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Engaging Gen Z Voters
248 Plays1 month ago
The 2024 election is right around the corner and eyes are on Gen Z voters, who predominantly make up the youth and young adult voting bloc. Vaughan Bagley, Director of Social Impact for SHOWTIME/MTV Entertainment Studios, discusses the evolution of young adult voter engagement and MTV’s ongoing role in promoting civic participation. From MTV's iconic Rock the Vote campaign to today’s Vote 24 initiative, this episode explores how to empower young voters and the role of employers and higher education are key in reaching Gen Z voters.
Discover the issues driving Gen Z—climate change, affordable healthcare, and more—and how companies, organizations, and colleges can support democracy through engaging Gen Z.
Key topics:
- MTV’s voter engagement legacy
- Reaching and empowering Gen Z voters
- The role of colleges and universities in voter outreach
- Corporate responsibility in elections
- Key issues for Gen Z voters in 2024
Learn more about MTV's Vote 24 Initiatives at votevotevote.com.
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Transcript
Introduction to #GenZ Podcast
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome, Mrs. Hashtag Gen Z, a podcast that explores Generation Z, who they are, how they're different from different generations, while also being an incredible blend of those who came before them. We also explore what they think is cool, what moves them, and why they do what they do. I'm your host, Megan Grace, and it is so nice to have you here. You might have heard it's an election year. And with the election right around the corner, getting people to vote is a priority regardless of your party.
00:00:40
Speaker
and a big voter group that people are paying attention to is Gen Z, which is not surprising.
The Rise of Gen Z Voters
00:00:44
Speaker
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement from Tufts University, Roughly 8 million more Gen Zers have become eligible to vote since 2022, which brings the eligible voting population among Gen Z to an estimated 41 million people in the United States. Throughout history, the youth voting block has voted out lower rates than older voter demographic blocks. However, Gen Z has turned out at higher rates than previous generations in the past few elections. So now we have a voter population.
00:01:16
Speaker
of the youth demographic that's growing in size and in power. And so many eyes are on this generation as we head into the 2024 election.
Vaughn Bagley's Role at Showtime MTV
00:01:23
Speaker
In this episode, I'm joined by Vaughn Bagley, Director of Social Impact for Showtime MTV Entertainment Studios, which includes MTV, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel, TV Land, and Pop. In her role, Vaughn develops creative campaigns that empower brands, audiences,
00:01:42
Speaker
to take action on the issues they care about, including but not limited to civic engagement and mental health. As a part of her work, she leads audiences to actions, and she's also the co-founder of two major holidays, Vote Early Day and Mental Health Action Day. Two things we can all get behind. She was also a part of the organizing the first ever Mental Health Youth Action Forum, which took place at the White House in May of 2022 with Dr. Jill Biden, Dr. Vivek Murthy,
00:02:09
Speaker
and Selena Gomez, some casual names there. Vonn holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Oxford University Queens College, where she participated in the first ever School Center for Social Entrepreneurship Impact Lab, a program designed to develop thoughtful and effective impact executives. Vonn brings a wealth of knowledge about engaging people in important movements, so let's explore engaging Gen Z voters.
00:02:37
Speaker
I'm so excited. I'm excited every ah episode. I really, I mean, that should be a blanket statement at this point to welcome a new friend to the conversation and talking about something that I am myself deeply passionate about, but I think many people are very curious about this time of year and especially this year. So Von, welcome to the discussion. I'm excited to spend time with you today.
00:02:56
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me and for creating this space for us to be able to have this conversation. It's very timely. Absolutely. I mean, you've got such a fascinating story and I loved being able to learn a little bit more about the work that you do prior to our chat, but give us a rundown. Tell us a little bit of the story.
Career Journey to MTV
00:03:13
Speaker
What do you do? and And a little bit of the journey really of how you got to where you are and kind of the work that you're doing today.
00:03:19
Speaker
Sure. So I grew up in DC. My parents were both very involved in politics, so issues and candidates were always hot topics of conversation at our dinner table. But I really, I think when I graduated from high school and was looking to go to college, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to stay away from the family business and have an impact on the world that was a little bit different than what I had grown up around growing up in DC. And so I actually majored in human biology. um My plan was to go into public health. I then became very passionate about human rights causes and decided that law was going to be my path.
00:03:59
Speaker
And actually my first job out of college was as a paralegal in the Human Trafficking Bureau at the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. So very different from where I ended up or at least where I am now. It's of course always a journey. But after a winding road, um I ended up working for a political campaign and working specifically on getting out the millennial vote at the time on college campuses.
00:04:26
Speaker
And when this job came up a few years years later at MTV, they had such a deep legacy on voter engagement. And I thought it would be really interesting to pair the passions that I had developed for that voter engagement work with the issues I cared about um in a way that was nonpartisan, um because I felt like maybe that would be an even more effective way of reaching youth.
MTV's Civic Engagement Focus
00:04:53
Speaker
And so I've now been at the Showtime MTV Entertainment social impact team for nearly five years. I've been able to be part of now two presidential election cycles, three elections as a whole. And we really focus on using our superpowers for good. So that's in civic engagement, mental health is the other key area that we proactively work on and then obviously any issues that come up that we know that our audiences care about. We want to be able to be a resource for them and provide tools and information that they can use.
00:05:28
Speaker
I love that your journey, you were like, I'm not going to be in the family business in a weird way. In your own flavor, you got into the family business. died Exactly. and But you know, you're doing it for good. And I'm so excited to learn more about you know your great experiences and especially the work that MTV is doing. So I know this because I think I probably was a target audience member when you were doing some of that, like get the millennial vote out stuff with MTV. um But MTV has really been in the game of youth engagement and young adult voter engagement for a long time, for as like long as I can remember and have conscious memories. So like there's a legacy there. Can you take us back a little bit and kind of feel the burden back? like When did all of this start to occur with MTV? Give us a little bit of that backstory. Yes, and it's very
History of MTV's Voter Engagement
00:06:16
Speaker
interesting. Really, it all started in 1992. MTV launched a campaign that you may have heard of called Choose or Lose.
00:06:24
Speaker
um We had MTV news following the candidates around the country and really demystifying the process of ah the political process as a whole, but the process of voting, looking at what do the candidates stand for, who are they, what is on your ballot.
00:06:39
Speaker
And, you know, I think that was the first real foray into engaging young people in a deeper way in our civic process. Most people don't know that MTV was also very involved in passing the Motor Voter Bill, which was 1993. And that was the law that required that states give the people the opportunity to register to vote as part of the process of applying for a driver's license or renewing your driver's license. And it's so obvious to us now. This is a government touch point that could make it so much simpler to register to vote. And you know they didn't have the internet back then. It wasn't very easy to just go online and register. So you know to be able to be part of that, I think, was a was a very innovative engagement.
00:07:29
Speaker
And then, of course, Rock the Vote. Rock the Vote gets brought up constantly to us all the time now. And that was a partnership that really became a cultural movement. And, you know, we were able to engage musicians, engage celebrities in getting out the vote and that seems so obvious now because you see it all the time but it really wasn't 30 plus years ago and so MTV has now worked on every national election since 1992 and has really been the leading civic engagement brand since that time. Now you have so many other brands that have entered this space which is amazing and we
00:08:08
Speaker
benefit from that too because we're able to have so many cool partnerships um with brands that are unlike ours that do different things, reach different consumers. But at the time, we really were the only brand using that cultural influence to um drive people to get out to the polls. I was only two when the first, you know, choose or lose came out. but and i would say mean Wonderful. I do feel like some of that sentiment still exists in the world in America. Like if you don't if you don't get up and and tell us how you feel about it.
00:08:41
Speaker
ah you probably can't complain about the situation that we're in, right? Like that's just a personal philosophy that I have with it. So it's it's amazing to see how much the the evolution, right, that MTV as as a company has gone through, but in the way that they're engaging the youth vote and staying true to that. Because as we know with Generations, where I come into all of this, is that media has deeply evolved with the different generations and it is like,
00:09:05
Speaker
rocket ship in the last 10 to 15 years. And so I'm really excited to to dig a little bit further into that. um I was having kind of some historical moments where I'm thinking about like, the idea of like what MTV has always been, has been like, come home after school, you watch, you know, when we were in high school, it was like, watch TRL, you gotta watch that. yeah You watch the music videos, you do all of that, but that was how you filled your afternoon. That kind of experience has always taken place with, even you think back to the 50s and 60s, when they had these variety shows that were designed for for teenagers, right?
00:09:36
Speaker
and It's amazing to see how that pivotal point in the 90s shifts. And we say, okay, this is an opportunity to engage engage young people and potentially meaningful conversations beyond music videos, right? Thank you for that look back and allowing us to kind of sit in history. Let's talk a little bit about what y'all are doing now. Like as we look at the world in 2024, we're a few weeks from an election. What has MTV been up to recently around modernizing and staying current with engaging the youth voters?
MTV's Strategy for Youth Engagement
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, thank you for that question. We have broken down our our strategy for this year into what we call the three C's. So we've got content, which as you shared is something that most people associate MTV with is is the content that we put out into the world.
00:10:23
Speaker
We've got our campaign work, which sits more along the lines of the type of engagement that rocked the vote really kicked off 30 plus years ago. And then we've got our on the groundwork, which this year is really focused on community colleges. So on the content side, we put out this year, a toolkit called the civic storylines toolkit with CAA and Spotify and attention and a number of others that really engages or aims to engage creators.
00:10:53
Speaker
in thinking about how they can talk about civic issues, how they can talk about voting, how they can talk about public servants. And I think this is really key because we as a media company have this extra responsibility to think about how we are shaping public perceptions of voting. So often the perspectives that we see in our content are very negative.
00:11:17
Speaker
um You see maybe somebody standing in line for a really long time in the heat to vote and they have no water. If that is your only experience with voting, you've never voted before. You're a first time voter. Your parents don't vote. This is the experience that you're seeing. Why would you want to vote? And the same goes for public servants. If you're only seeing corrupt public officials, why would you want to vote? cast a ballot for them if that's all your options are and so we provided a lot of recommendations and tips for content creators not just for our content creators across MTV entertainment but also providing those to other companies and providing them to social media creators as well because we know that so often
00:12:02
Speaker
That's how people are getting information about what it means to vote and be a voter. You know, thinking about how the world has changed over the last 30 years, that's definitely a big component is reaching those creators and making sure that they have the right messaging and they feel comfortable talking about civics because there's so much power that lies within them.
00:12:22
Speaker
to reach those potential voters. And then on the campaign side, reaching our audiences across our platforms, across linear and digital, really engaging our fandoms. We had a sweepstakes this year with RuPaul's Drag Race and another one with The Daily Show. And those are really fun ways to engage our audiences in you know kind of a different type of engagement.
00:12:44
Speaker
And then the community college piece that I mentioned. So in 2020, we learned that there was a 10 percentage point gap in the voting rates between two year and four year students. And so that felt like the next frontier for us. It felt like an an opportunity to provide resources and attention and fun parties at the polls and music and all of the things that MTV can bring to environments that perhaps have been overlooked or at least untapped in the past. So all of our on the ground efforts are really focused this year on community colleges and on Vote Early Day, which is a holiday that we helped found back in 2020.
00:13:23
Speaker
As someone that has a background on higher ed, let me just say I love the idea of continuing to support community colleges. The reality is is they serve a lot of students, like a lot of students and young people, right? And they might not be full-time students or they might be returning students that are still within that youth block, but like didn't go right into college right after high school. And so I think you're getting at a more grass. It feels more grassroots because these are people that are likely going to school in their backyard, right? That they are just,
00:13:51
Speaker
going to school right down the street. um And I think it's a great, and there's many students and young people that are opting to do that to save money and then going on to the four year institution, right? Highly diverse group too. So, you know, you're reaching hopefully a lot of voters that perhaps are not being reached in other ways either. And through a system that is there and built to support them. Not that you need my affirmation, but I think it's fantastic. When you think about youth and young voter engagement. Why are we concerned about that now? Because I asked that question. I think I know ah why we have to continually think about it. But, you know, Gen Z specifically has been kind of bucking the trend of what we've historically seen with the 18 to 24 to 18 to 32 year old
00:14:41
Speaker
voting bloc, which has been like, they don't turn out until pretty much they have children. But we're seeing, especially in 2020, 2022, 2018, Gen Z is like, let's shatter that, right? So you would think that there's a little bit of momentum. But why are we still heavily investing in this youth and young adult voting engagement mindset?
Gen Z and Millennials' Electoral Influence
00:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, 72 million millennials are now eliible eligible to vote. We've got 41 million Gen Zers who are now eligible to vote, representing about 60% of that generation. So when you add those two groups, those blocks together, you're talking about almost 50% of the electorate that has a huge potential impact on Not just the presidential race but every race up and down the ballot from sheriff to district attorney to mayor to city council and so you know being able to really help to provide resources and information in a nonpartisan way.
00:15:45
Speaker
to that group of people, I think could have huge implications. One way or the other, no matter where you stand on issues or party, you know, there's real potential there. And because of their age, because of, you know, where they sit in their life journey, they have so much more at stake too, because decisions that are made today could affect us for a few years. They could affect us for decades or generations.
00:16:11
Speaker
And we know that they care about issues. We've seen this across the board over the last few election cycles. But I think it's on us as brands and as you know nonpartisan organizations to help them make the connection between the issues that they care about and the actual act of voting. And not just assume that they're going to vote, not just assume that they're not going to vote. Some just don't even try.
00:16:35
Speaker
to reach youth because they're like, oh, youth are apathetic. They're not actually gonna be a stable voting bloc. And so, you know, really kind of flipping that narrative and thinking about how we can motivate them to vote is something that we have put a lot of time and energy in and finding the right partners who are great at the work that they do and helping to amplify that work as well is is part of our MO.
00:17:03
Speaker
Let's talk a little bit about Gen Z. What have you all learned about Gen Z voters and what are some of the things that these voters care about, especially as we're thinking about this upcoming election and what's on their minds?
Gen Z's Voting Motivations
00:17:13
Speaker
We do a lot of research on our audiences before we launch any kind of campaign. and so um Before we launched our Vote24 campaign earlier this spring and summer, um we were looking at what is motivating young voters right now because it may be very different to what was motivating them in 2020 or 2022 even. And what we found was that they do not want to be guilt tripped into voting with messages like,
00:17:40
Speaker
Time is running out or friends don't let friends miss an election. These are all messages that we were interested in testing and that was absolutely not what they gravitated towards what they gravitated towards was more.
00:17:54
Speaker
messages of empowerment. You have the power to shape this election. Elections can be decided by just a few votes. You can make the difference. And so really leaning into that empowerment messaging is what our Vote24 campaign and efforts across the board, both um within the the PSA work, but also within the work that we're doing on the ground with partners at community colleges. And we've really leaned into that.
00:18:19
Speaker
overall message. And then in terms of issues, you know, Harvard IOP, Circle, a number of others have looked at what issues young people care about. And so we've really leaned on those partners to better understand where they stand. And I think the biggest takeaway is that they care about everything. I mean, Gen Z is not a monolith. It depends on, of course, the community that you represent and that you're in.
00:18:47
Speaker
But, you know, I think we hear so much in the media about abortion and the environment and there's no question that these issues are top of mind. to many young people too, but so is cost of living and so is healthcare care and so is immigration. And so, you know, really not trying to pigeonhole them, but think more holistically about all the issues that we know the electorate as a whole are considering as they're casting their votes and, you know, uh, threading that through the campaign work that we do and the messaging that we put out.
00:19:23
Speaker
I breathed a really deep sigh of relief when you said that because I was like, please say the things that we're also finding in our research. Like I was trying to give you like a telegraphic, like, please say the things. That's exactly right. Like, yes, they do like they're going to rally hard against like human rights, and they're always going to rally hard for the environment.
00:19:40
Speaker
But everything that we've been looking at in our research for like the last 10 years is like these young people, and I always put this asterisk, these young people just want a stable life. They just want affordable healthcare and housing and to not wake up and be like, um is the sky falling on me financially?
00:19:55
Speaker
the and when I present that to people, they're like, that's all they want. And I was like, yeah, they do. But they're like 17. And they're saying that they're not 45 and trying to like support a family. They're coming in at 18 and being concerned about that. Like, I'm gonna be really honest, when I was 18, and I was voting, I was not concerned about the economy. I was I just wasn't. And I think that that's going to require and I think Gen Z is going to continue to challenge not only they're going to challenge people that are running. They're going to challenge candidates in new ways. I have this theory that it's also going to be ongoing policymakers that they're going to challenge. like It's not like ah your your woes with Gen Z challenging you are going to end on November 6th. It's like, okay, now who's elected? They're like, okay, I will be calling you about that legislation you said you were going to put into place. So let's think a little bit about corporate responsibility when it comes to civic engagement.
Corporate Responsibility in Civic Engagement
00:20:44
Speaker
This season has been very deeply focused on
00:20:47
Speaker
Gen Z in the workplace, because many of them like the very oldest returning 30, if you want to feel elderly, half of them are very squarely into their careers now. And so we're not solely just talking about the fresh 18 year old first time voter on a college campus or potentially in a different job, but many of them are working. So what kind of role do you think that companies and employers have in this political landscape? And what do you think companies and organizations can be doing to support voter engagement in general, but also voter engagement with this younger voting demographic. So, you know, I think what we've learned over the last few years is that Gen Z really does want to support brands that align with their values. And I think that was true of millennials too, to a degree, but it's even more pronounced now.
00:21:36
Speaker
And so brands are taking note of that. And it's something that, you know, I think that they factor in. And we also have learned, as I mentioned before, that Gen Z wants unbiased, nonpartisan information. And so I think when you have a brand that has a huge reach, has a big platform, there's a responsibility that comes with that to provide resources and information and tools to your audiences, consumers, that maybe they might not otherwise have access to. We send people, for example, to VoteVoteVote.com. That's a completely nonpartisan website that gives them a whole breakdown of who is on their ballot, what do those people stand for. And that's the kind of information that I think
00:22:23
Speaker
you know, unfortunately, is really hard to come by right now in our world. um it's It shouldn't be, but it is. You know, I think there is a desire for companies to get involved more particularly, you know, in a space that can be so partisan and so biased in the kind of messaging that you're seeing. I mean, we all give $5 to one candidate and all of a sudden we're on every list in America and getting tons of robocalls and texts and emails. And it's very easy to feel the burnout from all of that. And so I think that's really a place where brands can step in. And then as I mentioned, I think media brands have that extra level of responsibility and because of the perceptions and perspectives that we have the opportunity to shape.
00:23:13
Speaker
I think that's fantastic and I'll toss one out a few out there for any, especially like I think about like managers and supervisors, like people that you might not have a macro level control over a company and what they do. The flexibility for voting day, like one of the number one reasons that people don't vote is they don't feel like they can schedule it, right? So like if people are voting on voting day, allowing them to come in at 10 instead of nine, taking a longer lunch. When I was working in an office in a former life, like we hyped up voting day like a coworker and I would go to breakfast and like we would invite everybody to come with us and then we'd go vote and like um we got to come in a little bit later. So like there's ways that managers, small companies, small teams can still celebrate nonpartisan voting and and really just the engagement piece of it. I'm a big fan of celebrating when people do like a small thing that we need them to do. I'm also your local polling official so I'm deeply passionate and know when the polls get busy. you know, power the polls is an effort that we've also been a part of a number of other brands are a part of to try to bring in the next generation of poll workers. And so, so often people want to do that they want to step up and be part of that democratic process in this different way. But they're
00:24:25
Speaker
bosses or their jobs don't allow them to. And so giving that flexibility as well, thinking of it as another kind of jury duty where, you know, this is how our elections run and be able to bring more young people, more diverse people into that process and also have voters see people that look like them when they come into those polling sites, I think is also really, really important.
00:24:50
Speaker
I love that y'all are doing that work. Again, a personal plug for it. I do think more young people like ah your your local community at ZGU, I love seeing my neighbors. I also love being able to celebrate first time voters, but I also like it's usually me, maybe one other younger person under the age of 40 and a lot of people that are like retired or near and there's a great gap. and like I honestly love spending time with like older members of our community, learning from them. They've been in these roles for like 30 years, like do not get in the way of a woman who has been doing her job as a not polling election official for 30 years. Like that is a powerhouse in our community. um But there's so much opportunity for young people to get involved. And I do, I think employers treating it just like they do so many companies now are doing the like you get an X amount of days or hours per quarter to go volunteer.
00:25:40
Speaker
um I think that having the ability to have people file in and and and work in some of those spaces for our our local elections would be great. So I love that y'all are working in that space. um It is such an important job. I'm very excited for November 5th, mostly because I will be checking in on my friends and saying, hey, go get your medals. I love that you do that. That's awesome. it's so It's so fun. I have my voting outfit. I can't wait to wear it. OK, so I've got another one. We talked about companies. We've talked about what, really, these organizations can be doing to supporting democracy in our country.
Advice for Gen Z Voters
00:26:12
Speaker
But what advice do you have for the Gen Z voters out there um as we're navigating this upcoming election? Everyone's like, oh, this is an election unlike any other. I'm like, y'all, they all are stressful. like They're stressful every time. like The primaries are stressful. The midterm elections are stressful.
00:26:26
Speaker
what can we do for Gen Z voters and what advice do you have because you've done a significant amount of work in this space and understanding this demographic. And so if you could speak to those young voters today in navigating this election and maybe upcoming elections, what would you tell them?
00:26:40
Speaker
Well, I think don't be afraid that you don't have enough information um because we're doing a lot of focus groups right now and that is one of the things that keeps coming up is that even those who are pretty engaged in the civic world um don't feel like they can vote when they don't have all of the information at their fingertips or they haven't had the time to do that research. And many don't even know that they can leave some blank if they want. If they want to come in and just vote for some select races and not all of them, that is okay too. um But you can also go to websites like VoteVoteVote.com and try to get that information in advance and understand
00:27:26
Speaker
how those candidates fit with your values. I also think so often we hear, oh, well, I like them on XYZ, but I don't like them on this last thing. And so I'm not going to vote for them at all, or I'm not going to vote in that race. And I think, you know, knowing that not every candidate is going to be perfect.
00:27:45
Speaker
But figuring out who best aligns with the vision that you have for the world that you want to see is really important, too. And that goes for president. It also goes, and sometimes even more importantly, for those smaller local community races, because those are the people that are going to be making decisions that are probably going to impact you more immediately than some decisions that are being made at the federal level. It'll take longer to trickle down to your world, our world. Not every candidate will be perfect, but really going with your gut and doing that research if you have the time. But no matter what, going out, getting to the polls and voting for those that you do feel comfortable voting for, even if you don't have every bit of information at your fingertips. Absolutely. that That really sounds a lot like what I tell people often is when you're electing someone, you're technically hiring them for a job.
00:28:39
Speaker
yeah um And if you don't know what the job is that you're hiring them for, you're really just, do you like them enough? Do you like the way they talk? Do you like their policies? And like there's some people that throw out policies and you're like, that's not even your job. like your job The job you are running for has very little to do with policies. like Why are you telling me that? And so that's always the thing that I tell voters. You need to treat this like you're you're hiring someone for a position and you're going to be their boss.
00:29:03
Speaker
Because you technically are. As a voter, you become their boss. That would be mine. Yes, you can do all the information on how they feel about different stances, but know the job they're going to do. I did not know what a... I forgot which one I was. Every election, I learned something new about my local government and environment here in Nashville. I was like, what does the local assessor do? And I looked that up, and I was like, oh, that really does impact my life.
00:29:25
Speaker
Like why is there only one person running? And so it is, it's important to also like not to give everyone more homework. You got to look up what these people's jobs are before we can say, are they a good fit for this job? totally I learned recently that I think it's like 60% of races go uncontested in the United States.
00:29:42
Speaker
So think about that too, and all of these positions that when you really look at them, you could probably do that job. um You know, there's an opportunity there for you or your neighbor or your friend um to put their hat in the ring as well. um And I think so often we think of these positions as being so far away, so, you know, um removed from our skill sets or our, you know, day to day. But that isn't necessarily true. Depends on what the role is. And so I totally agree with you. And again, shout out to our local elections, our state elections. I feel like that's the biggest learning thing that I've had in the last four years, where I have learned really the impact. I knew it before, but like I've felt the impact of local government much more. I live in Nashville, so we
00:30:29
Speaker
have seen a lot of conversation around our state government especially when it comes to gun control measures and gun safety and school violence and we had a really horrific mass shooting out of school and that really stirred up a lot of people around the collection to pay attention to our state politicians and just pay attention.
00:30:46
Speaker
to our city councilors and to pay attention to really the people that are public servants in our local communities and how they impact our lives so much more. And so yeah, look up the job descriptions of the people that you are hiring for these jobs. And you're absolutely right on there. Some positions are like, could I do that? Like, is that someone and it's really cool. I've started to see some friends be elected city council people in different cities. And I'm like, yeah, you could do that. You'd be amazing at it. um Or young people. And I think that our government has to reflect the people that are in it right and that are in our communities and so I'm excited to see how Gen Z navigates and I know that they're kind of they're on their way to to to sitting in some of those positions but I don't let anyone escape this show I don't say it like that like it's an escape room but you can't leave without like this one question um you you have spent a lot of time understanding Gen Z and so I would love your perspective on this what's your favorite thing about this generation?
00:31:40
Speaker
It's a great question. um And obviously, I mean, we've talked about this and I think you do such a good job, Megan, of showing the nuance within Gen Z because it isn't a monolith. But overall, I'd say in you know the the trends I've seen and the people that I get to work with, they lead with their values. They really wear their values on their sleeves.
00:32:01
Speaker
And I think that's true in their day-to-day life, how they approach work, how they approach, you know, work-life balance, all of that, but also how they think about their role in the broader world. And I think that's very admirable. And I hope that many Gen Zers, this year and years to come, we'll think of voting as an action that is worth taking as part of that value-driven culture that I think they abide by and definitely in some ways teach older generations to abide by as well. Absolutely. I think this is a generation that they have
00:32:41
Speaker
they've been told to be who you are and like be who you are loudly. And we're starting to see that manifest in the way they are living their lives and progressing through adulthood and and requiring other people to live by integrity. It's wild. like it's It's wild when you tell a group of people to be who you are and to be authentically true to yourself. And then we expect them to like not call everybody else on their BS when we're not living by our values, we're not living to be who we are, and we're not being people of integrity. So I will say, Gen Z will call you on your nonsense. yeah And i do I do appreciate that about them because they're keeping everyone in line. They're keeping everybody in line. That's all.
00:33:20
Speaker
Well, Vaughn, this has been a fantastic conversation. I could sit and talk about civic engagement for 100 hours. Nobody really wants that, though. However, I know that listeners are probably quite interested in ways that they can follow along with your work, with MTV's work, and some of the resources that you share. I'm going to try to capture everything and get it in the show notes, but what are some primary ones that you would direct people to who might want to stay up to date with some of the great stuff y'all are doing?
00:33:45
Speaker
Yes, so votevotevote.com. um I think I might have mentioned is our main voter hub. um So you can go there to get information about your ballot, about where your early voting site is, etc, etc. Vote Early Day is coming up on October 29.
00:34:02
Speaker
So if you have a chance to vote early, that might be a great day to do that. There'll be a lot of celebrations happening across the country. And for our community college efforts, if you're looking to learn any more there, we have a big concert that we are putting together in Austin at Austin Community College on October 24th. And so that there will be some tickets that are available to the public. So you can go to communitycollegeconcert.org to learn more about that if you happen to be in Austin on October 24th. It's great to hear all the wonderful work the ill are doing and really getting into the community and the places where we know Gen Z are. Levon, this has been fantastic. Had such a great time. Thank you again for everything you shared. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
00:34:53
Speaker
Another thank you to Vaughn for joining this discussion and sharing such important insights about voter engagement. I really could have sat and talked with Vaughn for hours about this because honestly, regardless of your party preference, there's so much we can take away from that conversation. First, engaging young voters who are squarely Gen Z in this election is key to ensuring their voices are heard. The decisions of this election and every election, even our state and local elections, has an impact on our daily lives.
00:35:18
Speaker
Second, companies and organizations should recognize that Gen Z is motivated to make decisions that align with their values, not just around election time, but when they're determining where they want to work and how they want to invest their money. As a socially minded generation, they care about a company's stance on certain issues,
00:35:34
Speaker
and they make note of companies that are encouraging employees to be civically engaged and socially involved. In nonpartisan ways, employers can prioritize encouraging their employees to take time to vote and by celebrating those who vote on election day and engage in early voting. And finally, for Gen Zers for navigating the political landscape, it's okay to not know everything and to feel a little bit overwhelmed by all the information.
00:35:58
Speaker
There's a lot to consume about candidates and policies when it comes to preparing to vote, but there are many great resources out there that can help you voters gather information and prepare for the time at the polls. Also, as you're preparing to vote, be sure to read up on the general description of what each position is responsible for. Thinking of electing a candidate is a lot like hiring someone for a job.
00:36:20
Speaker
They might not be 100% perfect, but can they do the job in question effectively and in a way that would make us proud? We covered a lot of great information heading into the election, but if you want to know more, follow along with the great work MTV is doing related to voting and preparing for the election by visiting VoteVoteVote.com. And thank you for tuning into this episode.
00:36:41
Speaker
It's always a great day when you get to hang out like this. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribing is the best way to make sure you don't miss any more episodes when they become available. But if you want to take it a step further, be sure to send this over to a friend, a colleague, a family member, anyone that you think might benefit from learning a little bit more about Gen Z. And speaking about new episodes, if you have a suggestion for a topic or a guest I need to talk to, there's a pitch form on my website.
00:37:09
Speaker
I love hearing from listeners about what they want to learn about. So head over to meganmgrace.com slash podcast and let me know. This episode was edited by Leah Kramer. The GenZer behind the scenes bring in this podcast to life. Thanks Leah, we couldn't do it without you. And thank you again for stopping by. Let's continue this conversation. We'll chat soon.