Run for Something Pushes To Fix America’s Gerontocracy

At Teen Vogue, Rachel Janfaza reports that Run for Something Civics and Civic Nation tapped into younger Americans’ political disillusionment and frustration to urge the next generation of young and diverse leaders to run for office. According to National Run for Office Day, more than half of all Americans are millennials or younger, but only 6% of state legislators are 35 or younger. PRRI’s latest poll on Gen Z Americans finds that majorities of Gen Zers (58%) and millennials (54%) say the country’s problems are unsolvable until the older generation no longer holds power.

Supreme Court Sets Date for High-Stakes Abortion Pill Oral Arguments

Kierra Frazier and Alice Miranda Ollstein at POLITICO report that the Supreme Court will hear a highly-anticipated case on access to mifepristone this March. The case seeks to disrupt recent FDA policy expansions to the drug and could shrink the window to use mifepristone from ten to seven weeks and require an in-person doctor’s visit. PRRI research finds that 72% of Americans oppose laws that make it illegal to use or receive through the mail FDA-approved drugs for a medical abortion.

Changes in the Demographic Makeup of Immigrants Arriving at the U.S. Southern Border

In a new Spotlight Analysis, PRRI Public Fellow Veronica Montes, Ph.D., examines changes in migration patterns at the Southern border. Montes explains how the profile of immigrants has evolved, with the largest demographic group crossing the border now being family groups. Additionally, migrants come to the U.S.-Mexico border from a much wider variety of countries than in previous decades. Though 59% of Americans oppose passing a law that prevents refugees from entering the U.S., when it comes to this new profile of migrants at the Southern border, PRRI data finds Americans are divided, with 48% opposing a law preventing asylum seekers from coming to the U.S. without seeking protection in another country.

The Catholic Church Needs To Play a Positive Role in This Year’s Election

At Religion News Service, Fr. Thomas Reese writes that ahead of the 2024 election, the Catholic partisan divide is a challenge and an opportunity for the U.S. Catholic community. Catholics are a sizeable percentage of the U.S. population, at 21.4% of the U.S. population (including 12.6% white Catholics and 8.6% Hispanic Catholics), according to the PRRI Census of AmericanReligion. Historically, Catholic voting patterns have been diverse, shifting between Democratic and Republican, however, ahead of this year’s election Reese urges Catholics to consider the moral obligation to support human rights, seek the common good, and protect the planet.