For Immediate Release
August 14, 2024
Innovative project brings together first-ever representative sample of first-time voters from across the country to debate the key issues of our time
Stanford, Calif. – August 13, 2024 – America in One Room: The Youth Vote today announced the results of its Deliberative Poll, revealing how first-time voters feel about key issues driving the 2024 Presidential Election: energy and the environment; the economy, AI, and taxes; health care; and democracy and elections, after deliberating with their peers.
A nationally representative sample of 430 first-time voters answered a questionnaire about public policy and voting intention before and after deliberating on the topics. America in One Room: The Youth Vote is a collaboration between Close Up Foundation, the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University, the Generation Lab, Helena, and the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at the University of Southern California. Deliberative Polling® is a mechanism through which citizens can address complex issues and the trade-offs they pose in an environment curated for civil and respectful conversation across party lines.
James Fishkin, Director of the Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab noted: “These young voters came from all over the country, red states and blue states, urban and rural. They learned what the rest of their generation was thinking, connecting across their social media enclaves and political divisions. They listened to each other and determined what they really thought about the issues and the candidates. And they emerged with greater mutual respect for those they still disagreed with. It gave us all a glimpse of the American public opinion of the future.”
The results show dramatic changes in perspectives after deliberation on issues like contraceptive access, increasing the federal minimum wage, repealing the Affordable Care Act, and more. Some of the movements were more progressive, some more conservative. Notable results from America in One Room: The Youth Vote, include:
On energy and the environment, the participants were strongly committed to concerted climate action and, interestingly, became more supportive of American energy independence following the deliberations.
- Following deliberation, there was overwhelming support for the US reaching net zero by 2050, increasing government funding for clean energy technologies and battery storage solutions, and new generation nuclear energy
- At the same time, opposition to banning the sale of new gas and diesel cars also increased across the board after deliberation, from 45% to 59%
Surprisingly, participants’ support for traditionally progressive policies related to the economy, AI, and taxes decreased in many cases.
- Support for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 dropped 14 points from 62% to 48%
- Support for the government covering the cost of college tuition at public universities for all students who could not otherwise afford it decreased from 66% to 56%
- Support for the federal government’s role in preventing the sale or use of biased algorithms increased from 48.6% to 54.5%
In an election year when health care, and abortion access in particular, have the potential to swing outcomes, results show young people across all political identifications support reproductive health care access and traditionally progressive health care policies.
The proposal that “Congress should pass a nationwide ban on medication abortion” attracted supermajority opposition, rising from 78% to 80% after deliberation
- The majority of Republicans (51%) also came to oppose a national medication abortion ban
Opposition to repealing the Affordable Care Act jumped 20 points, from 52% to 72%
While many portray Gen Z as losing faith in democratic institutions, when polled on democracy and elections following deliberation, the results showed notable increases in satisfaction with democracy. Participants also showed movement on proposals around voting rights and provided a snapshot of support for the Trump and Harris candidacies.
When asked “How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way democracy is working in the U.S.” overall satisfaction increased an impressive 29 points – from 29% to 58%
- Republicans increased dramatically from 38% to 72%, Independents increased from 24% to 40%, and Democrats increased from 26% to 52%
The proposal to “Restore voting rights to citizens with felony convictions who are not incarcerated” increased overall by a dramatic 19 points from 61% to 80%.
- This was a bi-partisan movement, with Republicans specifically increasing by 17 points from minority to majority support (48% to 65%).
At the end of the event, Vice President Kamala Harris was the choice of 53% of the deliberators, former President Donald Trump was the choice of 27% of the deliberators, and 6% said they would vote for a third party.
“This historic event has something to teach us all. When we take the time to talk to and learn from people with different backgrounds and worldviews, we can build our own confidence in democracy and find agreement in the most unexpected of places,” said Close Up President Mia Charity. “For more than 50 years, Close Up’s work has been dedicated to empowering young people to become engaged citizens. We are excited to partner with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab this fall to host national deliberations and continue Close Up’s efforts to expand programs and professional development that bring a culture of deliberative dialogue to schools across the country.”
“Everyone likes to speak for young people, but rarely do young people get to speak for themselves,” said Cyrus Beschloss, Founder of Generation Lab. “As we hurtle towards a ground-shaking election, America will begin talking about the ‘youth vote.’ Rather than grab for the stereotype du jour about ‘Gen-Z,’ we must look to serious research like this study as we make decisions and policies for the next generation in America.”
“This event highlighted Gen Z’s acute awareness of AI’s rapid evolution and along with it, significant new ethical challenges,” said Nathanael Fast, Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at the USC Marshall School of Business. “Students demonstrated a strong belief that government should play a key role in ensuring AI safety, and their unique perspective on AI and social media reinforce the urgent need to make our tech ecosystem more transparent, inclusive, and democratic.” He also noted, “Participants returned home filled with confidence to drive change within their communities and a renewed trust that public officials value their perspectives. Together, these are profound shifts that pave the way for our country’s future leadership.”
“America in One Room represents the true ‘will of the people,’ and we are working toward a future where this deliberative process plays a much bigger role in how the US and other democracies make decisions,” said Henry Elkus, founder and CEO of Helena, a global problem-solving organization. “Gen Z is often misunderstood as nihilistic and unwilling to compromise, and America in One Room: The Youth Vote showed that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was incredibly inspiring to watch these young, first-time voters disrupt that narrative, discuss complex issues with nuance regardless of their political position, and leave feeling optimistic that they can shape the future.”
The America in One Room project was first deployed in 2019, bringing a representative microcosm of the entire American electorate together in the same location for the first time. As in other Deliberative Polls, the discussions proceeded in moderated small groups with questions from the small groups directed at experts in plenary sessions who answered the participants’ questions. The small group and plenary sessions alternated throughout the weekend.
The executive summary and full results of America in One Room: The Youth Vote’s results are available here. To learn more, visit the America in One Room site.
About America in One Room: The Youth Vote
A1R:TYV is a collaboration between Close Up Foundation, the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University, the Generation Lab, Helena, and the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at the University of Southern California. Through Deliberative Polling, the experiment provides a unique opportunity to combine the qualitative richness of focus groups and the statistical representativeness of good survey research to meaningfully pulse a demographic that is frequently talked about, but rarely talked to, as they prepare for a historic presidential election.
