A perfect storm of issues mobilized youth to vote for change this election.

More young men and women are behind President-elect Donald Trump than four years ago. Nationally, 42% of Americans under the age of 30 shifted to support Trump in this week's election, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Over the last four years, millions of borrowers hoped for student loan forgiveness and high inflation increased the cost of living, and the price of housing and other expenses.

Leaders with the New York State Young Democrats and New York State Young Republicans said a host of issues, but especially economic concerns, pushed voters aged 18 to 30 to cast ballots to change the status quo.

"They felt unheard, or they felt like there was something that [Democrats] were saying that was propelling them to one of those different groups," New York Young Democrats chair Jovan Richards said.

Richards told Spectrum News 1 young people also blame Democrats for "funding genocide" in the Israel-Hamas War, and decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Some also don't understand that Democrats were the party who created the stimulus checks for American people," he added. "Trump just signed them and put his name on it. Folks forget that far too often."

And most members of Generation Z, or people aged 27 and younger, could not vote in 2016, and don't remember Trump's first administration.

"I think Gen Z is going to quickly find out and quickly remember about what they despise about a Trump presidency," Richards said.

He said New York Young Democrats conducted internal polling that shows most New York youth turned out for Vice President Kamala Harris, but it was nearly impossible for young people to separate her from their dislike of President Joe Biden and concerns about his age.

The state Board of Elections does not have state-level voter data broken down by age.

Peter Giunta, the New York State Young Republicans chair, said young voters in the state are more politically involved than ever, but have also grown increasingly more independent — or do not identify with either major political party.

"They have been independent voters since they could start voting a few years ago and they paid very close attention to the plans that the candidates were putting out there," Giunta said.

Giunta said the GOP group has gained more members in New York City this year than other parts of the state. 

But Democrats flipped three House seats in the state this election — victories Democrats attribute to a high turnout of young voters in college centers of competitive districts like the 19th, or pockets like Binghamton and Ithaca.

Richards said college students in those competitive districts gave Democrats an edge at the local level.

"Young people understood that if their congressman supports abortion, if their congressman supports women's reproductive rights, if their congressman supports smart gun safety, chances are, those policies can make their way to Washington," he said.

Richards and Giunta agreed the election has energized both groups to expand their presence at the local level and to set goals to be in every county across the state in the next two years before the midterms and the state's next gubernatorial election in 2026. 

"Young people are finally starting to realize ... 'things could be different if we're involved in the process,'" Giunta said. "We will continue over the next couple of years to build that bench of young Republican leaders who are really going to offer New Yorkers in every corner of the state, even in the blue parts right now, something different than what they've had for the past couple of years, or even in some cases, for the past couple of decades."