(KCBS RADIO) – In this year's election, it may come down to how happy voters are feeling.
New data show that younger voters are feeling less upbeat than usual.
“What we have seen is really a dramatic change in happiness among young voters,” Carol Mills, Co-Director of the Political Communication Lab at Florida Atlantic University, told KCBS Radio.
She noted younger people - who have historically been more Democratic – are starting to lean Republican.
“And that doesn’t mean that young voters are still not predominantly leaning Democratic, but that more of them are leaning Republican,” continued Mills, “Even though they are aligning with a lot of the Democratic values.
“When you poll young people what they say is, ‘Yes, we believe in stronger rights for LGBTQ people, we are for women’s rights, we are interested in the legalization of marijuana’. They are still pretty unhappy and we see all of the factors that have contributed to that and that’s leading them to look for change.”
That change could make an impact on the 2024 election. However, happiness is not just affecting younger voters.
“Interestingly, we are finding at the same time that older voters who have long been considered kind of the GOP’s base are tending to trend Democratic,” Mills explained. “So we are looking at this and seeing this flip flop is potentially reshaping the political landscape in ways we just haven’t seen before.”