Young Democratic voters are not particularly excited about the prospect of voting for Joe Biden, and who can blame them? The primary began with over 20 candidates and ended with, well, Joe Biden.Young voters tend to be more progressive and they’re getting the most Democrat establishment candidate available.Remember how excited young voters on the left were about Obama in 2008? This isn’t even close.Sahil Kapur reports at NBC News:
‘Clear warning signs’: Focus group shows lack of enthusiasm for Biden among the youngJoe Biden is in no danger of losing young voters to President Donald Trump. But he faces a lack of enthusiasm among Millennials and Gen Z voters with the potential to decide his fate if they stay home or vote for a third-party candidate.Many of these voters preferred Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and perceive Biden as a blank slate. They aren’t sure that he’s a change agent or that his policies match the scale of their problems. Some worry about his age and fitness. Most seem open to supporting Biden to stop Trump but need to hear more from him.That’s the conclusion of new focus groups that delve into the mindset of Millennial and Gen Z voters who self-identify as Democrats or independents in 11 battleground states. They were conducted in late and mid-April by the political consulting firm Global Strategy Group on behalf of NextGen America, a youth-focused progressive advocacy group.
The bad news for Biden doesn’t end there.
Summer Lin of McClatchy reports on a new poll which finds young voters want Biden replaced:
Generational divide on Biden? Many young voters want new Democratic nominee, poll saysMany millennial Democrats say former Vice President Joe Biden should be replaced as the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee after watching a clip of him denying a sexual assault allegation against him, according to a Morning Consult poll.Of Democrats 45 years and older, only 15% said he should be replaced.The Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,991 registered voters and has a two-point margin of error…Forty-five percent of all voters between 18 and 34 years of age also said they thought Reade’s allegation was true, according to a Monmouth poll.The Monmouth poll was based on 739 registered voters and conducted by telephone with 808 adults in the U.S. The results have a 3.6 percentage point margin of error.
This has been an ongoing issue for Biden. Professor Jacobson wrote back in March:
ABC/WaPo Poll: 15% of Bernie supporters will vote for Trump as Biden faces “massive enthusiasm gap” in general electionThe public perception problems for Joe Biden are growing. He’s not all there, as is obvious from his disastrous livestreams and TV interviews, and has all but disappeared during the Wuhan coronavirus crisis.A just-released ABC News / Washington Post poll (pdf.) reveals another problem, one that comes as no surprise: Democrats are not enthsiastic about Biden, even as he racks up delegates and appears headed to the nomination.Biden has only bare majority (51%) support among Democrats, and a 24% enthusiasm gap in a match up against Trump.From the ABC News poll write-up:
Former Vice President Joe Biden has emerged as Democrats’ top choice for the presidential nomination in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, but with only bare majority support within his party and a massive enthusiasm gap in a November matchup against President Donald Trump.Indeed, strong enthusiasm for Biden among his supporters – at just 24% – is the lowest on record for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years of ABC/Post polls. More than twice as many of Trump’s supporters are highly enthusiastic about supporting him, 53%.
None of this is very surprising. It’s the third time Biden has run for president. Was anyone ever excited to vote for him before now?
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