(ABC News) The 2014 midterms saw historically low turnout across the board, but among the youngest generations, turnout was particularly disappointing. Young people accounted for 53 percent of eligible voters but cast only 36 million votes — 21 million fewer than the boomer, silent and greatest generations, according to Pew. But this year is different.
This year has given rise to an insurgency of youth activism, triggered by a group of savvy high schoolers from Parkland, Florida, who captivated the nation in the wake of a tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February. The current crop of vocal teens showed the potential of young people to reanimate politics and reinvigorate a culture war over gun violence to drive voters to the polls.
"The pressure is on for every person in power," Delaney Tarr, a graduate of Stoneman Douglas, told the spirited crowd at the March For Our Lives last spring. "If they continue to ignore us, to only pretend to listen, then we will take action where it counts." Read More