Young adults are less likely to closely follow politics and are less likely to see the value of voting than adults older than the age of 45, according to a new survey released Tuesday morning.
The Associated Press (AP)-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 21 percent of young people ages between 18 and 29 say they follow politics “extremely/very closely.”
Another 43 percent said they track politics “somewhat closely,” while 34 percent said they are not following those developments very closely or at all.
About 23 percent of adults aged 30 to 44 said they closely follow politics. The figure jumps to 39 percent among those between the ages of 45 and 59.
Just over one-in-five, or 21 percent, of Americans between the ages of 45 and 59 said they do not follow politics closely.
The poll also found young adults are less likely to view voting as important compared to older adults.
Overall, 53 percent of Americans said that voting is “extremely important.”
But just 36 percent of younger Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 view voting as “extremely important.”
Sixty-four percent of adults between the ages of 45 and 59 consider voting “extremely important.”
Younger partisans, particularly Democrats, are more likely than independents to see voting as important, according to the poll.
The economy was the most important issue for younger adults at 77 percent, topping health care, taxes and natural disaster relief. About half of young people see government spending, trade talks with other nations and immigration as important to them, according to the poll. The situation in the Middle East was at the bottom of the list at 38 percent.
The poll was conducted from July 10-14 among 1,437 adults. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points.
