Texas primary turnout shows stark age divide between parties

Austin American Statesman ^ | Mar 22, 2026 | John Moritz

[CondoleezzaProtege]

The numbers crunched by Derek Ryan, founder of Ryan Data and Research, show that nearly 55% of the ballots cast early and on the same day in the recent Democratic primary came from voters 50 and older. By contrast, voters 30 and under accounted for just 14% of the turnout in a primary that nominated 36-year-old James Talarico…

But the age gap is even more yawning on the Republican side, according to Ryan's analysis, which uses data from the Texas Secretary of State's Office, the Texas Legislative Council and other sources. Voters 50 and older made up 78% of GOP primary turnout, and those over 70 accounted for one-third of the total.

That means just 22% of the Republican vote came from people 49 and younger. And if you just look at the under-30 subset, it comprised just 4% of the party's total vote. That would appear to be a shaky foundation for building a Texas Republican Party of the future…

To help offset that disadvantage, it would appear Republicans need a jolt of youthful energy. Their advantage among seniors seems to be rock solid…

[Frank Drebin]

Don’t they have any other songs they can sing? The old, ‘Yutes Love the Democrats More’ is played out, tired, oh...and a lie.

[Liz]

FTA
-— just 22% of the Republican vote came from ages 49 and younger.....
the under-30 subset comprises just 4% of the party’s total vote........

---

Yeah, but do they even vote?

[Ex-Con777]

“ it would appear Republicans need a jolt of youthful energy.”

That was Charlie Kirk.

EC

[wild74]

I don’t find it shaky at all It takes a while for young people to realize what’s going on once they began to pay their taxes they will understand that’s the reason the older people will not vote Democrat at least not in Texas

[Frank Drebin]

That movement is continuing and growing. One of the largest shifts towards conservatism was in middle income youth, not to mention among minority male youth.

[Cowman]

Sounds to me like we need to form the Roblox Minecraft party

[FlipWilson]

Oh wait, don’t tell me. The Party that forced Biden on its voters is about to talk about how the Republicans are the party of old white men.

[ChronicMA]

most people keep their political alignment throughout their lives

the events occurring during their middle and high school years often has a strong influence on where on the spectrum they land on for the rest of their lives

Seniors in the 80s were quite liberal reflecting their growing up in the depression, more recent seniors are not liberal because they had a different experience

conservative age groups developed when Carter was president. A new group was recently created during the Biden years.

The pattern keeps repeating

[devane617]

We’re in the ‘death rattle’ stage as conservatives. I don’t think there is a way to recover, rather I see young conservatives consolidating around other like-minded believers.

[wildcard_redneck]

It has always been this way. Young people are enthusiastic -
and ignorant and tend to vote leftist.

[Ex-Con777]

“ it would appear Republicans need a jolt of youthful energy.”

That was Charlie Kirk.

EC

[napscoordinator]

Doing a great job by the 25 flips over the last fifteen months.

[Wuli]

It is a report reflecting 100% how well the K-12 and college Leftist indoctrination centers are working - for them, and no surprise on what it means regarding younger voters.

[OrioleFan]

Citizens shouldn’t be allowed to vote until they get their first “real” paycheck and see how much the government gets.

This data probably shows the influence of “educators” on our youths. I have one daughter who won’t speak to me because I voted for President Trump and DOGE.

[cowboyusa]

Blacks are not going to come out for Telerico.

[Wallace T.]

There is a huge gap between Gen. Z and to a lesser extent Millennial men and women in terms of political preference. Next to evangelical Protestants, there is no group less enamored of the leftist agenda than young white men. Unfortunately, an effect of the inaction of the DOJ and the FBI against the Deep State players and the recent involvement in the Iranian war is the alienation of this voter group. Young men do not listen to Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Fox News, or AM talk radio. They listen to podcasters and read blogs from the likes of Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Alex Jones, who are against the war and who decry the failure to effectively drain the swamp, despite being in office for over 13 months. No amount of handwringing will change that fact. Until the Trump Administration starts really charging the Deep State players with crimes, prosecutes election fraud in Georgia and other states, and quickly wraps up the Iran war, these voters will not be motivated to support the GOP this year as they did in November 2024.

[Wuli]

I think your analysis has appeal only to already Conservative younger voters and has no appeal to the well indoctrinated young Leftists/Liberal/Progressive voters.

[FlipWilson]

It says something if a party is perpetually relying on new voters to gain power. Why is it? Could it be the existing voters are on to your schtick.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Its not news that young people don’t vote.