Friend,

Over the past few weeks, young people have taken to the streets, city council meetings, school board meetings, and more demanding we defend Black lives and dismantle white supremacy. According to our recent poll with Change Research, young people plan on bringing these same demands to the ballot box in November.

In our poll of persuadable young voters, aged 18-39 in battleground states, they cite systemic racism and discrimination as their number one issue. Systemic racism and discrimination impact every aspect of our society and addressing these problems are long overdue. Young people are fed up with generations of inaction and are looking for a candidate to put forth bold solutions.

We also found that Vice President Joe Biden has a lot of work to do to appeal to younger voters. If Biden and the Democratic Party want to authentically connect with the largest voting bloc in the electorate, they must recognize the driving force behind a large part of our generation—the issues that matter most to us.

Overall, 54% of young voters say their top concern about the Coronavirus is their parents’ health. Our poll also reveals that young Black and Latinx voters are significantly more concerned about economic stressors and their health respective to their white counterparts. 

Our poll also found that Black and Latinx young voters feel that voting in person is more secure than voting by mail while white voters largely see no difference - a reminder that as we work to educate young voters about voting by mail, we must also organize to keep polling sites open. Additionally, 43% of Gen Z and Millennial voters say they have not been contacted by the Democratic Party or Biden’s campaign. Notably, young voters report seeing digital ads from the Republican Party or Trump campaign at the same rate as the Democratic Party or Biden campaign. 

Read the full poll results here.

This poll is the beginning of a monthly polling series with Change Research. Stay tuned for the next iteration in this series.

To building young people’s political power,

Sarah Audelo
Executive Director