A new Axios-Generation Lab poll found that 58% of voters between Gen Z and younger millennials aren’t sure if they’ll vote in November. Jayden D’Onofrio, the president of the Florida chapter of Voters of Tomorrow, knows young voters can make a difference in the 2024 election cycle.
We discussed Gen Z on WCOA this morning.
“Time and time again, we see youth turnout, and unfortunately, we haven’t seen that youth turnout that we’ve seen in other battleground states like here in Florida,” D’Onofrio said. “A lot of my work is centered on making sure that we are turning out youth for this coming election here in Florida because it’s an untapped demographic historically for voting.”
He continued, “My work, along with all the amazing people that work alongside me every single day, is to make sure that we are getting a seat at the table for young people on matters of policy, and that we’re elevating candidates that either a) support the values of Gen Z and young voters or b) are young themselves and understand the issues that we are going through each and every day.”
What are the issues that will get Gen Z to the polls?
“We’ve seen affordability and cost of living as a massive issues in this state, and we haven’t seen our legislature really confront this issue, whether it be with the insurance crisis, the ability to own a home in this state,” D’Onofrio said.
“These are things that really are important for youth voters because we are going to be the people that are about to own homes right out of college or having to rent houses and apartments. And if we can’t afford to do that, what are we going to do? We’re going to have to move to a different state, and a lot of us love the Sunshine State.”
Two other important issues for his generation that will likely be on the ballot as constitutional amendments are the right to choose and recreational marijuana.
“That’s going to provide quite the jump to youth voter turnout here in the state of Florida,” he said. “We estimate it to be well over 70% for the right to choose among youth voters. That is one of the larger issues that we’ve seen turn out voters that are young all across the country.”
Listen to the podcast here.