Staff Reports
President Joe Biden has been working hard to win over young voters with his promise of student loan forgiveness, but it seems like his efforts are falling flat. Two polls released on Thursday show that Biden is losing ground with the young voting demographic compared to his performance in the 2020 election against former President Donald Trump.
The spring 2024 Harvard Youth poll revealed that Biden is leading Trump by only an 8% margin, with 45% of adults aged 18 to 29 supporting Biden, compared to Trump’s 37%. This is a significant decline from Biden’s 23% lead over Trump in the same age group in 2020. Similarly, an Emerson College poll also shows a smaller margin of support for Biden among registered voters aged 18 to 29, with 57.9% in favor of Biden and 42.1% in favor of Trump. This is a decrease from Biden’s 31.5% lead over Trump in the same age group in April 2020.
These polls indicate a troubling trend for Biden, as his support among young voters seems to be slipping. In the 2020 election, Biden secured 60% of the vote from the 18 to 29 age group, but now he is struggling to maintain that level of support. Polling director John Della Volpe from the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics pointed out that in order to secure a comfortable victory in the Electoral College, Biden will need to win 60% of the youth vote. However, his current support is only in the mid-50s, indicating that he has a long way to go in winning over young voters.
In an effort to regain support from young voters who have been drawn to Trump, Biden has put forward a new student loan forgiveness plan, which comes with a hefty price tag of $84 billion. This plan aims to address the issue of student loan debt, a key concern for many young Americans. Additionally, Vice President Kamala Harris has been deployed to several college campuses to try to shore up support from younger voters.
Overall, Biden’s struggles with the youth vote are part of a broader trend of Trump outperforming Biden compared to four years ago, as shown by the RealClearPolitics national polling average, which has Trump leading all voters with 46% support compared to Biden’s 43%. Moreover, Trump also holds leads over Biden in most polls in crucial swing states, indicating that Biden has his work cut out for him in winning over not just young voters, but voters in general.
