President Biden is facing a disaster with young voters, increasing fears among Democrats that they are in danger of losing a generation if he doesn’t improve his standing with Generation Z.
Biden’s approval rating has declined across the board among Democrats, but the figures with people under 30 years old is cratering.
A New York Times-Siena College poll this week found 94 percent of Democratic primary voters ages 18 to 29 saying the party should nominate someone other than Biden in 2024.
Biden, 79, has never been the candidate for younger Democrats, though they did rally to help him win the White House in 2020 as the president endorsed key progressive policy initiatives to address climate change and other issues.
Now the polls suggest they could abandon him altogether amid frustration with a lack of progress in Washington on everything from climate change to abortion rights.
“A lot of the young people that I’m talking to in particular right now are asking what the point is of having a Democratic trifecta if our rights are still being ripped away,” said Ellen Sciales, communications director at the youth climate activist group the Sunrise Movement.
“Like, what’s the point of voting? And obviously we’re pushing people to vote, but it’s going to make it so much harder for us to do our jobs,” she said.
Biden received high marks from young voters at the start of his presidency. However, a Gallup poll released in April found that Biden’s approval rating had dropped 21 percentage points among Americans belonging to Generation Z — those born between 1997 and 2004 — and 19 percentage points among millennials — those born between 1981 and 1996 — between the start of his presidency and this past March.
A big focus when it comes to Biden and young voters is the president’s age. He would be 81 at the beginning of a second term in office, should he be reelected.
Yet Biden’s job performance, not his age, is the dominant issue driving young Democrats to prefer someone different than Biden in 2024, according to the New York Times-Siena College poll.
Young Democrats in the poll were the least likely to cite Biden’s age as the main reason for wanting new blood.
“I think it’s about issues rather than age,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale.
He and other Democrats note that Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), two progressives, were popular in 2020 with many young Democratic voters.
“Remember when loving [the late Sen.] Robert Byrd when he opposed the war was hot? And Bernie obviously isn’t a spring chicken. But young people are dealing with the same overall economic issues that everyone is, but are worse for them because they don’t have savings, a home, career stability, etc.,” Vale said.
He and others argue that Biden could improve his standing among younger Americans by taking more tangible steps to protect access to abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Biden announced an executive order last week designed to protect access to abortion medication, contraception and emergency care and to shield women who travel out of state for an abortion from lawsuits.
Ashley Aylward, a research manager at the public opinion firm HIT strategies, said she conducted a focus group last week — before Biden’s executive order — during which young Democratic voters said they were looking for more tangible action on abortion.
“They’re really just searching for reasons to feel some relief that people in power are actually fighting for them,” Aylward said.
In general, Aylward observed that young Democrats are seeking more diversity in their representatives in government.
“Young voters — since we’ve been talking to them even in 2020 — they want to see people running who look like them,” she said.
The Democratic…
Read More: White House faces disaster with young voters