CEDETIM Bulletin, Athens, 9 November 2022, by Yorgos Mitralias

The international headlines about the outcome of the US midterm elections are not mistaken: Yes, the long-awaited Republican tsunami did not materialize. And the Democrats held up much better than they had hoped. The reason for all these big surprises is beginning to appear: Young people, breaking a decades-long tradition, turned out en masse to vote. And on top of that, they voted en masse for the Democrats. But, beware: for the Democrats and not for Biden, whose popularity continues to plummet according to all surveys, and even according to exit-polls.

In fact, the exit-polls reveal that if it were not for the vote of young Americans aged 18 to 29, the election result would have fully confirmed the predictions that announced a “Republican wave”. And here is the why and how according to a CNN exit-poll:

Voters over 65 gave the Republicans a 13-point lead. Those in the 45-64 age group also gave the Republicans an 11-point advantage. Those aged 30-44, on the other hand, gave the Democrats a slight advantage of 2 points. But, the very young 18-29 years old made the difference, giving the Democrats an advantage of … 28 points! In short, the “Generation Z”, that is to say the young people born roughly from 1997 to the early 2010s, have made a sensational entry into the political life of the country!

So, it’s no surprise that the first to benefit from the vote of these young people were the most left-wing Democrats. And especially those who make up “the Squad”, the group of radical and socialist deputies, who appeared following the first presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. They were re-elected by winning landslide victories. The most famous of them, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was re-elected with 70.6% of the vote. Palestinian-born Rashida Tlaib did better in Michigan with 73.7 percent. The very radical Ilhan Omar, of Somali origin, in Minnesota with 75.2%. African-American Jamaal Bowman with 65.4 in New York. African-American nurse Cori Bush with 72.8% in Missouri. And African-American Ayanna Pressley with … 84.5% in Massachusetts!

At the time of writing, only a few hours after the polls closed, it is not possible to have a definitive idea of the other electoral successes of radical candidates related to the Democratic Party. However, we can cite the case of the African-American Summer Lee, who created a surprise in Pennsylvania, beating the Republican incumbent with 55.7% of the votes. (…).