The millennial and Gen Z vote in the presidential election remains closely contested, with Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump by a single percentage point in a new poll released Tuesday.
The survey of prospective voters ages 18-40 conducted through the GenForward project at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics found that 38% said they would vote for Ms. Harris versus 37% for Mr. Trump.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garnered 11% support, while 13% of the 2,121 younger generation voters surveyed chose someone other than the three leading candidates and 1% declined to answer.
Breaking up results by generation, Mr. Trump had a 2-point advantage among Gen Z voters ages 18-26, while Ms. Harris led by the same margin among millennial voters ages 27-40.
The poll was conducted July 22 through Aug. 5, in the immediate two weeks after President Biden exited the race and endorsed Ms. Harris. More than half of those surveyed, 53%, said they disapproved of Mr. Biden — compared with 37% who didn’t like Ms. Harris and 45% against Mr. Trump — and 80% said they agreed with the president’s decision to drop out.
The top two issues most important to young voters in the election, inflation and economic growth, track with concerns shared in polls of the broader electorate. Immigration and threat to democracy were tied for the next most important issues but lagged behind the economy.
Notably, more than a quarter of those surveyed said they weren’t committed to voting in the presidential contest, showing the candidates still have work to do to drive young voters to the polls.
Despite the overall results of the youth poll showing a tight race between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump, each had significant advantages among certain constituencies.
Black voters strongly favored Ms. Harris, with 57% backing her compared with 19% for Mr. Trump. She had a 24-point advantage among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and a 2-point lead among Latino voters, while White voters favored Mr. Trump by 12 points.
Ms. Harris had a 16-point lead among young female voters, while Mr. Trump had a 14-point advantage among young men.
Among the 420 surveyed who identified as independent, 31% said they would support Mr. Trump, 20% Ms. Harris and 18% Mr. Kennedy.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.