Record turnout? Not for millennials — just a third say they’ll vote.

Breaking News Emails

Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

Oct. 31, 2018 / 8:32 AM GMT

By Stephanie Perry

About a third of millennials say they will definitely vote in November, according to results from a new NBC News/GenForward survey of millennials ages 18 to 34.

Thirty one percent of millennials say they will definitely vote in November, a number that has remained steady since August.

Young voters will play an important role in the midterm elections one week from now, and while the survey found that a sizable third of millennials definitely plan to vote and an additional 26 percent say they’ll probably vote, about a quarter are still uncertain about whether or not they’ll vote. Another 19 percent say they will probably or definitely not vote in the upcoming election.

Other findings from the survey indicate that millennial turnout may not be strong. Young voters are historically less likely to vote in midterm elections than presidential elections, and this year may not be an exception.

The survey finds that millennials don’t feel represented by Congress, which could be a sign of election disengagement heading into November.

Oct. 20, 201805:19

A majority of millennials overall (63 percent) do not think that Congress represents the interests of people like them well. About a third (35 percent) think Congress represents people like them well.

Even among likely millennial voters, a 66-percent majority say Congress doesn’t represent people like them well. Thirty-four percent think Congress represents the interests of people like them well.

To identify likely voters, the survey asked about respondent voting history, how often they vote, level of interest in following news about the midterms and likelihood to vote. Responses to those questions are then used to calculate a scale of a respondent’s likelihood of voting.

Among all millennials, a 31-percent plurality say the candidate quality that matters most in deciding for whom to vote is being able to bring about needed change. Among likely millennial voters, however, a 32-percent plurality say someone who shares their values is the candidate quality that matters most to their vote.

So while millennials overall want someone who can bring needed change, those who are likely to vote care more about values than change, signifying that a need for change to politics as usual may not be a motivating factor for turnout among young people.

Millennials overall also do not have a great amount of interest in following news about the upcoming midterms — 39 percent have a great deal (15 percent) or quite a bit (24 percent) of interest, 31 percent have only some interest, 15 percent have very little interest and 12 percent have no interest at all in following news about the elections.

A considerable 59 percent of all millennials say they aren’t familiar with the midterm election candidates running in their congressional district. Only 39 percent said they are familiar with the candidates in their district.

The NBC News/GenForward at the University of Chicago Survey was conducted Sept. 21-Oct. 6, 2018, among a nationally representative sample of 1,881 adults ages 18-34, recruited and administered by NORC at the University of Chicago. The overall margin of sampling error is +/-3.76 percentage points. For full results and methodology, click here.