Children’s Voting Habits Could Influence Their Parents’ Political Participation

By Sarah Schwartz

Schools that run voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns usually have a straightforward goal—raise the number of students who exercise their rights to the franchise in the next election.

But a new study suggests that getting more young people to vote could increase their parents’ political participation, too, paying dividends across generations.

The research was published by the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy, a nonprofit that promotes civic education and civil discourse. The study found evidence of a trickle-down relationship in civic engagement: Most teenagers who voted in their first eligible presidential election had a mother who also voted.

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Generation Citizen has published resources for harnessing age diversity in civic life. Earlier this year, in partnership with civic organizations CoGenerate and the Millennial Action Project, the group put out a report with recommendations for intergenerational civic collaboration.

Discussions about civic participation are often focused on one generation “passing the torch to the next,” said Clay Roy.

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