Inflation, Abortion, College Costs Are Top College Student Concerns In The Midterm Elections

A new online survey of college students shows that inflation, abortion and the cost of college are the top issues they’ll be considering as the midterm elections draw near.

The nonrandom poll, conducted by Course Hero, the popular course-material website, surveyed 1.026 students who said they were eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.

The survey was conducted between September 23 – October 4. The respondents were fairly evenly divided between Gen Z (29%), Millennial (39%), and Gen X (26%) students; 5% of the respondents were 58 or older. (Generation X are people born 1965-1980; Millennials were born 1981-1996; and Generation Z were born 1997-2012.)

Most Students Intend to Vote

More than three-quarters of respondents (77%) said they were planning to vote in the midterm elections; 6% said they were not, 14% said they weren’t sure and 3% did not answer. While 77% is a substantially higher figure than is typical of the youth turnout -an estimated 50% of people, ages 18-29, voted in the 2020 presidential election – it does appear that student interest in the upcoming election is running high.

Among respondents age 58 or older, 96% said they plan to vote, compared to 88% of Gen X, 76% of millennials and 65% of Gen Z respondents. Student Republicans and student Democrats were equally likely (81%) to plan on voting, a bit higher than the 75% level of anticipated participation by respondents who identified as Independents or were not affiliated with any political party. Female (78%) and male (77%) respondents were equally planning to vote in the midterms.

The Course Hero results should be considered along with a national poll released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicating that 40% of 18-to-29-year-olds state they will “definitely” vote in the November 8 midterm elections, a rate that could exceed the record-breaking 2018 youth turnout in a midterm election. That Harvard poll also showed that young voters prefer Democratic control of Congress 57% to 31% for Republicans (an increase of five points for Democrats since spring); 12% remain undecided.

The Most Important Issues

The Course Hero respondents cited inflation as the most important election issue, followed by abortion, the cost of college and student loans, and student debt forgiveness.

Inflation concerns were ranked highest among all student age groups: Gen X (69%), Gen Z (63%) and millennials (67%). Political affiliation was associated with a 12-point difference in concern about inflation, with 73% of student Republicans and 61% of student Democrats saying inflation will influence them the most.

Almost half (46%) of students indicated that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade will impact their midterm voting. Gen Z voters expressed the greatest concern among the various age groups (50%). Gen Z respondents also said that the impact of overturning Roe v. Wade will influence other personal choices, including their dating and sexual life (34%), their state of residence (30%), and the location of their job/internship (21%).

More than half (53%) of female students said they will vote based on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, while only 34% of males selected it as a deciding factor. More than two-thirds (68%) of student Democrats, but only 22% of student Republicans said that Roe decision would drive them to the polls.

Nearly half of survey respondents across each age group indicated that the cost of college and student loans will influence their vote: Gen Z (43%), Millennials (49%), and Gen X (46%). More than half (59%) of student Democrats said that college costs would be a main driver of their vote, but only 26% of student Republicans agreed.

On the related topic of student debt forgiveness, 43% said that it would be a key voting issue in this election. Female students (48%) expressed greater concern about debt forgiveness than male (35%) students. Among student Democrats, 60% said student debt forgiveness is a top issue compared to only 25% of student Republicans.

Trust in the Election Process and the Federal Government

Partisan differences were substantial when it came to the question What is your level of trust in the election process? Among student Democrats, 66% said they trusted the process at least moderately, compared to only 41% of student Republicans indicating they had at least moderate trust in the election process.

When asked the question In general, to what extent do you trust the federal government?, only 43% of college students surveyed said they viewed the federal government as at least moderately trustworthy. Respondents identifying as Democrats were much more likely to express at least moderate trust in the federal government (55%) than were those identifying as Republicans (33%).