Month: October 2024

Young Americans’ Views of the Presidential Election

Posted on by Scot Wilson

In this final post of a three-part series, we continue exploring the results of the “Reimagining Political Leadership: The Outlook of Young Americans” survey focused on the political attitudes of Americans aged 18-34. The survey was designed by the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University in partnership with Future Caucus and the Close Up Foundation, and based on interviews conducted by the Generation Lab, a data intelligence company that gathers and interprets the views and behavior of young adults. In this post, we examine the views of young Americans as they relate to the 2024 presidential election.

READ: All About the Survey

The survey’s key findings relating to the 2024 election and the presidential candidates include the following:

  • Only about half (49 percent) of young Americans describe themselves as very likely or certain to vote (eight or higher on a ten-point scale).
  • The most common descriptors of their mood heading into November are “nervous and scared” followed by “hopeful and optimistic.”
  • Vice President Kamala Harris has a large, double-digit lead over former President Donald Trump in both the multi-candidate and head-to-head trial heat. Vice President Harris’ advantage with young Americans is rooted in substantive evaluations; she is viewed as better than former President Trump on all eight qualities that we tested.
  • Young Americans have a broad and substantive voting agenda, but it tracks all Americans in centering primarily around the economy and the cost of living.
  • While voting is only one of many behaviors that young Americans see as critical to a maintaining a functioning democracy, emphasizing the importance of making their voices count and having a say in their future are most persuasive.

The findings also show that young Americans have more negative emotional responses to the election, with half of respondents saying that they are feeling either “nervous and scared” or “dissatisfied and disappointed.” These responses can be partially explained by the findings that majorities of young Americans agree with statements such as:

  • There often are not candidates running who I am excited to support (72 percent agree).
  • It’s hard to get information that is trustworthy and reliable about the candidates and their issue positions (69 percent agree).
  • It’s hard to get information that is relevant to me about the candidates’ positions on issues I care about (57 percent agree).

Finally, the poll found that young people support Vice President Harris by a 2-to-1 margin over former President Trump in a head-to-head poll.

Discussion Questions

  1. How do the views reflected here compare with your views?
  2. If you had to choose one word to reflect how you are feeling about the upcoming election, what would it be?
  3. If you were able to survey young Americans, what would you want to know?

Previous Posts About the Survey Data

As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.

Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today! 

 

Sources

Featured Image Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

 

The 2024 USET Impact Week Youth Summit

Posted on by Ashleigh Barber

What is the United South and Eastern Tribes Inc. (USET)?

For over 30 years, Close Up has partnered with USET to foster civic and democratic engagement among students from USET’s member tribal nations. USET is a nonprofit, intertribal organization established in 1969. It serves 33 federally recognized tribal nations from the northeastern woodlands to the Everglades and across the Gulf of Mexico. USET is dedicated to enhancing the development of tribal nations, improving the capabilities of tribal governments, and elevating the quality of life for citizens of its member nations through various technical and supportive programmatic services.

What is the USET Impact Week Youth Summit? 

The 2024 USET Impact Week Youth Summit lasted seven days and six nights and featured workshops on tribal sovereignty, federal politics, and pressing issues facing Indigenous communities across North America. These sessions aimed to cultivate essential leadership skills and empower young people to voice their opinions and actively participate in their communities. Through guided inquiry, workshops, dialogue, and deliberation, attendees learned more about their rights and responsibilities as citizens of tribal nations and members of their communities. The summit also fosters partnerships among tribal communities, allowing youth to share best practices in civic engagement and to learn from one another.

The 2024 USET Impact Week Youth Summit culminated in the presentation of a collective Youth Statement on Sovereignty, articulated by 88 high school students from 18 member tribal nations. This statement highlighted the importance of preserving tribal sovereignty across five sectors:

  1. Education: Tribal nations want control over education to preserve Native American languages and promote accurate historical narratives, stressing the need for support to enhance Indigenous youth’s cultural connections and educational outcomes.
  2. Economic Development: There’s a call for economic sovereignty to increase financial independence and diversify beyond gaming revenues.
  3. Crime and Public Safety: Youth emphasize the need for recognition of tribal nations’ authority to prosecute crimes and advocate for strong federal relationships to ensure community safety.
  4. Land and Natural Resources: The statement highlights that tribal sovereignty includes stewardship of land and resources, urging advocacy to reclaim ancestral lands.
  5. Health Care: Participants call attention to health care disparities and seek culturally responsive solutions and support for Native health care providers to improve community health outcomes.

This collective statement underscores the students’ commitment to defending, exercising, and maintaining tribal sovereignty as vital for the future of their communities.

What is Tribal Sovereignty?

Tribal sovereignty refers to the right of tribal nations to govern themselves and make decisions that suit the needs of their communities. This means they have the authority to manage their affairs, including law enforcement, education, and land stewardship. As of 2024, there are over 574 federally recognized tribes, each with unique cultures, traditions, and government structures. 

Why is Tribal Sovereignty Important to Tribal Nations?

Sovereignty is inherent to tribal nations and holds significant cultural and community meaning for Indigenous peoples throughout the United States. It is also shaped by treaties and agreements made with the U.S. government and recognized through legislation, statutes, executive orders, and Supreme Court rulings. There are many areas in which tribal nations exercise their sovereign status, including:

  • Cultural Preservation: Sovereignty helps tribes maintain their languages, traditions, and identities.
  • Self-Determination: Tribes can make decisions that reflect their needs and values rather than rely on outside governments.
  • Economic Development: Sovereignty allows tribes to develop businesses and create jobs, thereby improving their communities.
  • Legal Authority: Tribes can enforce their own laws and address issues within their communities.
  • Environmental Stewardship: Many tribes prioritize sustainability and protect their natural resources.

Despite its importance, tribal sovereignty faces challenges. Sometimes, state and federal governments might overreach into tribal affairs, which undermines the authority of tribal nations. For example, disputes over land rights, taxation, and criminal jurisdiction can lead to tensions between tribal nations and other government entities.

Conclusion

Participants leave the USET Impact Week Youth Summit feeling empowered and connected to the USET/Close Up community, equipped with knowledge and pride in their identities. By investing in the next generation of Indigenous leaders, USET and Close Up play a vital role in preparing youth to address the evolving challenges within Indian Country. The impact of these experiences is profound, shaping future advocates who will champion their distinct cultures and serve the needs of their diverse communities.

This summit is one of several impactful Close Up programs that focus on helping students study and address the issues affecting Native American youth and their tribal communities. If you would like to learn more about the USET Impact Week Youth Summit, the American Indian and Alaska Native Youth Summit, or other Close Up programming opportunities, reach out to us today!

 

State and Federal Legislation on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

Posted on by Ashleigh Barber

In the past six years, the introduction of bills in state legislatures to ban gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth has increased exponentially. In 2018, two such bills were introduced. In 2023, there were 185. Arkansas became the first state to ban gender-affirming care for youth in 2021; now, there are 26 states with bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. In response, other states have begun passing laws protecting access to gender-affirming care. It is estimated that 110,000 transgender teenagers, about 40 percent of transgender youth, live in states with bans on gender-affirming care.

What is Gender-Affirming Care?

Gender-affirming care consists of an array of services, including both medical and non-medical interventions for transgender and gender diverse people. Medical services can include hormone therapy, surgery, and mental health services. Non-medical services can include adopting gender-affirming hairstyles, clothing, names, gender pronouns, and restrooms and other facilities.1

Gender-affirming medical care for youth most often consists of puberty blockers that stop the onset of puberty. Doctors say the goal of puberty blockers is to give young people time to mature enough mentally and emotionally to make informed decisions about whether to pursue permanent treatment. Once someone stops taking them, puberty starts again as normal. Gender-affirming medical care for youth can also include hormone therapy and, rarely, surgical intervention.2

What Kinds of Bills Have Passed?

The details of state bans on gender-affirming care vary, but in general, the laws prevent transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery. More than 20 states have passed laws that punish health care professionals for providing gender-affirming care to their minor patients. Five states have made it a felony, and in eight states it is illegal for providers to offer minors referrals for care outside their state or otherwise aid and abet access to gender-affirming care.3

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have shield laws that protect access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth. Shield laws vary by state but generally preserve minors’ access to gender-affirming care and protect patients, guardians, and medical professionals from prosecution for seeking or providing care.4

What Do Opponents of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors Say?

Opponents of providing gender-affirming care point to examples of people who began their transition and later expressed regret or decided to de-transition later in life. They argue that minors are not mature enough to make such life-altering decisions.

“We need to just pause, we need to understand what these emerging therapies actually may potentially do to our kids. My heart goes out to them. … This is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in. I don’t like it. But I have to do what I believe right now is in the best interest of the kids,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds when signing the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.5

Opponents also point to increasing restrictions abroad. The National Health Service in England recently ended the practice of prescribing puberty blockers to children, citing a lack of evidence of the safety and effectiveness to make them a part of routine treatment.6 Many other European countries do not allow the use of cross-sex hormones until age 16, and only then allow them after a patient has completed several psychotherapy sessions. In addition, most European countries ban gender-affirming surgery until age 16.7

What Do Supporters of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors Say?

Nearly all major U.S. medical associations support youth access to gender-affirming care, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association. In particular, these groups point to evidence demonstrating that medically necessary gender-affirming care enhances mental health outcomes for transgender youth, including by reducing suicidal ideation.8

The AMA released this statement after Arkansas passed its ban: “Decisions about medical care belong within the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship. … We believe it is inappropriate and harmful for any state to legislatively dictate that certain transition-related services are never appropriate and limit the range of options physicians and families may consider when making decisions for pediatric patients.”9

Supporters also argue that transgender and nonbinary minors are not the only youth seeking gender-affirming care. A Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study examined 2019 data for 22,827,194 youth with health insurance. It found that most gender-affirming surgeries for both transgender and cisgender (someone whose gender identity matches their sex at birth) youth were chest-related surgeries, and 97% of breast reduction surgeries were for cisgender males. Breast augmentation surgery for cisgender females is likewise considered gender-affirming medical care.10 Supporters point to this data and note that the same surgeries that are being banned for transgender and gender diverse youth are relatively unregulated for their cisgender counterparts.

Are There Any Federal Bills in Congress?

Like in state legislatures, there have been bills introduced in Washington, D.C., that would ban gender-affirming care for youth and others that would protect it. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) introduced H.R.1399, the Protecting Children’s Innocence Act, which would make it a felony to perform any gender-affirming care on a transgender minor, prohibit the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care or for health insurance that covers such care, and prohibit universities from offering instruction in gender-affirming care.11 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced S.2246, the Gender-Affirming Care Access Research for Equity (CARE) Act, which would provide $25 million in funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research barriers to gender-affirming care and the impact of those barriers on the health of transgender teens.12

Discussion Questions

  1. Do you think gender-affirming care should be banned until an individual turns 18?
  2. Does your state have laws about gender-affirming care? If so, do you agree or disagree with those laws? Why?
  3. Should more temporary medical interventions, like puberty blockers, be treated differently than more permanent treatments, like hormone therapy or surgery?
  4. What authority, if any, should the government have over medical care decisions for citizens?

Additional Resources

Related Blog Posts

As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.

Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today! 

 

Sources

Featured Image Credit: KFF. Policy Tracker: Youth Access to Gender Affirming Care and State Policy Restrictions
[1] Office of Population Affairs: https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf
[2] CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/health/puberty-blockers-explained-nhs-wellness/index.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20use%20of%20puberty%20blockers,started%2C%20bone%20mineralization%20normalizes.%E2%80%9D
[3]  Association of Medical Colleges, https://www.aamc.org/news/states-are-banning-gender-affirming-care-minors-what-does-mean-patients-and-providers; NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/07/03/nx-s1-4986385/trans-kids-health-bans-gender-affirming-care
[4] UCLA Law: https://law.ucla.edu/academics/centers/center-reproductive-health-law-and-policy/shield-laws-reproductive-and-gender-affirming-health-care-state-law-guide#:~:text=Currently%2C%20through%20legislation%20or%20executive,to%20gender%2Daffirming%20health%20care.
[5] Des Moines Register: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/21/kim-reynolds-says-iowa-should-pause-gender-affirming-care-to-trans-kids/70034427007/
[6] The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/12/children-to-stop-getting-puberty-blockers-at-gender-identity-clinics-says-nhs-england
[7] Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2023/06/06/increasing-number-of-european-nations-adopt-a-more-cautious-approach-to-gender-affirming-care-among-minors/
[8] Endocrine Society: https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2023/ama-gender-affirming-care
[9] American Medical Association: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-states-stop-interfering-health-care-transgender-children
[10] JAMA Network Open: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2820437
[11] H.R. 1399 Protecting Children’s Innocence Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1399
[12] Gender-Affirming Care Access Research for Equity Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2246?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22care+act+gender%22%7D&s=1&r=1

 

What Young Americans Seek in Political Leaders

Posted on by Ashleigh Barber

On September 17, the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University released results of a poll that focused on the views of Americans ages 18-34. The survey was designed by the Sine Institute in partnership with Future Caucus and Close Up Foundation and was based on interviews conducted by Generation Lab, a data intelligence company that gathers and interprets the views and behavior of young adults. Last week, we explored young Americans’ levels of optimism and hope. In this post, we will explore the question of what young Americans are looking for in their political leaders.

When poll participants were asked to list the three most important qualities they look for in a political candidate, they listed a motivation to serve others as the highest priority. They also said they want leaders who actively listen to and consider the perspectives of others and who are willing to compromise to get results. Interestingly, they ranked all three of those attributes above the priority of a leader supporting the policies that the poll participants support.

One element of this survey that distinguishes it from many other political surveys is that it asked respondents to listen to eight short, AI-generated audio clips of a hypothetical candidate’s pitch to voters. The text of those clips, along with their labels, is shared below. Survey respondents did not see the labels.

  • Competence: “I’m running to work hard and get the job done for the American people. I have real-world experience and a track record of delivering results. If we stay focused and determined, we can solve even our most complex challenges.”
  • Compassion: “I’m running because I care about people. Good leaders are compassionate, active listeners. I want to make people’s lives better by truly understanding your concerns and focusing on what we have in common as human beings.”
  • Integrity: “I’m running because we need honest leaders with integrity who will serve others, not themselves. I’ll always do what’s right for the people I’m elected to represent, whether you voted for me or not.”
  • Authenticity: “I’m running because we need leaders who are willing to tell hard truths and be real with people. I won’t just say what you want to hear. I’ll give you my honest opinion, even if it’s unpopular, and if I make a mistake I’ll own up to it.”
  • Idealism: “I’m running because I want to be part of building a brighter future. We can accomplish anything if we put our minds to it. We’re facing a lot of tough problems, but I believe we can find solutions and achieve our potential.”
  • Inclusive: “I’m running to make sure our government serves everyone equally. Every voice matters. America works best when it works for all, with no one left out or left behind.”
  • Decisive: “My vision for America is clear and it won’t waiver. I am running because America deserves a strong leader who will protect our country and enforce our basic rules and values.”
  • Compromise/Unity: “I’m running to end the disunity and division tearing us apart. Bringing people together will require compromise. But there is more that unites us than divides us. We’re all in this together, and we will rise or fall together.”

Respondents were asked to rate, on a scale of 1-10, how appealing they found each campaign pitch.

Next week, we will take a final look at the results from this Sine Institute survey of young Americans to explore their views about the 2024 presidential election.

Discussion Questions

  1. Which of the eight excerpts above (competence, compassion, integrity, etc.) speak most directly to you? Least directly? Why?
  2. What is something that a political candidate could say that would help them appeal to you? Are you looking for the same things in political leaders as the people who responded to this survey?
  3. In your own words, how would you describe what you are looking for in a candidate for the presidency?

Related Blog Posts

As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.

Close Up is proud to be the nation’s leading nonprofit civic education organization, working with schools and districts across the country since 1971. If you would like to partner with us or learn more about our experiential learning programs, professional development, or curriculum design and consulting, contact us today! 

 

Sources

Featured Image Credit: Sine Institute of Policy & Politics