Proportional representation will bring young people into politics

A young activist taking part in a protest from behind.

American leadership is older today than at any other time in history. The 118th Congress (2023-2025) had the oldest Senate ever, with a median age of 65, and the third oldest House of Representatives, with a median age of 58. The 119th is nearly the same: a median age of 65 in the Senate and 58 in the House. Former President Joe Biden was the oldest president in the country’s history, and by the end of President Donald Trump’s term, he will break that record. “Gerontocracy” has become a familiar word among the American public.

The persistent age gaps in representation and participation threaten the health of American democracy overall. Issues that young people care about do not receive as much attention as issues that older voters care about. Young people face high barriers when running for office, making it difficult for them to address their generation’s concerns themselves through politics. In turn, this fuels cynicism and disengagement with electoral politics, which makes it even harder for young people to be heard or get elected and can make young people lose faith in democratic processes. Without the voice of young people, whether through the ballot or in legislatures, society as a whole misses out on the diverse perspectives and talents that are needed to solve collective problems and tackle new challenges.

In our new report, we propose that the winner-take-all system suppresses participation among young people and limits their opportunities to influence policy. 

We further propose that adopting proportional representation for legislative elections would foster greater inclusion of younger voters and their views, an outcome that would improve the health of democracy and benefit members of all generations.

Key Takeaways

Young people are underrepresented in the U.S. Congress.

The U.S. has the widest age representation divide between legislators and the median population than in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The prevalence of older politicians in office is not due to politicians holding on to power for long but reflects an undersupply of young candidates.

Our electoral system is a source of frustration.

The American winner-take-all electoral system forces young voters disaffected with the existing parties to choose candidates they dislike the least or to abstain from voting. It also makes it unfeasible for young people to organize and create new parties to advance their policy interests or for new parties to emerge to appeal to young voters.

Young people participate less
than older age groups.

They vote, donate to campaigns, and run for office at lower rates. Young people participate less because they see themselves and their priorities represented less: if you never get put in the game, eventually you stop paying attention to the score. Moreover, young people have fewer resources and higher mobility rates that increase the costs of voting.

In other countries, the age divide is far less drastic.

Countries with more proportional and permissive electoral systems see higher levels of youth representation and participation in politics. Compared to winner-take-all systems, proportional systems provide more opportunities for young people to run for office or to create their own viable parties outside the existing options.

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