Erin Mortensen and Leonardo DuPlooy can鈥檛 wait to cast their first-ever votes this November鈥攆or very different reasons.
DuPlooy, a high school student in rural Hammond, La., wants to support candidates who will have President Donald Trump鈥檚 back. Mortensen, a college student in Utah, is looking for a change in direction.
鈥淚 see a lot of things happening in the country that I鈥檓 not very happy about,鈥� she said, ticking off Trump, climate change, and gun violence as prime examples.
First-time voters like DuPlooy and Mortensen are coming of political age in an era of deep partisan division, immersed in a social-media swirl of information and misinformation. Some have high praise for their K-12 civics teachers. But others say their high school government courses didn鈥檛 give them all the tools they need to make educated choices at the polls鈥攐r to understand where people on the other side of the debate are coming from.
A little more than a third of 18- and 19-year-olds who participated in an online survey by the Education Week Research Center in September said they had never taken a stand-alone civics class. Yet students who took those courses were more likely to say they plan to vote. Just a quarter of people who have never taken a stand-alone civics class plan to vote. Nearly twice as many do not, said Holly Kurtz, the research center鈥檚 director. The survey, conducted with support from the Education Writers Association, includes a nationally representative sample of 1,339 18- and 19-year-olds who have never taken part in a general election. It has a margin of error of 3 percent.
Thirty-one percent of the respondents said they were Democrats, 25 percent Independents, and 20 percent Republicans. Twenty-three percent said they were not registered to vote.
About 60 percent of those surveyed said they plan to vote in the 2018 midterm election in November. That number may be artificially high, Kurtz said, given that just 22 percent of millenials voted in the 2014 midterms, according to the Pew Research Center. But a good chunk of survey respondents also say their own levels of political involvement are rising, motivated in part by national politics.
U.S. public education is rooted in the belief by early American leaders that the most important knowledge to impart to young people is what it means to be a citizen. If America is experiencing a civic crisis now, as many say it is, it may mean that schools have failed at that task.
Education Week is conducting a long-term investigation to better understand education鈥檚 role in the current crisis. This survey is part of that effort, which is supported in part by the Education Writers Association. Look for more pieces from our Citizen Z project in the weeks and months ahead.
Nearly 40 percent said they don鈥檛 plan to vote next month. Sometimes, the problem is scheduling conflicts: Ryan McCrossin, 18, a student at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, is hoping to squeeze in a quick trip to the polls, but he has class from early morning until early evening.
But others are already disillusioned with government.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really like politics,鈥� said Breana Perry, 18, a high school student in Arkansas, who is still on the fence about whether to vote. Politicians, she said, make empty promises.
When first-time voters are trying to figure out how to fill out their ballot, they are more likely to talk to their families鈥攐r check out YouTube鈥攖han to read a newspaper or news website.
In fact, about 26 percent of first-time voters surveyed say they get their information about candidates and issues from print or online news sources, such as the New York Times digital edition. That鈥檚 behind family (39 percent), TV news (38 percent), YouTube (33 percent), and even Instagram (30 percent).
Social-media sites like Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter are almost as popular as newspapers鈥攂ut some voters say it can be tough to tell fact from fiction, especially on social media.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much bias, I don鈥檛 know what to think. I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 real or fake,鈥� McCrossin, a political Independent, said of news stories on heated topics like Brett Kavanaugh鈥檚 confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. 鈥淚 know not to pick up something from the Onion and these parody news sites. Those I can tell a mile away.鈥�
Cameron Shields, 18, said he would rather go directly to the players involved in a story than to coverage of it.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 put my faith completely into the news,鈥� said Shields, an Independent who lives near Memphis, Tenn., and is going to community college while working at Smoothie King. 鈥淚 like to get my information from the person that鈥檚 in the situation. 鈥� The majority of the news is very opinionated.鈥� He鈥檚 more likely to trust a speech from President Donald Trump, for instance, than news coverage because it comes directly from the source. (Fact checkers have found that much of what the president says is inaccurate.)
But Valerie Battaglia, 18, a student at Delaware County Community College, not far from Philadelphia, is confident she can spot a balanced fact-based news story.
鈥淪ome stuff you can tell from the title if it鈥檚 click-bait,鈥� said Battaglia, a Democrat who was home-schooled in high school. 鈥淚 take everything with a grain of salt and try to verify it.鈥� Her favorite sites are the left-leaning Vox and Vice, but she tries to sample Fox News every so often, to get opposing views.
DuPlooy said he鈥檚 more likely to trust some news sources than others.
鈥淚 feel like CNN is brainwashing,鈥� said DuPlooy, who describes himself as a very conservative Republican. And even when he thinks a story on the network 鈥渕ay have a hint of truth to it, 鈥� it鈥檚 been layered and layered under a bunch of lies.鈥� He realizes Fox News has a rightward slant, but said, 鈥淲hen I watch Fox News, I can trust it without having to doubt all the time.鈥�
Even though family is a top source of information, young voters don鈥檛 always embrace their parents鈥� views.
DuPlooy debates with his mother, who doesn鈥檛 share his enthusiasm for Trump. Mortensen is on a 鈥渃ompletely different鈥� political page from her Republican dad.
The high cost of living/inflation was No. 1 on young voters鈥� list of 11 possible economic concerns, with 15 percent of respondents saying it鈥檚 the top problem.
Another 13 percent said they think the economy in general is a key issue, while 12.5 percent cited the gap between rich and poor, and 13 percent pointed to taxes.
School shootings top the list of 29 social and political problems facing the country today, with 8 percent of respondents identifying them as the biggest issue. Also high up: gun control, immigration, racism, and crime and violence.
For some first-time voters, politics is deeply personal. Mortensen said the environment is her top issue, but she鈥檚 also passionate about gun control, in part because there was a school shooting at another school in her district when she was in middle school.
Shannon McGovern, 19, from rural Mount Pleasant, N.C., said she is most interested in where candidates stand on only one issue: abortion.
McGovern got pregnant at 16 with twin girls who experienced problems in utero. Her doctors 鈥減ressured鈥� her to terminate the pregnancy, she said. She opted not to, and her daughters were born early. One twin died when she was just days old, but the other is a thriving 3-year-old. Now, McGovern can鈥檛 support any candidate who favors abortion rights, she said.
Almost 40 percent of young voters say their level of political engagement is on the rise, compared with 43 percent who say it has stayed the same and 17 percent who say it鈥檚 declined.
A big factor in that spike: Trump. Nearly two-thirds of young voters say that he and his administration had at least some influence on their vote, and nearly 40 percent say it was a significant factor.
Some are looking for candidates who will seek to block his agenda.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like him,鈥� said Lilly Brinksman, 18, a recent high school graduate from rural Addison, Vt., who works cleaning office buildings. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like his policies or anything about him.鈥� She鈥檚 especially upset about the Trump administration鈥檚 policy of separating undocumented immigrants from their children. And she was put off by his embrace of racist protesters in Charlottesville, Va., last year.
Others are hoping to hand him as many political allies as possible.
鈥淭he guy is trying to do some good. He wants to get stuff passed, and there are people blocking him, just because he鈥檚 Trump,鈥� DuPlooy said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 doing a good job. I want him to continue to do a good job, so of course I want people who would back him up.鈥�
And about two-thirds of young voters say they were energized at least somewhat by the massacre earlier this year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Several Parkland students have become nationally recognized proponents of gun restrictions after the slayings.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e definitely inspiring, and it鈥檚 amazing that they are willing to put their lives on hold to help make [gun-restriction] policy,鈥� said Mortensen, who participated in the Denver version of the March for Our Lives anti-gun protest. 鈥淕iant tragedies shouldn鈥檛 be a commonplace, normal thing in society.鈥�
But DuPlooy said that the Parkland students鈥攁nd other gun-control advocates鈥攄on鈥檛 have a sense of his Louisiana hometown, where hunting is a big part of the culture.
鈥淕uns are part of the Constitution. We have the right to bear arms. You can鈥檛 take that away from us,鈥� he said. Teenagers like the Parkland students are 鈥渏ust brought up very narrow-minded. 鈥� What they鈥檙e protesting doesn鈥檛 make sense.鈥�
Some first-time voters don鈥檛 feel like they got the foundation they needed in school to be an informed voter. About half those surveyed鈥�46.5 percent鈥攕aid they couldn鈥檛 name a candidate in the upcoming November election.
Less than a quarter say they stay informed about political issues affecting their community. Only 10 percent have attended or watched a legislative session or government meeting.
鈥淚 feel like they didn鈥檛 teach us very well all the dynamics of the government and what it really means to be in Congress,鈥� said McGovern, who attended both brick-and-mortar and virtual schools. She said she鈥檚 unclear on the functions of some of the offices she鈥檚 voting on this fall. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like we were elaborated enough on those things, at least not at my high school.鈥�
Mortensen, who describes herself as a liberal Democrat, said her public high school near Denver did a good job of teaching the basics of government. But she wishes that they had allowed the students to debate issues more.
鈥淚 think in general, as a country, if we put ourselves in the other side鈥檚 shoes a little more, it could help a lot,鈥� she said.
DuPlooy, the conservative Republican, gave his high school teachers high marks for helping him understand government. He thought debating students on the other side of the political spectrum in his government classes helped broaden his understanding of issues, even if it didn鈥檛 change his mind.
鈥淲e鈥檇 have half the class saying one thing and half the class saying another thing,鈥� he said. He learned, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just shut down people just because you don鈥檛 like what they鈥檙e saying.鈥�
