I couldn’t agree more. Besides presidential election turnout directly impacting downballot success, the attendance for midterm elections is abysmal. The highest turnout group is consistently retirees, who are all at the conservative “got mine, screw you” point in their lives.
With that being said, we do an embarrassingly poor job of educating the youth on the function of our government. Most can’t name the three branches, let alone tell you what they do, or articulate the difference in Federal vs. state oversight. They just blame the president for repealing abortion rights, keeping marijuana a criminal offense, high gas prices, expensive fast food, and unacceptable behavior of local police. None of which are under the oversight of POTUS, and most of which could be affected by actively participating in voting in local, state, and congressional elections.