Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the press aboard Air Force Two at Philadelphia International Airport before flying to Michigan, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024.
Jacqueline Martin | Reuters
Just two weeks before Election Day, a new survey from CNBC’s Generation Lab finds that Vice President Kamala Harris has gained more ground among Americans ages 18 to 34 relative to Republicans in recent months. Donald Trump’s advantage has increased.
The latest quarterly Youth & Money survey shows Harris leading the former president by 20 points, with 60% of respondents saying they would vote for Harris in a head-to-head matchup and 40% saying they would vote for Harris trump card.
In the July Youth and Money Survey, faced with a similar question, only 46% of respondents chose Harris, while 34% said they would vote for Trump. Another 21% of people in the poll said they would vote for then-candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or another third-party option.
Kennedy officially gave up running for president on August 23, and respondents in the latest poll were not offered a third option.
Harris leads Trump by 20 percentage points in the latest polls, consistent with President Joe Biden’s eventual win among younger voters in the 2020 presidential election. Facing incumbent Trump, Biden wins voters Approximately 20 percentage points for those aged 18 to 39according to the Pew Research Center.
The latest polling results also hint at an enthusiasm gap among younger voters that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are working to close.
When the pollster asked “What do you think of the presidential candidate list?” a considerable 38% of the respondents chose “I am disappointed.” Another 41% of the survey sample said “I am neutral.” Only one-fifth of respondents chose the third option, “I’m excited,” to describe their feelings about the showdown between Harris and Trump.
On October 21, 2024, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to the media in Swannanoa, North Carolina, as he watched the cleanup efforts after Hurricane Helene devastated the area.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
There are also red flags popping up in polls from Democratic field organizers, who are conducting a massive “get out the vote” campaign to ensure Young voters turn out to vote and vote.
The Youth & Money survey found that 32% of people said they were still unsure where and how they would vote. Another 31% plan to “vote in person on Election Day.” Nearly a quarter of respondents said they would vote by mail (24%). Another 13% said they would vote early in person.
A recent NBC News survey reported that nearly half of Americans plan to vote early, either in person or by mail, with a majority of those voters expected to cast their ballots for Harris.
On these issues, young Americans selected job creation, along with the economy, taxes and trust in government as the three most important issues when voting for president. When asked to choose three from a dozen options, 53% of respondents ranked job creation in their top three, 39% ranked taxes, and trust in government. Key to 33% of respondents.
In addition, 27% of the respondents ranked immigration issues in the top three, and 26% of the respondents ranked environmental issues in the top three. Student debt is also important, ranking among the top three issues for 25% of respondents.
The survey also found that a large proportion of young voters believe that the results of the next round of elections are either very important or somewhat important.
This November, control of both the House and Senate will be up for grabs, and cities and towns across the country will be voting on thousands of local elected positions and ballot initiatives.
For the four types of races in this survey (Senate, House of Representatives, gubernatorial races, and town elections), 65% to 69% of respondents said that the election results were very or somewhat important to their districts.
Another key finding from the Youth & Money survey was how much revenue TikTok gained from other social media platforms as a source of election information for young voters.
For the first time, respondents ranked TikTok as a primary source of news about the election, along with TV news and websites. The viral video site, which now faces a possible ban in the United States, far surpassed Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) as one of the sites respondents said they went to for most of their election information.
When asked to choose “up to three” news source options, 45% chose online news sites, 39% chose TV news, and 36% listed TikTok among their three choices.
Other notable sources were conversations with friends, cited by 31% of respondents, with 28% citing Instagram.
Only 20% and 16% of respondents, respectively, ranked X and Facebook among the top three.
The CNBC Generation Lab Quarterly Youth & Money Survey interviewed 1,021 respondents and has a margin of error of 3.1%.
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