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U.S. College Student Turnout Projected at 66% in 2026

By Drooid · Oct 21, 2026, 3:02 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Analysts Predict Turnout

Analysts project U.S. college students will vote at a 66 percent rate in the 2026 midterms.
VCU Votes organized class visits, registration drives, and ice-cream socials targeting first-generation students.
The NAACP at VCU hosted a nonpartisan “Know Your Ballot” event on candidate offices and policies.
Shockers Vote! Coalition received a grant to fund registration drives and distribute TurboVote tools.
Professor Nathaniel Swigger cautioned the 66 percent estimate may not match actual turnout.

Summary

Students March Supreme

Protesters marched from campus to the Supreme Court in a “No Kings” rally on Saturday.
Five GW groups—ACLU, College Democrats, Democracy Matters, Swing Left, and J Street U—organized the rally.
Speakers urged early voting and condemned President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and executive power.
Students reported National Guard troops near a ballot drop box, calling the presence potentially intimidating.

History

Historical Context

Vietnam-era protests in the 1960s pushed Congress to extend the Voting Rights Act in June 1970 and prompted the Supreme Court’s Oregon v. Mitchell ruling. The Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified July 1971, set the voting age at 18; the NAACP’s Voter Education Project then added 1.2 million young voters. Today VCU’s Shockers Vote! Coalition and GW’s No Kings rally revive those 1970s drives.

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Analysts Predict Turnout

Analysts project U.S. college students will vote at a 66 percent rate in the 2026 midterms.
VCU Votes organized class visits, registration drives, and ice-cream socials targeting first-generation students.
The NAACP at VCU hosted a nonpartisan “Know Your Ballot” event on candidate offices and policies.
Shockers Vote! Coalition received a grant to fund registration drives and distribute TurboVote tools.
Professor Nathaniel Swigger cautioned the 66 percent estimate may not match actual turnout.

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