Young voters backing Biden by 2:1 margin: poll

Young voters back Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over President Trump by a 2-to-1 margin less than two months out from Election Day, according to a new survey from the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics.

The poll, released Monday, found that 60 percent of likely voters under the age of 30 said they will back Biden in November, while 27 percent said the same for Trump. Biden also fares better with young voters than 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did at this point in the race. In a survey shortly before the election, 49 percent of young people said they supported Clinton.

Biden trailed progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) among young voters in the Democratic primary earlier this year, leading many to express skepticism about his ability to galvanize the demographic, particularly young progressive-leaning voters. 

The Harvard poll did show some positive signs for Trump 43 days out from Election Day. Forty-four percent of the president’s supporters ages 18-39 said they were enthusiastic about voting, while 30 percent of the young Biden supporters said the same. 

Overall, the poll found voter enthusiasm to be very high among young voters ahead of November, with 63 percent of respondents saying they will “definitely be voting.” At this point in 2016, 47 percent of respondents said the same. 

Millennial and Generation Z voters will make up more than a third of eligible voters in this election.

The Harvard Youth Poll was conducted between Aug. 28 and Sept. 9 among 1,206 18- to 29-year-olds. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.22 percentage points. The survey was carried out by Ipsos Public Affairs using the IPSOS Government and Academic Omnibus Panel.