Half of Gen Z voters say they’ll vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November, while one-third say they’ll vote for former President Donald Trump — a bigger difference for the Democratic nominee than other polls this year but not exactly. 2020 level for the party, according to a new survey of registered voters under 30.
results of NBC News Stay tuned Gen Z poll, Powered by SurveyMonkeyYoung voters in 2024 are grappling with new economic and cultural challenges, including concerns about rising costs and debt that prompt delays in some important life events.
Another 1 in 10 poll respondents said they would not vote in the presidential election.
Harris has the support of 60% of young voters who say they are almost certain they will vote in the presidential election. This figure corresponds to the 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds won by Joe Biden in the 2020 election against Trump. NBC News exit poll results.
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That’s a stark contrast to Biden’s results in some 2024 polls before he dropped out of the race — and the new survey, which polled 2,617 respondents online, suggests some key reasons. A total of 73% of Gen Z voters said they would support setting a maximum age limit to qualify candidates for president, while 27% said they would oppose such a limit.
Of those who said they supported an age limit for the presidency, 54% said the age limit should be below 65.
Now, in the Harris-Trump race, the gender gap among Gen Z voters is significant. The girls said they were going to vote for Harris for president by 30 points. Young people also said they favored Harris — but only by 4 points over Trump.
There is no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their enthusiasm to vote; About 55% of young men and women say they are “absolutely certain” they will vote in November.
8 in 10 Gen Z voters who identify as Democrats or Republicans say they will vote for their party’s nominee in November. Support for the two candidates is evenly split between Harris and Trump among independents, with both candidates winning about 25% of young voters.
Critically, 34% of young independents who lean neither party say they will not vote in the presidential election.
Overall, the majority of young voters who responded (88%) said they were likely to vote in the presidential election, with 55% saying they were almost certain they would.
Harris has strong support among college graduates, besting Trump by 26 points (56% to 30%) among this group. Additionally, only 5% of college graduates say they will not vote for president in November. Harris also does equally well among currently enrolled college students, leading Trump by 25 points (54% to 29%).
Support between the two candidates is 41% among young voters without a college degree who are not currently enrolled in school.
How Gen Z does politics
Three-quarters have participated in the political process in a way that is not directly related to campaigns or elections in the past year, while a quarter have not been involved in the political process at all. Among the ways Gen Z participate in the political process: following celebrities or political figures on social media (37%), signing petitions (34%), boycotting a product or company (32%), political opinions or news on social To share articles. media (31%), and unfollowing friends or family on social media (29%).
54% of Gen Z voters who said they have participated in the political process are voting for Harris, compared to 33% for Trump.
Just under 7 in 10 Gen Z voters said the country was ready to elect a female president, the poll found, with 38% saying the country was definitely ready. And 3 in 10 respondents said the country is not ready for a woman president.
Seven in 10 voters who said they were definitely ready to elect a woman president were supporting Harris, and the same share of voters who said they definitely were. not Ready to support Trump.
When it comes to candidates’ running mates, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the clear favorite among young voters. Three in 10 voters rated Harris’ choice of Walz as “excellent,” while the same share rates Trump’s Ohio Sen. JD described Vance’s selection as “weak”.
Overall, 56% of Gen Z voters felt positively about Harris’ VP pick, versus just 33% who had a sunny view of Trump’s pick. Another 20% of young voters have no opinion on either Walz or Vance.
Newly eligible voters support Harris
Voters under 30 who did not vote in the 2020 presidential election because they were not yet eligible plan to vote for Harris over Trump by 26-points (57% to 31%, respectively).
Among those who were eligible but didn’t vote in 2020, it’s a toss-up: 30% said they supported Harris and 27% Trump, well within the poll’s margin of error. Of this group, 36% say they will not vote in November.
Three-quarters of Biden 2020 voters said they would support Harris and 14% said they would vote for Trump this time. Similarly, 73% of Trump 2020 voters said they were going to vote for him again but 23% of 2020 Trump voters said they were planning to vote for Harris in November.
This was the NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z poll Powered by SurveyMonkeyA fast, intuitive feedback management platform where 20 million questions are answered every day. It was conducted online August 23-30 among a national sample of 2,617 registered voters aged 18-29. Data were weighted on the total population of 18–29 year olds for sex, race, census tract (all from the American Community Survey), and partisanship (from the Cooperative Election Study). The estimated margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Sampling error associated with subgroup results is greater.
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