Voting? Gen Zzz is not interested.
Many young Americans are not enthusiastic about voting in the 2024 presidential election, and more than half of them said they would seriously consider voting for a third-party candidate — a warning sign for President Biden and Democrats who are counting on the youth vote to win national races, a poll just discovered.
Biden leads the generic Republican candidate 44% to 32% among 1,568 registered and likely voters aged 18 to 34 with about a quarter undecided, according to a poll released Thursday by Catholic University’s Sine Institute for Policy and Politics.
But only 50% of young Americans said they were very or very motivated to vote while the other 50% said they were only a little or less motivated or not at all motivated to vote, the survey said.
In another alarm bell for incumbent Biden and the GOP, 53% of respondents said they would seriously consider voting for a third-party candidate compared to 47% who said they would not.
Almost half — 45% of respondents — said the outcome of the presidential race would not make a big difference in their lives, while 55% said it would.
Sixty percent of young Americans who describe themselves as “independent” say they would seriously look at voting for a third candidate over incumbent Biden or the GOP candidate for the White House.
Biden leads the Republican primary 44% to 32% among 1,568 registered and likely voters ages 18 to 34. Al Drago/POOL via CNP/startraksphoto.com
Both Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama especially galvanized young voters to win two terms to the White House.
The Real Clear Politics polling average shows a heat between former President Donald Trump, who is leading in the Republican primary, and Biden in the general election. Trump, who faces four separate criminal charges, actually leads Biden by a whisker, 44.8% to 44.4%.
“It’s a warning sign for Democrats. If young voters don’t turn out, Democrats lose the election,” said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign. “Democrats need African-Americans and young voters to turn out in big numbers.”
The results show that young Americans aren’t excited about candidates from either major political party as evidence of their willingness to vote for alternatives, Sheinkopf said.
Former Democratic Rep. Max Rose agreed, saying, “The youth vote is incredibly important for Democrats. The Democrats should not take any vote for granted – as they have been guilty of in the past.”
Half of young Americans say they are not excited to vote in 2024. UPI
The poll said the findings show campaigns and advocacy groups have their work cut out for the youth vote.
“While a majority of young Americans say the election results will make a big difference in their own lives, a significant plurality say it won’t; this is a remarkable departure from the assessment of many pundits and pundits who described the 2024 election as historically significant and consequential,” the Sine Institute said in a summary of its findings.
“Young Americans are taking a wait-and-see approach; President Biden enjoys core support in this early stage, but one in four young Americans say they don’t know how they will vote. The dissatisfaction young Americans feel with the current state of politics is evident in their willingness to consider third-party candidates; the majority said they would think about it.”
The pollster added, “Turnout among this cohort has always been a key factor in assessing the electoral landscape and at this point, only half of young Americans say they are very motivated to vote to elect the next president.”
In many respects, young Americans say they are optimistic about the future, with 62% of respondents saying they will be better off than their parents, while 38% say they will be worse off or the same. Many say they will be healthier, more financially secure and face less discrimination than their parents.
But young respondents were split when asked about “a functioning government that represents all” compared to their parents.
“In particular, young Americans also identify our current political structure and political climate as an obstacle to their efforts to achieve their goals; in fact, “having a functioning government that represents all Americans is the only one of more than a dozen traits in which young Americans do not expect to be better than their parents’ generation,” the poll’s analysis said.
Designed by the Sine Institute in collaboration with the Millennium Action Project and the Close UpFoundation, the survey of 1,568 Americans aged 18 to 34 is based on interviews conducted by Generation Lab between July 21 and August 11. Generation Lab is a data intelligence company that collects and interprets the views and behaviors of young adults.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
