Number of youth voters ‘definitely’ voting jumps to 77 percent: poll

The number of youth voters in battleground states who said they “definitely” plan to vote in the November elections jumped to 77 percent in August, according to a new poll released by the progressive group NextGen America. 

Seventy-seven percent of registered voters aged 18 to 35 across 13 battleground states said they “definitely will vote” in the upcoming elections, according to results of an August survey exclusively shared with The Hill. 

It’s a 7-point increase since July, when a similar poll found just 70 percent of registered youth voters across the battleground states said they will “definitely vote.”

“Young people were already more fired up to vote in the election than four years ago, or even eight years ago, but we’re reaching into heights never before seen with how motivated and likely these young people are to vote this November,” NextGen America Executive Director Ben Wessel told The Hill. 

The increase from July’s survey was largely driven by voters who are backing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The August poll found 83 percent of Biden voters said they “definitely”’ will vote in November, a 7-point increase from July. Among surveyed youth voters backing President Trump, there was just a 2-point uptick from 73 percent to 75 percent, based on the poll. 

Asked to rate their level of motivation to vote in November on a scale of 1 to 10, the majority of surveyed youth voters, 54 percent, said “10,” which is 4 points higher than July when 50 percent said the same. Biden voters also were more likely to rate their motivation at a 10, with 59 percent of the Democrat’s supporters rating a 10 compared to just 51 percent of Trump’s supporters, based on the poll. 

Overall, Biden leads Trump by 27 points in the poll of youth voters across the battleground states, at 56 percent support compared to Trump’s 29 percent. 

“If young people are fired up to vote in these 13 states it’s game over for Donald Trump and game over for the Republican-held Senate, as well,” Wessel said. 

Fifty-six percent of the voters said they would vote for a Democratic Senate candidate, a 6-point increase from July, and just 28 percent said they would vote for a Republican, a 2-point decrease from July, based on the poll. 

The poll surveyed youth voters across Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. 

The poll was conducted by Global Strategy Group. Results are based on 1,000 interviews conducted Aug. 19-26. There is a confidence interval of 3.1 percentage points.