Harris maintains polling lead among young voters as both candidates ramp up appeals

As the race for the White House remains a toss-up, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have stepped up their courtship of a crucial voting bloc: young voters.

One last ABC News/Ipsos poll Harris led Trump by 14 points among voters under 30. That lead appears to continue with the latest data Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics released this month, which shows that Harris remains a leader among the nation’s youngest voters.

In a five-way matchup featuring third-party candidates, the Harvard poll found Harris leads Trump by 20 points among voters under 30 (53%-33%).

“As we saw in 2020, this latest edition of the Youth Poll shows that young voters are poised to form an important part of the Democratic base. In a few days we will see how both parties pay off their efforts to reach Generation Z,” said Anil Cacodcar of the Harvard Public Opinion Project. president to ABC News.

“While Harris has a big lead with young voters nationally, the race among the under-30s appears to be tighter in the battlegrounds,” Cacodar added, with the poll showing Harris only 9 points ahead of Trump among registered voters below. in these 30 critical locations (50%-41%).

With Election Day just days away, both Trump and Harris are working to appeal to all undecided voters — including younger ones. polls show a tight race for the White House. The exit polls show it Young voters voted more reliably for Democrats in 2020, but not every segment of young voters may be on the Democratic ticket this time around.

While the majority of men and women under 30 support Harris, there are certainly differences between those sides. Among the multiple candidates, according to the Harvard poll, Harris leads Trump by 30 points among young women, but only by 10 points among young men.

the last ABC News/Ipsos poll Gender differences published Sunday look similar, with Harris leading Trump by 40 points among female voters under 30 (69% to 29%).

“That compares to a non-significant Trump +5 among men that age, 49-44 percent,” the poll found.

The Trump campaign has made inroads among men in recent weeks, particularly targeting young white males. Tapping into the “manosphere,” the former president has appeared on podcasts with a predominantly younger male audience, such as “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von” and “The Joe Rogan Experience,” to name a few.

Continuing to court this demographic, Trump’s campaign and surrogates have used misogynistic language, including a now-deleted ad for Elon Musk’s America PAC that repeatedly called Harris the “C-Word,” as well as various speakers. racist and sexist comments Trump on stage before delivering his closing remarks at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Trump surrogate Nikki Haley criticized the campaign’s appeal to men, telling Fox News on Tuesday that they shouldn’t get “too masculine” with “this bromance thing” because it “limits women to the point of making them uncomfortable.”

Asked about Trump’s appeal to young men, 20-year-old Virginia Tech University student Savana McLaughlin told ABC News that she doesn’t feel the campaign is “portrayed only for men.”

Although McLaughlin has not been exposed to many of Trump’s male-oriented podcasts and comments, she acknowledged that his social media was an effective place to court young voters like himself.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes to Trump and his campaign videos, and I think they’re really cool … it captures his opinion and his values ​​and what he plans to do in office,” he said, comparing them. Harris’ TikTok videos come across as “more joke-wise.”

Some young voters also find personal appeals to work better. “Donald Trump was in Greenville, North Carolina, the last week or two … I think it was really effective,” Hunter Hogan, 22, a student at the University of North Carolina’s Wilmington, told ABC News. “When you hear someone speak in person … it really changes your mind,” he added, emphasizing how this event resonated with his younger peers.

On the other hand, Harris has been struggling to secure the male vote, which she acknowledged to Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during a stop in Kalamazoo last week as the two shared a beer.

“So everybody agrees that we have to move the earth with men,” Harris was surprised to hear a microphone say.

His campaign has tried to appeal especially to young players in recent days, among other things by launching a Fortnite Map Called Freedom Town on Monday. according to Verto Analyticsthe popular video game has nearly 400 million active accounts, and appeals mostly to males between the ages of 18-24.

Adding to its appeal to youth gamers, its running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced off in a game of Madden NFL 25 and Crazy Taxi last week streamed on Twitch.

It is unclear whether these efforts will be enough to move the needle among this crucial voting bloc.

As Harris delivered his closing remarks on the campaign trail in Washington, DC, on Tuesday evening, 21-year-old Ramiro Paz Lopez told ABC News that “men just need to listen.”

“I think Kamala and Walz are putting their message across pretty strongly, and I think men need to listen and get out of their own bubble and be willing to listen to other points of view,” he said.

In the final week before Election Day, Harris has made it a point to call early voters in the crowd, asking them to raise their hands.

“I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are voting for the first time,” he said at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday. “I love you because you are impatient for change.”

Harris has sought to win over young voters through celebrity rallies, and his recent rallies have featured pop stars such as Beyonce, Maggie Rogers and Gracie Abrams.

Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, the youngest and first Z member of Congress to campaign on Harris’ behalf, explained in a press call Friday morning that Harris will continue to “bridge the gap between coolness and conscience and go places.” of culture — concerts and different events like that — where (these) reach young people who are not concerned with politics, or who are perhaps undecided.”

Ohio Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, hosted a Gen Z town hall at High Point University in North Carolina on Thursday morning. Vance also sat down with top podcaster Joe Rogan this week.

“Much has been said about the importance of the youth vote and its impact on the outcome of the 2024 election,” Trump’s campaign said in a press release, pointing to polling data showing growing support among young men for the Republican ticket.