Washington (United States) (AFP) - Since the Democrats' overwhelming victory in the midterm elections for the US Congress on Tuesday, a wave of nostalgia has swept social media platforms due to talk about the "optimism of the millennial generation", in a trend that brings back memories of the spirit of hope that characterized the late first decade of the millennium and the beginning of the last decade.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 11:01 Last updated: 08/11/2026 - 11:11

Videos and posts that deal with sarcastic images (memes) that express this trend have received hundreds of thousands of views, as they celebrate the fashion, music, and aspects of that era that shaped the features of millennial youth, such as tight jeans, owl-shaped necklaces, and clapping and foot-tapping songs.

For many members of the younger generation known as “Generation Z,” who are currently between the ages of 18 and 29 and are called “Zoomers,” Tuesday’s elections carried a whiff of the same euphoria experienced by the previous generation, or “Millennials,” who are now between 30 and 45 years old, when Barack Obama was elected president of the country as a candidate for the Democratic Party in 2008.

The similarities are striking as both generations cast their votes under similar circumstances: persistent external conflicts and deep economic uncertainty at home.

Just as young voters were considered a key pillar of Obama's success, the midterm elections witnessed a huge shift in favor of the Democratic Party among young people under the age of thirty.

An analysis conducted by Agence France-Presse of data from the NORC Project on Civic Health and Elections showed that 65.5 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 voted for Democrats, compared to only 30.6 percent who chose Republicans.

In addition, 16 percent of those who voted for Republican President Donald Trump in 2024 among the youth group switched their positions and chose Democratic Party candidates in these legislative elections.

According to the preliminary results of a nationwide New York Times poll, young males (18-29 years old) have sided with Democratic candidates by approximately 40 percentage points since the 2024 elections, while support for women of the same age group has increased by 27 points.

hope

Alia Baddeli (20 years old) told AFP, "This new blue wave that the country has witnessed gives me a great feeling of hope." Baddeley hopes that Ohio Governor-elect Amy Acton will fulfill her promises related to developing education and regulating data centers.

Caleb Varness (22 years old), a student who like Baddeley attends the University of Akron, also expressed a sense of hope.

"We have many unprecedented things this time. We have the first Muslim and the first openly gay man in the Senate," he said, referring to Michigan Senator-elect Abdul Sayed and New Hampshire Senator Chris Pappas.

The leftist representative from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who belongs to the millennial generation and is considered one of the most prominent younger voices in Congress, said in an Instagram post, “Look at the number of seats we switched last night (from Republican to Democratic control)... because you (created an electoral wave) in your first voting experience, as if you were saying: ‘Yes, we are able to change the world!’”

Optimism or dissatisfaction?

But the scene is not entirely rosy, as members of Generation Z, who have experienced the outbreak of Covid-19 in schools and universities, are concerned about the future in light of challenges, perhaps the most prominent of which are climate change and the threat of artificial intelligence to their professional future.

Alberto Medina, director of communications at the Center for Information and Research on Learning and Civic Engagement in the United States, believes that the only similarity between the two elections is that they produced “a sweeping democratic wave in which young voters had the largest role in launching it.”

He pointed out that the election wave this year was driven by "the dissatisfaction of Generation Z, rather than the optimism of the Millennial generation."

In this context, Caden Ferguson (22 years old) confirms, “Nothing has improved in my life for two years.”

While he voted Democratic, he noted that he knew a number of people who chose to abstain from voting entirely.

"I think they see both parties as corrupt," he said.

For her part, Alyssa Shik (23 years old) considered the recent elections a “decisive referendum on the country’s current status,” noting that they constitute “a breathing space that everyone has been waiting for.”

But Democrats should not bet that Generation Z votes are guaranteed.

“One of the most prominent characteristics of young voters is that they do not owe loyalty to a specific party or candidate,” Medina said, adding that “they may make completely different choices in 2028,” the date of the next presidential elections.

© 2026 AFP

The content you want to browse is no longer in service or is currently unavailable.