Young people are more inclined than ever to vote by mail in this year's election, but a new poll shows a majority of them lack the resources and knowledge to do so.
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, half the states have already adjusted their general election plans to emphasize mail-in voting or otherwise make casting ballots easier and safer. But a poll, released last week by the progressive youth voter engagement group NextGen America, indicates a significant lack of familiarity with the absentee voting process among voters younger than 35.
The survey is the latest indication that an optimistic expectation which surfaces every four years — the leaders of tomorrow are finally going to turn out in great numbers and cast the decisive votes for president — may be dashed once again.
That's because fewer than half of those surveyed know what they need to do to vote absentee (47 percent) or were familiar with their state's vote-by-mail deadlines (42 percent). And only narrow majorities indicated they had ready access to a printer (54 percent) or to a booklet of stamps (52 percent).
An NPR analysis of mail voting in this year's primaries found at least 65,000 ballots were rejected because they arrived too late. First-time voters, especially ones who are young, Black or Latino, are more likely to have their ballots rejected due to delayed arrival or another error.
Despite these issues and lack of clear instruction, more Americans are planning to vote by mail this fall. Only 5 percent of those surveyed said they voted absentee in 2016, but nearly two-fifths said they would mail in their ballots this fall. Most still plan on voting in person, though, either early (18 percent) or on Election Day (36 percent).
Regardless of preferred voting method, 77 percent of young people said they are more motivated to vote in the 2020 election than any other election in their lifetime.
Young voters have expressed similar passion to pollsters in the past, but that has not translated to actual ballot casting. Turnout among those younger than 30 was 46 percent four years ago — when overall turnout was 56 percent of those eligible.
To capitalize on this enthusiasm now, NextGen America is conducting massive voter outreach to encourage participation in the general election and inform young people about the voting process. A week ago the group organized the first-ever National Vote By Mail Day, using its volunteer network to text absentee voting information to 3.7 million people across 11 states.
NextGen was founded in 2013 by billionaire Tom Steyer, who ran a largely self-funded but unsuccessful Democratic presidential campaign. The organization was initially focused on climate activism, but has pivoted its primary focus to promoting youth voter engagement.
The need for better youth voter education was also made apparent in a June poll by election researchers at Tufts University's Tisch College, which reported that one-third of young people didn't know whether they could register to vote online. (Online voter registration is permitted in all but nine states.)
For the NextGen poll, 1,001 young people were interviewed over nine days ending July 22. The margin of sampling error was 3 points.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.