Energized by this year's deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., younger American are registering to vote this mid-term campaign year, and Pennsylvania is leading that surge, a new report finds.

Youth voter registration in the Keystone State has surged by 16 percentage points since the February shooting, with voters aged 18-29 comprising 61.4 percent of new registrants, an analysis by the Democratic data analytics group TargetSmart concludes.

Republican President Donald Trump carried Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2018, the state plays host to critical races for the U.S. House and Senate, the Governor's Mansion and the General Assembly.

Other states with critical elections that may decide control of the U.S. Senate and House also showed large increases in youth registration, including Arizona (+8.2 point increase), Florida (+8), Virginia (+10.5), Indiana (+9.9), and New York (+10.7), the analysis found.

More from the analysis:

"This spike in voter registration activity comes on the heels of the grassroots movement to address gun violence issues.

A recent

, conducted in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., found that 64 percent of 18-29 year-olds favor common sense gun reforms.

TargetSmart's analysis reviewed voter registration data in 40 states across the country, where the official voter rolls have been updated since February 14. In each state we calculated the share of new registrants age 29 or younger in the period before the Parkland shooting to the share in the same time period after the shooting. Because states release voter file updates on varied schedules, the time period varies from state to state, but the period for analysis within each state included a symmetrical period before and after February 14."



In April, progressive billionaire Tom Steyer launched a $3.5 million effort to register young voters in Pennsylvania ahead of the 2018 mid-terms.

Steyer's super-PAC NextGen America said it planned to target 75 college campuses, which includes 15 community colleges, as it looks to flip a half-dozen Congressional seats into Democratic hands this year.

Those seats include the Bucks County-based 1st District, now held by Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick; the vacant 5th and 6th District seats formerly held, respectively by Reps. Ryan Costello and Pat Meehan; the Lehigh Valley-based 7th District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent and the central Pennsylvania based 10th District, now held by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry.

"As the largest eligible voting bloc, young people have the power to make the difference in critical races across the country, and it is clear that they are energized like never before to make their voices heard," NextGen America Executive Director Heather Hargreaves said in a statement.

"NextGen America has seen this passion firsthand, and has already registered over 11,800 young people to vote in Pennsylvania this year alone. We are organizing everyday to ensure that young voters head to the polls in November and ultimately create long-lasting political power necessary for progressive change in our country," she said.