Men under 30 led the shift toward the Democrats in the midterms

The Democrats’ sweeping victory in the midterm elections, which handed them control of both chambers of Congress, was driven by voters of all races and ages, including many who had backed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Among them, however, younger voters registered the sharpest shift to the left. Some 70% of voters under 30 cast their ballots for Democratic candidates, while only 28% supported Republicans. According to preliminary data reported by The New York Times, that represented a 30-point swing toward the Democrats compared with two years earlier.The reversal was all the more striking because, in the elections just two years ago, young voters had moved roughly 23 points toward the Republican Party, one of the factors that helped pave the way for Trump’s return to the White House. Among men in that age group, the shift was even larger, approaching 40 percentage points. Women aged 18 to 29 also voted overwhelmingly for the Democrats, with 77% backing the party, though the change from 2024 was smaller because their support for Democratic candidates had already been stronger in the last presidential election.Two years ago, the youngest voters were divided more or less evenly between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. In these midterms, about seven in 10 voters nationally in that same age bracket said they had supported the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in their district, according to an Associated Press survey.The view that Republican candidates paid the price for Trump’s low approval ratings was especially evident among younger voters. Roughly six in 10 voters under 30 said that one of the reasons behind their vote for the House of Representatives was to express their opposition to Trump. By comparison, that figure fell to about half among voters aged 30 to 44 and to around four in 10 among those 45 and older. Young voters were also significantly more likely to say they felt “angry” about the direction of the country, with about half expressing that sentiment, compared with only one-third of voters aged 65 and over.Young people’s support for the Democrats was particularly evident among Latinos, the ethnic group that recorded the largest swing toward the party. Among young Hispanic voters who had backed Trump in 2024 but supported Democrats in these midterms, the shift exceeded 40 percentage points. Some 79% cast their ballots for Democratic candidates. The trend is especially significant because Latinos account for the fastest-growing segment of the electorate. While the number of white voters is declining, more than four million Latinos have become eligible to vote since the last election after turning 18.“Young Latinos — known as the ‘No Sabo’ kids [a term for Latinos who can’t speak Spanish] — have become the ‘Yes I Vote’ generation, mobilizing their families and voting early,” Yadira Sánchez, executive director of Poder Latinx, an advocacy group for Hispanic youth, said at a news conference on Wednesday.A substantial shift also occurred among young white voters who do not identify with any particular ethnic group. In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won a majority of their votes. In 2024, however, they tilted toward the Republicans. This year, Democrats regained a sizeable advantage among the group, surpassing even the levels of support they received in 2020. Some 60% backed the Democratic Party, compared with 38% who voted Republican, representing a swing of more than 30 percentage points.Among Black voters, the shift was smaller, since they have traditionally favored the Democratic Party. Even so, this group also continued to move away from the Republicans: an overwhelming 92% of Black voters cast their ballots for Democratic candidates, helping fuel the wave that turned much of the U.S. electoral map blue.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition