Harris support among young voters higher than Biden’s: Survey

Vice President Harris’s lead over former President Trump is 12 points higher than President Biden’s was in July, according to a poll released Thursday of young adults in several key battleground states.  

A U.S. News/Generation Lab survey, conducted Aug. 25 to Sept. 3, shows Harris leading Trump by 30 points, 65 percent to 35 percent, among adults ages 18-34 in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio.

That’s a significant widening of Biden’s 18-point lead over Trump in the July survey, which was conducted after the first presidential debate. Then, Biden led Trump, 59 percent to 41 percent, among the same demographic.

“Our poll shows that younger Americans are with Vice President Harris and [Minnesota] Governor [Tim] Walz in several of the swing states that will tip the balance of power – and many intend to voice their support at the voting booth in November,” Dafna Linzer, editorial director and executive vice president at U.S. News, said in a press release.

“While the national polls show a tight race that either candidate could win, support is clearly growing for the Democratic ticket among this key voting bloc,” Linzer continued.

Harris’s support among young voters is strongest in Michigan (71 percent), Pennsylvania (70 percent) and Nevada (66 percent). Her support is lower among young adults in Georgia (63 percent), Ohio (62 percent), Wisconsin (62 percent) and Arizona (61 percent).

Harris also leads among young women (70 percent) and, by a smaller margin, among young men (60 percent).

She has support from 94 percent of young Democrats, while Trump has support from 86 percent of young Republicans. Independents break toward Harris, 70 percent to Trump’s 30 percent.

“Harris’ youth lead was already stronger than Biden’s when he dropped out, but now, she’s flirting with Obama-level youth vote numbers,” Generation Lab CEO Cyrus Beschloss told US News & World Report.

“The question will be how much she can defy electoral gravity, and get those supporters to actually show up,” Beschloss continued.

Voters, in the recent poll, signaled they are more committed now than they were in the July 2024 poll to supporting their preferred candidate.

Today, 70 percent of young voters in these states were either very committed (30 percent) or pretty committed (40 percent); whereas, in July, 14 percent were very committed and 37 percent were pretty committed.

A total of 30 percent said they are either minimally committed (15 percent) or uncommitted (15 percent) today, compared to 49 percent who said the same in July.

The poll was conducted online and included approximately 2,000 respondents. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points.