Kamala Harris has put herself way ahead of Donald Trump in a new poll looking at support among America’s youngest voters aged 18 to 34.
Respondents representing Gen Z voters and young millennials were asked who they would vote for if Harris faced off against Trump: 60 percent voted for the vice president and just 40 percent chose Trump.
When asked the same question about Biden becoming the Democratic nominee, young voters’ support for Trump rose to 47 percent, while only 53 percent supported a second term for the current president.
The Axios/Generation Lab poll was conducted from July 22-24, shortly after President Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and formally endorsed Harris on July 21.
Since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, Harris has gained popularity on social media, become the face of various memes, garnered an endorsement from singer Charli XCX and joined TikTok, gaining more than 1 million followers just hours after posting her first video.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building inside the White House in Washington, July 25, 2024. Harris has inched up in the polls in the latest polls, surpassing Joe Biden’s polling record and putting the Democrat at 46% support in one poll. See more Julia Nickinson/AP
The poll also asked respondents about their favorability ratings of Harris, Biden and Trump, and Harris again came out on top, with 45% of respondents rating her “somewhat favorably” or “very favorably,” compared with 33% for Biden and 34% for Trump. Trump was also given the highest percentage of ratings, with 42%, rating him “very unfavorably.”
The poll also asked young voters who they think Harris should choose as her running mate, and the most common response (38%) was “unsure,” but among those who had an opinion, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came out on top with 14%, closely followed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Since Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, the vice president has been focusing his efforts on campaigning to win the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump in the November election, and has reportedly garnered more than enough support from Democratic delegates to run.
Polls have repeatedly shown support for Harris. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this week showed her with 44% approval to Trump’s 42%. A separate Morning Consult poll showed Harris with 46% approval, 1% ahead of Trump, her highest approval rating for a Democrat since surveys began in 2022.
As the latest polls show Biden’s campaign slowly gaining ground, so does speculation about her potential running mate. Josh Shapiro was the front-runner according to a Public Policy poll before Biden dropped out of the race. Since then, betting platform PolyMarket has shown that Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly has become the most popular candidate.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, seeking common ground and finding connections.
