How VP Biden Can Earn Our Vote

In June, we launched a monthly polling series of young persuadable voters, aged 18-39, in battleground states ahead of the 2020 General Election. This monthly polling series surveys young voters on how they view Vice President Biden, their concerns during the Coronavirus, the issues they care about the most, if they have been contacted by campaigns, and more.

As we near Election Day, we are using these poll results to better inform our organizing work and national campaigns. We are also using these polls to remind candidates to listen and reach out to young people. The results from our poll can be found here.

With only 12 days left until Election Day, over three million young voters ages 18-29 have turned out to vote, which is higher than this time in the cycle in 2016¹. And in key battleground states, nearly two million young people have already voted. This is great news. 

We have been tracking changes in these young voters’ sentiment as it relates to voter enthusiasm, campaign contact, and issue priorities leading up to the election and we’re excited to see the energy expressed in our polls translate to the ballot box. Ahead of tonight’s final presidential debate, here are the results from our final monthly tracking poll of young persuadable voters before November.

One in five (20%) of the young voters we polled have already voted. Of those who have yet to vote, 48% are planning to vote early in-person, including 58% of Latinx voters and 51% of Black voters. Twenty-two percent will be sending in their mail or absentee ballot by Election Day. Only 18% say that they are planning to vote on Election Day. 

Young persuadable voters in battleground states are coming together in their support for the Biden-Harris ticket. In October, young voters who have a favorable opinion of Vice President Joe Biden increased by eight points bumping up the number of young voters who have a favorable view of Biden to 74%. At the same time, 75% of young voters report they have been contacted by the Biden campaign in the past month, a 7 point increase from September.

A trend that has remained constant in our monthly tracking poll is how young voters in battleground states view the coronavirus. The coronavirus pandemic remains the most important issue in the upcoming election for young Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents, with 27% choosing it as their top priority. However, for young Black and Latinx voters, the coronavirus is closely followed by ending systemic racism and overall access to healthcare respectively.

This month, we asked young persuadable voters in battleground states about the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before the election. Forty-four percent of these young voters say that if a Trump nominee is confirmed to the Supreme Court, it will make them more likely to vote for Joe Biden. Most notably, a plurality of young voters supports the idea of adding four additional justices to the Supreme Court if Joe Biden becomes president. 

Head to our website to see the full results of our final monthly tracking poll including the top issues young voters want elected officials to address around elections and democracy (spoiler alert— young people prioritize ending partisan gerrymandering and implementing fair redistricting) as well as what they want to see in the first 100 days in the case of a Democratic-controlled Senate in 2021.

It’s time to end the old trope that young people don’t vote. This generation is demanding a new narrative. Help spread the word and share our poll results on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram today. 

¹ https://circle.tufts.edu/2020-election-center 

As we head into the first Presidential Debate tonight, we will be listening for Vice President Biden to make the case to young people that he is fighting for our future. We need a candidate who does not just oppose President Trump, but has a bold vision for our country that matches our values.

According to our September poll with Civiqs, Vice President Biden has improved his appeal to young persuadable voters in battleground states where 68% reported they have a very or somewhat favorable view of Biden. Notably, this number is up by seven points from August. Sixty-eight percent of young persuadables have also been contacted by the Biden campaign in the past month, an eight point increase from August. 

While Biden is improving his appeal and increasing his outreach to young voters, he still has more work to do to mobilize young Black and Latinx voters. Twenty-one percent of Black youth under 32 and 17% of Latinx youth under 32 we polled have a very unfavorable view of Biden. In addition, 38% of young Latinx voters report not being contacted by the Biden campaign. Meanwhile, Trump is reaching nearly a third of young Latinx men with digital ads.  With nearly half of eligible Latinx voters between the ages of 18 and 35, it is integral that the Biden campaign have a strategy to engage Latinx youth.

Notably, for the third month in a row, the coronavirus is the top issue for young persuadable voters in battleground states. That is why it is no surprise that when asked what they want to hear from VP Biden during tonight’s debate, young people overwhelmingly said they want Biden to address the issue of the coronavirus.

Our poll also uncovered how concerns related to the coronavirus are changing for young voters. Persuadable young voters of color reported that the threat of losing their job is now their top concern related to the coronavirus.h. Thirty-two percent of young Black voters report losing their job as their top concern for how the coronavirus is impacting their life. This is a 12 point increase from last month. Thirty-nine percent of young Black women report losing their job, hours, and income as a top concern. We need Biden to support bold solutions for young people facing economic uncertainty during this pandemic and recession.

Finally, we found that the number of young persuadable voters planning to vote in person has increased for all demographics since August. The majority of Black and Latinx young voters plan on voting in person. This is a reminder that as we work to educate young voters about voting by mail, we must also organize to keep polling sites open and ensure they have a plan to vote early. Our new #VoteReady webpage is one way we are urging young voters to make those plans now.

With 75 days until the election, it is more important than ever that Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris prioritize young voters. 

We’ve been running a monthly polling series with Civiqs on young persuadable voters in battleground states and we just released the results from August. For the third month in a row, forty percent of young people in battleground states say they haven’t been contacted by the Biden campaign. Vice President Biden is running out of time to appeal to young voters and earn our votes.

In August, coronavirus increased in importance as the number one issue for young voters. 72% of young voters say their greatest concern for voting in person is exposure to the virus. Additionally, young voters are looking for solutions to tackling our healthcare system. 61% say that Medicare for All is the most important policy change to make healthcare affordable.

Another interesting finding  is that while the top issue priorities have changed across multiple demographics, ending systemic racism and discrimination remains the number one issue for young Black voters since we started our polling in June.

You can dive deeper into these findings on our website. Share these results on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Join us on Twitter tonight as we live tweet the final night of the Democratic National Convention and see if Vice President Biden includes the issues young people care about as part of his vision for the nation and makes clear our role in advancing change. 

The general election is in less than 100 days and Vice President Joe Biden has to do more to  earn the votes of young people in battleground states.

We just released the second round of our monthly polling series on young persuadable voters in battleground states and found that, similar to last month, a staggering 40% of young voters have not been contacted by the Biden campaign or the Democratic party.  If Joe Biden wants to mobilize young people to turn out for him in the fall, his campaign must invest in young voter outreach. This is especially alarming when Generation Z voters continue to view Joe Biden less favorably than Millennial voters and more 18-25 year-old persuadable voters have seen digital ads from President Trump or the Republican Party than from Vice President Biden or the Democratic Party. 

Not only does Biden need to reach out to the largest voting bloc in the electorate,he needs to focus on the driving force behind our generation—the issues that matter most to us. Ending systemic racism and discrimination remains a top issue, however, our latest poll found that the coronavirus has moved to the number one issue for young persuadable voters. 

This month we went deeper into the issue of ending systemic racism and discrimination in relation to policing and found that young persuadable voters believe defunding the police is the most important change for justice, especially among 18-25 year-olds. Notably, young voters selected ending private, for-profit prisons, and detention centers as the second most important change to our policing and criminal justice system.

Our latest poll found that 48% of young Black voters say they plan to vote in person this fall. This is an important reminder thatour work recruiting poll workers, raising awareness about voting early, and organizing to keep polling sites open is critical.

Over the past few weeks, young people have taken to the streets, city council meetings, school board meetings, and more demanding we defend Black lives and dismantle white supremacy. According to our recent poll with Change Research, young people plan on bringing these same demands to the ballot box in November.

In our poll of persuadable young voters, aged 18-39 in battleground states, they cite systemic racism and discrimination as their number one issue. Systemic racism and discrimination impact every aspect of our society and addressing these problems are long overdue. Young people are fed up with generations of inaction and are looking for a candidate to put forth bold solutions.

We also found that Vice President Joe Biden has a lot of work to do to appeal to younger voters. If Biden and the Democratic party want to authentically connect with the largest voting bloc in the electorate, they must recognize the driving force behind a large part of our generation—the issues that matter most to us.

Overall, 54% of young voters say their top concern about the Coronavirus is their parents’ health. Our poll also reveals that young Black and Latinx voters are significantly more concerned about economic stressors and their health respective to their white counterparts. 

Our poll also found that Black and Latinx young voters feel that voting in person is more secure than voting by mail while white voters largely see no difference – a reminder that as we work to educate young voters about voting by mail, we must also organize to keep polling sites open. Additionally, 43% of Gen Z and Millennial voters say they have not been contacted by the Democratic Party or Biden’s campaign. Notably, young voters report seeing digital ads from the Republican Party or Trump campaign at the same rate as the Democratic Party or Biden campaign. 

Read the full poll results here.