SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The youth who watched and voted in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections are struggling to stay motivated coming into this election season.

“Talking about politicians, not a lot of them are not really fighting for women’s health rights, and it’s kind of bumming me out,” said Tyana Philips, 19, a Georgia Southern student.

“A lot of it’s beyond me, though I can’t really help it if most of the older generation ends up voting out us younger generations.”

CIRCLE, The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, found that in 2022, 38% of youth said they were too busy and forgot to register or vote.

“I’m sort of motivated to vote. It’s something that I do need to work on because I feel like it’s important for the younger generations, and I do plan on voting on this next election but I have to do my research,” said Amya Tippins, 20, a Savannah State University student.

In 2020, voter turnout was at 55% for those aged 18 to 29. CIRCLE found that in 2022, voter turnout nationally for those 18 to 29 is 23%, down 5% from 2018.

In Georgia, youth election turnout stands at 26% as of 2022.

“I am motivated, I have been since I turned 18 because it was 2020, so it was very exciting to vote on because it was such like a big thing,” said Georgia Southern student Brianna Bella, 21.

“I just really wanted to hopefully vote for someone who makes changes and so I feel like since I’ve done that, I have to keep voting to make changes.”

Thirty-two percent of youth in a CIRCLE survey said they felt like their vote didn’t matter.

“I have slight hope, just a little bit, you know. It just takes one person to make a difference, so hopefully, we’ll get that in the future,” said Tippins. “I don’t think it’s too out of reach.”