Turnout among young voters expected to match, possibly exceed midterm record: survey

Turnout among young voters in next month’s midterm elections is expected to match or possibly exceed the record set in 2018, the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School said after conducting its latest survey. 

The poll, published on Thursday, found that 40 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 said that they will “definitely” vote in November’s midterm elections, matching the percentage of young voters who shared the sentiment in 2018. 

Roughly 1 in 5 respondents in the new survey — 18 percent — said there is a “50-50” chance they will vote in November, and 12 percent said that they will “definitely” not be voting in the midterms. 

Pollsters found that 47 percent of white respondents said they’ll vote in next month’s elections, as did 36 percent of Black respondents and 30 percent of Hispanic respondents. 

Fifty-seven percent of young voters surveyed, meanwhile, said that they would prefer Democratic control of Congress, compared to 31 percent who said they’d prefer Republicans to have control of Congress. 

Twenty-nine percent of young voters in the survey cited inflation as the most important issue driving their votes. Protecting democracy and abortion each were selected by 16 percent of respondents, and 14 percent listed climate change. 

Additionally, 73 percent of young respondents said that they believed the rights of other Americans are under attack, while 6 percent of respondents disagreed with the sentiment. Fifty-nine percent of young respondents in the survey also believed that their rights are under attack in this country, compared to 15 percent of those surveyed who think otherwise. 

Pollsters also found that President Biden’s job approval slipped 2 percentage points from a spring survey to 39 percent. His job approval was 20 points higher in the spring of 2021, they noted.

The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School poll was conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 18 with a total of 2,123 respondents. The poll’s margin of error was 2.91 percentage points.