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Will Millennials Make It To The Polls In 2016?

Millennials are now the biggest cohort of registered voters in North Carolina, but whether they will show up to the polls this year is an open question.

For the sake of this story, “Millennials” are people age 18-35. And that group now makes up about 28 percent of registered voters statewide.

But in the 2012 general election, only about 44 percent of those Millennials cast ballots. That's nearly 20 points lower than Generation X, and almost 30 points lower than Baby Boomers.

Millennials also voted at a lower rate than the national average that year.

So what's going on here? Is this a trait of the oft-maligned, stereotypical Millenial: a disengaged, self-centered generation?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Elon University political scientist Jason Husser says, more likely, the low Millennial turnout in North Carolina is a function of age.

“We've seen this pattern in the past where young generations are criticized for not stepping up to the plate,” Husser says, “but then once they got older, they got jobs, they got children, they became grounded in communities, they actually did.”

He says this trend goes back decades. So, as far as young voters are concerned, history may simply be repeating itself.

And looking ahead to Election 2016, Husser says he expects more of those Millennials at the polls.

Sean Bueter joined WFDD in August 2015 as a reporter covering issues across the Piedmont Triad and beyond.Previously, Sean was a reporter, host and news director at WBOI in Fort Wayne, Ind., just a few hours from where he grew up. He also sorted Steve Inskeep's mail as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.Sean has experience on a variety of beats, including race, wealth and poverty, economic development, and more. His work has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and APM's Marketplace.In his spare time, Sean plays tennis (reasonably well), golf (reasonably poorly), and scours local haunts for pinball machines to conquer.

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