Half of Gen Z voters support Harris — and one-third back Trump, poll says

Half of Gen Z voters said they would vote for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in November, while one-third said they would vote for Republican nominee former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

The group, which includes the youngest eligible voters, tends to skew Democratic, and the findings from the new NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z poll are consistent with that — although they show slightly less support for the Democratic candidate than in the 2020 presidential election.

In the sample poll of roughly 2,600 registered voters aged 18 to 29, 50 percent said they would vote for Harris, 34 percent said Trump, 10 percent said they would not vote, and six percent said they would vote for a different candidate.

In 2020, roughly 60 percent of Gen Z voters cast their ballot for President Joe Biden. Those young voters helped Democrats win the White House thanks to a record turnout.

Both parties are hoping for similar voter turnout and enthusiasm in this presidential election. Though Gen Z is not the largest voting bloc, they have proven to be a powerful one.

Democrats, especially, are hopeful that having a younger candidate on their ticket will encourage young voters to get out and vote. Before Biden dropped out of the race, only a third of young Americans said they would back him, according to a GenFoward Survey from May.

Gen Z voters care most about inflation/the cost of living and threats to democracy — a slight deviation from national polling which indicates the general population cares most about the economy and immigration.

Other issues like abortion, access to health care and the Israel-Hamas war topped the list of concerns for Gen Z. More than half of survey respondents said the U.S. was moving in the wrong direction.

Unlike older generations, Gen Z tends to be more politically active — especially online. More than a third said they’ve unfollowed someone, shared political opinions or news articles on social media or signed a petition over the internet.

Growing up on the internet, with fake news, AI and a seemingly endless stream of marketing ploys, has seemingly pushed young voters to crave authenticity.

That desire impacts how Gen Z votes and what they think of candidates. It also makes them less likely to align themselves with a specific political party.

Only 12 percent of respondents said they would consider themselves “very conservative,” and 15 percent said they considered themselves “very liberal.” Approximately one-third said they were “moderate.”

When asked how they ranked both candidate’s choices of vice president, 31 percent of respondents said Trump’s choice of JD Vance was “poor” while 31 percent said Harris’s choice of Walz was “excellent.”

The NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z poll was conducted online from August 23 to August 30, 2024. The estimated margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.