Ohio has won one time – that was in 2006, and that’s when the 18- to 24-year-old vote was the highest in a midterm election,” he said.
Just under 28 percent of all voters in that age group cast ballots in 2006. Nearly twice as many 18 to 24-year-olds voted in 2008 – when Barack Obama took Ohio – but less than 40 percent of those Ohioans voted in 2016, when Donald Trump won the state.
