Young voters strongly prefer Harris to Trump: Survey

A new report from a left-leaning think tank shows that Generation Z and millennial voters favor Vice President Harris more than former President Trump in the upcoming election.

The report, published Tuesday by Data For Progress, highlights the preferences of the younger voting pool. Previous reports from the group found that undecided swing voters are disproportionately young.

In a direct comparison, 58 percent of young voters prefer Harris while 39 percent prefer Trump, per the polling. However, within that lead, there is a large gender disparity, with 67 percent of female voters preferring Harris and only 48 percent of male voters saying the same.

Danielle Deiseroth, the executive director of Data For Progress, said this isn’t a particularly surprising finding, especially since abortion is a top issue for young voters.

The survey revealed that 13 percent of voters said abortion was the most important issue when deciding which candidate to vote for, second to the economy, jobs and inflation, which 32 percent marked as their most important issue.

When asked which candidate they trust more to handle a specific issue, 64 percent of voters said they trusted Harris on matters of abortion, whereas only 28 percent placed the same faith in the former president.

Deiseroth said the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision from 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade is still “weighing very heavily” on younger voters' minds. In fact, 43 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters identified themselves as "pro-choice."

Harris also polled more positively among young voters in all issues compared to Trump, but had a smaller lead on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Less than half of voters (45 percent) said they preferred to place their trust in Harris on the issue, and 36 percent said they preferred to trust Trump.

Even when compared to other left-leaning figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Harris’s approval rating among young voters was higher. Fifty-seven percent of young voters said they had a somewhat or very favorable opinion of the current Democratic candidate.

The survey also reported more young voters using words like “weird” and “extreme” to describe Trump (59 and 65 percent, respectively), whereas they used words like “composed” and “intelligent” to describe Harris (62 and 59 percent, respectively).

Forty-two percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters also responded that the Republican Party didn’t care much about people like them, whereas only 25 percent said the same of the Democratic Party. Twenty-three percent said neither party cared much.

The most surprising finding however, according to Deiseroth, was the enthusiasm to vote among young voters. Eighty-five percent of young voters said voting in elections is a very or somewhat effective way to create change.

A majority of young voters (56 percent) also said they had faith in the current political system, compared to 40 percent who said they didn’t.

Additionally, 53 percent of young voters said they were more enthusiastic about voting in 2024 compared to previous elections, and 81 percent said they felt excited about the candidate they plan on voting for.

“The online narratives about young people being pessimistic about the election, I don’t think are true, I think young people are fired up,” Deiseroth said. “[Harris] is creating some momentum among young people that is really inspiring and exciting."

The poll, released Tuesday, was conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3 among 773 likely voters ages 18-29 using SMS and web panel respondents. The margin of error for the survey 4 points.