Ranked-Choice Voting Is the Solution to Democrats’ Massive Generational Gap
The unusual election procedure would ensure younger Democrats that their voices matter
To say the Democratic Party is currently home to a large generation gap is like saying Arizona is currently home to a large canyon. It’s not just Biden vs. Bernie or Medicare for All vs. a public option that’s dividing the party by age. Older and younger Democrats can’t even seem to agree on the most basic questions of how politics should be practiced or what our goals should be when we cast our votes.
To some extent, younger people have always tended to be more ambitious and older people more risk-averse. But the 21st century has created a new, and newly enormous, chasm between generations. On Super Tuesday, for example, Bernie Sanders underperformed, yet according to an ABC News/Washington Post exit poll, he beat Joe Biden among voters 18–29 by 41 percentage points. These young voters are the future of the Democratic Party, and they’re coming of age at a time when gun violence is rampant, the climate crisis is escalating, and politicians in Washington seem either unable or unwilling to do anything about it. No wonder so many young Democrats are skeptical of incremental progress.
