Voting at 16? Why Gen Z Isn’t All In.
As the UK lowers the voting age, in the US, older Gen Zers cast doubt on their younger peers.
Just last week, the British government announced plans to lower the UK’s voting age to 16, welcoming more than 1.6 million 16 and 17-year-olds into the electorate. The move was celebrated by some, and criticized by others, who worry it will shift the odds in the Labour Party’s favor (more on that in a minute, but it’s not so black and white). The move in the UK begs the question: should the United States do the same?
If we lowered the federal voting age in the United States, youth voter turnout would undoubtedly rise. This would be exciting. High schools could give the day off for students to vote, and the electorate would start to look really different.
I’ve been writing about initiatives to lower the voting age in the US since I was in college, during the heyday of Gen Z 1.0’s youth activism, amid the March For Our Lives and climate strikes of 2018 and 2019. At the time, some cities had already adopted measures allowing 16-year-olds to vote in local elections (Takoma Park, Maryland, for one, granted 16-year-olds the right to vote in 2013), and others followed suit. Organizations like Vote16 USA and are still vying to make this a reality in municipalities across the country. In 2023, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) reintroduced legislation to lower the federal voting age to 16. Proponents always say this is a nonpartisan effort, and in 2025, it probably is.
History and conventional wisdom have assumed that young voters lean left, but this has started to shift. Lowering the voting age wouldn’t mean an electoral lock for Democrats. Yes, Gen Z helped power the blue wave in 2020 and 2022. But Gen Z 2.0 is not Gen Z 1.0. Today’s teens are trending more conservative than older Gen Z and young millennials. Both parties would have to fight for teen votes (this is true in the U.S., and abroad).
So what would this mean for our elections? For one, candidates would have to address the issues that young people care most about. Today that’s the rising cost of living, housing, and higher ed, fears about AI and the job market, as well as issues like healthcare, gun violence, and climate change.
Though youth voter turnout has been high the past two presidential cycles and candidates are paying attention to Gen Z, with more teen voters increasing their share of the electorate, prioritizing this voting bloc wouldn’t just be strategic or advantageous, it would be crucial.
What young Americans really think about letting teens vote
Inspired by the decision across the pond, I asked The Up and Up’s Gen Z community if they think 16-year-olds should have the right to vote in the United States. While respondents’ replies varied, on the whole, those 17 and older don’t want their younger peers to vote. Their answers reveal a striking reality: many older Gen Zers think their younger peers are “clueless.”
That POV is two-fold. Some young adults think younger teenagers are just plain dumb and immature.
Take, for example, a 21-year-old in Virginia who replied simply: “No. I spoke to my 16 year old cousin, and they are absolutely clueless.”
Or a 26-year-old in New York City who said: “I think 18, post high school, is appropriate after you’ve matured a little bit.”
“I think to vote you should be 18 because it allows greater time for individual thought and belief development,” said a 21-year-old in South Dakota.
But most who don’t think 16-year-olds should vote said so because they decry a poor national civic education standard that leaves teenagers under informed and thus, at a disadvantage.
“It would be a good idea if 16-year-olds were better informed,” said a 17-year-old from Idaho.
“No, not yet at least. Not because 16-year-olds aren’t smart or passionate. Many are. But because we’ve gutted civics education in this country. We’ve left an entire generation politically aware, but structurally unprepared. Frankly the UK definitely isn’t there either. Before we lower the voting age, we need to fix what they’re being taught, or more accurately, not being taught, about how this system actually works. Otherwise, we’re not empowering youth. We’re handing them a broken compass and expecting them to navigate a storm.” said a 22-year-old in Washington, D.C.
“I know as a 16 year old the only way I would be able to vote for an appropriate candidate would be with adult guidance. A lot of 16-year-olds may not have that guidance,” said a 19-year-old in Massachusetts.
“I think if we improve our education systems regarding the government policies and parties we should,” said a 22-year-old in Michigan.
Local elections > federal elections
Others said 16-year-olds should be allowed to vote in local elections, but not at the federal level. “I think 16 year olds should be able to vote in elections that directly affect them such as school board elections,” said an 18-year-old in Newark, where the Newark City Council has already lowered the voting age to 16 for school board elections.
If you can pay taxes, you should be able to vote
And then, of course there were a few who do think 16-year-olds deserve the right to vote, arguing that if 16-year-olds can work, pay taxes, and drive, they should be allowed to weigh in on who represents them in elected office. That logic is similar to the idea that those who can serve should be allowed to vote, part of the push to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 during the Vietnam war. “Many 16-year-olds are working and paying taxes, meaning that they should have voting power for how their taxes are decided and spent. If someone is old enough to pay taxes, drive, and drop out of high school, then they should be old enough to vote. Young people are being most impacted by today's policies, especially economic and climate policies, and should have more voting power,” said a 20-year-old in North Carolina.
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old from New York City said she believes, “our generation is much more educated than you can say for the majority of the 75+ gen.”
And there was one 20-year-old from New Jersey who sees Gen Z’s shifting partisan politics, and feels politically motivated to not let younger teens vote as a result:
“I would have said yes before, but I realized a lot of 16 year-olds aren’t quite as politically engaged as I was (I’m quite a political nerd/news junkie) and Gen Z voting trends ended up being a lot different than I thought they would be without strong explanation, so I think waiting until 18 is fine as of now.”
Noteworthy reads
Who are the Stud Budz? Understanding the sensation of WNBA All-Star Weekend, Hannah Vanbiber for The Athletic
Want to Know Where Your Friend Got Her Shoes? Click the Link in Bio, Ana Colón for ELLE Magazine
How Taylor Swift turned a glitter freckle maker into a sensation, Ian Frisch for Bloomberg
Gen Z has regrets: 1 in 4 say they wish they hadn’t gone to college or would’ve picked a higher-paying industry, Sydney Lake for FORTUNE
I'm kinda leaning towards the no side of this but it's perhaps because of how I remember myself at 16. Unaware and focused on other things like boy's and my social life. I did work and drive. Had my own apartment at 17 but if I voted back then I would have probably voted on whoever my friends were voting. Possibly who my parents were voting for.