Forty-seven percent of young voters (ages 18–29) cast ballots in 2024, down three points from 2020, but eclipsing 2016 turnout (39%). This is the top takeaway from our partners at the Center for Information Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) based on their 2025 analyses of the 2024 Presidential Election and 2025 contests in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City.

Other key findings include:

• Persistent gender and racial/ethnic gaps in youth voting, with 58% of White women voting in 2024 compared to 25% of Black men. Young voters of color say they disproportionately lack information about the voting process.
• Huge swings in youth turnout by state, from a high of 62% in Minnesota to the low of 33% in Arkansas. Turnout tends to correlate with the state’s political competitiveness.
•  A mere 16% of young voters believe democracy is working for them, a figure that, if left unaddressed, can drive even more potential voters to the sidelines.

This fall’s midterm elections present another teachable moment for the civic learning movement. CIRCLE found that fewer than half of youth surveyed (48%) felt a sense of belonging—a critical factor in students’ civic development—in school. However, two-thirds of those who vote in every national election reported a sense of belonging, as did 58% who vote in local elections or participate in local government.

Let’s commit to teaching students about voting processes and the candidates and issues on the ballot this fall, but also attend to their whole being, supporting schools in practicing the tenets of our constitutional democracy daily.

Last month, our partners at the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) at the Hoover Institution published a landscape analysis of The American Civic Education System. Based on an extensive literature review, individual interviews and focus groups, and a survey of educators and students, RAI documented three broad trends all too familiar to the civic learning field:

1. The marginalization of civic learning is generational in nature;
2. Civic learning is vital to the strength and sustenance of our constitutional democracy and transcends ideological divides; and
3. While the civic learning field has rallied to meet the challenge of the moment, our efforts often lack coherence and we struggle to scale them across our P-20 system.

The report proceeds to make more specific observations, several of which bear repeating:

• While tensions between liberty and democracy are inherent to our system, toxic political polarization is not and must be mitigated;
• Civic learning must be taught as a stand-alone subject across grade bands, but also integrated across subject areas to ensure greater emphasis;
• There is no shortage of civics curricula and resources, but there are a dearth of materials focused on international relations, military, and national security;
• Civic learning is excessively siloed within K–12, higher education, and civil society; and
• Educators want greater access to in person professional development opportunities where they engage with subject matter experts and learn from one another in community.

The authors conclude by recognizing the role for bridge-building leaders and institutions given the aforementioned challenges, one that the CivxNow coalition aspires to play with its 400-plus, pluralistic members in partnership with RAI. This report is an important contribution to our collective work to strengthen our P-20 civic education system.