America's youth fears for the future – Axios

Illustration: Natalie Peeples/AxiosYoung Americans who grew up in an age of mass shootings feel anxious about the future — and nearly half say they’ve felt unsafe in the last month, according to a new poll from the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics.Why it matters: Those fears are mobilizing young people to vote in near-record numbers, says John Della Volpe, director of polling at the institute.Case in point: The 2022 midterms saw the second-highest turnout among voters under 30 (27%) in at least the last three decades, NPR notes.”It’s a critical voting bloc,” Della Volpe says.And it continues to tilt the scales in favor of Democratic candidates — whom young people overwhelmingly support.Young voters’ influence “enabled the Democrats to win almost every battleground statewide contest and increase their majority in the U.S. Senate,” Brookings Institution analysts write.By the numbers: A stunning 48% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say they’ve felt unsafe recently, the Harvard poll found (2,069 people; margin of error: ±2.86 points).21% say they’ve felt unsafe at school. And 40% are concerned about being victims of gun violence or a mass shooting.They’re also worried about the state of the economy.73% believe that homelessness could happen to anyone
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