Donald Trump Beats Joe Biden Among Young Voters

President Joe Biden faces dwindling support among young voters, a crucial voting bloc for Democrats, ahead of the presidential election, according to a new poll that found former President Donald Trump winning voters younger than 30 years old.

Biden and Trump remain poised to win their presidential primaries, likely setting up a rematch between the two in November. However, recent polls have delivered potentially troubling news for Biden, showing cracks in the coalition that sent him to the White House less than four years ago.

The president is particularly facing questions about his support among young voters, who typically skew progressive, but have found themselves at odds with some of Biden's policies. Many young voters have expressed disappointment in a Biden-Trump rematch, calling for a new generation of leadership.

Some young voters have broken with Biden over his staunch support for Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas, while arguing he has not gone far enough on Generation Z's priorities such as climate change and student loan debt. Meanwhile, Biden's age, 81, has also become a key campaign issue, though the White House says he remains fit to serve. Trump, 77, has also faced questions about his age and his conservative policies may not be in line with young voters' more progressive views.

Trump beats Biden young voters
Former President Donald Trump is seen at a campaign event in Las Vegas on January 27. President Joe Biden is seen in Woodside, California, on November 15, 2023. A new Fox News poll found growing... David Becker/Getty Images and Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

However, a new poll from Fox News that was published on Sunday showed Trump leading Biden among young voters.

The poll found that 51 percent of voters younger than 30 years old plan to vote for Trump in November, while only 45 percent said they intend to support Biden. This would be a sizable shift from 2020, when Biden won a large share of young voters. The poll surveyed 1,262 registered voters from February 25 to 28 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

In 2020, 61 percent of voters younger than 30 supported Biden, while only 36 percent voted for Trump, according to an exit poll conducted by Fox News. CNN's exit poll similarly found that 60 percent of voters in that age group backed Biden, while 36 percent backed Trump.

Michael Tyler, Biden-Harris 2024 communications director, previously told Newsweek that polling has been "at odds with how Americans vote" and "consistently overestimates Donald Trump while underestimating President Biden."

"Whether it's in special elections or in the presidential primaries, actual voter behavior tells us a lot more than any poll does and it tells a very clear story: Joe Biden and Democrats continue to outperform while Donald Trump and the party he leads are weak, cash-strapped, and deeply divided," Tyler said.

Trump has notably underperformed in key early-voting primary states against Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador.

Newsweek reached out to Biden and Trump's campaigns for comment via email.

Meanwhile, other polls have found similar results. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released last month found that a majority of Gen Z voters believe Trump would shake up the country for the better. Meanwhile, a new poll from The New York Times and Siena College found that 10 percent of voters who backed Biden in 2020 now plan to support Trump in November.

Biden, meanwhile, has sought to appeal to younger voters by pursuing an "aggressive" social media strategy, while also working to promote voter registration among college students.

Sunday's Fox News poll also found Biden's support slipping among Black and Hispanic voters. He won 66 percent of Black voters, while 28 percent said they would vote for Trump. Meanwhile, Hispanic voters were nearly split, with 49 percent backing Biden and 48 percent saying they plan to vote for Trump.

According to Fox News' 2020 exit polls, Biden won 91 percent of Black voters in 2020, while only 8 percent voted for Trump. Meanwhile, 63 percent of Hispanic voters supported Biden, and 35 percent voted for Trump that same year.

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About the writer


Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more

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