According to recent polling from YouGov, the economy is top-of-mind for voters ahead of this year’s presidential election. A quarter of Americans named inflation and cost of living as their most important issue, and 12% said jobs and the economy was theirs. Immigration consistently also ranks high as a concern for voters, with 19% of respondents of a July 2024 Gallup poll citing it as the most important problem facing the country today. Health care affordability continues to rank among voters’ highest priorities; according to a May 2024 poll from Pew, 57% of those surveyed said it was “a very big problem in the country today.”

According to the Brookings Institution, young voters under the age of 35 account for roughly 29% of the national electorate, including around 8.3 million newly eligible voters for whom this will be the first presidential election in which they can participate. The youngest voting bloc is also the most diverse, with nearly 45% of eligible voters aged 18 to 27 identifying as people of color. 

For young voters under 30, cost of living stands out as an overwhelming priority to consider when casting their ballot. Young voters are experiencing a complexity of economic stress as a result of myriad factors, including inflation, rising interest rates, and student loan debt. Following the economy, gun violence prevention and addressing climate change rank as top concerns: 26% of youth respondents chose these issues as one of their top three concerns, according to the CIRCLE Pre-2024 Election Youth Survey.

CIRCLE’s early youth poll, conducted in the fall of 2023, also shows that 57% of those aged 18-34 say they’re “extremely likely” to vote and an additional 15% say they’re “fairly likely” to do so. (Previous research has identified that the number of young people who say, in pre-election polls, that  they’re “extremely” likely to participate, is often close to the number of young people who end up casting a ballot.) CIRCLE’S polling data also identifies three groups that were least likely to say they will vote: Black youth (44% extremely likely), nonwhite youth in rural communities (48%), and youth without college experience (41%).

Each state and territory sets its own rules and deadlines for registering to vote. In some states, the last day to register is 30 days before Election Day. In other states, you can register on Election Day. Depending on where you live, you may be able to register to vote in person, by mail, or online. If you are a U.S. citizen living outside of the U.S., you can register to vote and request an absentee (mail) ballot. Go to vote.gov to check your registration status, register to vote, or update your information, as well as information about when, where, and how to vote.

Vote.gov also includes information about voting as a college student, including how to choose between registering in your hometown or your college town, depending on the residency requirements of your state. For those aged 18 and under, you can pre-register before you turn 18 in most states, but you must be 18 to vote.

Whether you’re a seasoned voter or if you’ll be casting your first ballot this fall, voting gives you the power to shape your future and be an active part of your community. As Senator Robert F. Kennedy said in 1966, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” This November, vote like your rights depend on it!