LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Year after year, more young voters are showing up to vote in presidential elections in Kentucky.
In 2020, more than 55% of registered voters under 25 showed up to vote in Kentucky. That was the highest turnout among the age group since the 2008 election, which saw a 53% turnout.
We took an informal poll of students on the UK campus on Thursday, and every person we spoke with said they plan to vote by Tuesday.
"I think every vote does matter," said one student.
"It's just an important election, there's a lot going on. World's getting kind of crazy," said another.
Many of those students are voting for the first time.
"My birthday is on Election Day this year, so I have asked friends and family as my birthday gift, please go vote," said Hannah Keen.
Presidential campaigns have been targeting the youth vote for months. Both Trump and Harris' teams have made a strong push on TikTok, pushing out content multiple times per day on the platform.
Katie Urch, a media professor at the University of Kentucky, said social media has become a growing battleground.
"You know, the youth vote is entirely on social media. It's not, 'How will social media affect the youth vote?' It's 'Who is being the most creative and touching the most people in social media?,'" Urch said.
While apps have given young voters a new platform to engage with politics, some are afraid of unintended consequences.
"I think there has been a lot of misinformation and people just kind of believing anything that they want to hear, any TikTok that they might see, not really doing the research on their own," said Noelle Jamison, who is voting in her first presidential election.
Social media platforms aside, students made it clear they don't plan to sit at home on Tuesday. In fact, they're encouraging their friends and family to get out to vote with them.
