Exactly two weeks before Election Day, a new CNBC Generation Lab survey finds that Vice President Kamala Harris has grown her advantage in recent months over Republican Donald Trump among Americans between the ages of 18 and 34.
The latest quarterly Youth & Money Survey shows Harris with a 20 percentage point lead over the former president, with 60% of respondents saying they would vote for Harris in a head-to-head matchup, and 40% saying they would cast a ballot for Trump.
Faced with a similar question in July’s Youth & Money Survey, only 46% of respondents selected Harris, while 34% said they would be voting for Trump. Another 21% in that poll said they would vote for then-candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or another third party option.
Kennedy formally dropped his bid for president on Aug. 23, and respondents in the latest poll were not offered a third option.
Harris’ 20 point lead over Trump in the latest poll is in line with the margin by which President Joe Biden ultimately won younger voters in his 2020 presidential election victory. Facing an incumbent Trump, Biden won voters age 18 to 39 years old by roughly 20 points, according to Pew Research Center data.
The latest poll results also hint at an enthusiasm gap among young voters, which Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are working hard to close.
When pollsters asked the question, “How do you feel about the slate of Presidential candidates,” a sizable 38% of the respondents chose, “I am disappointed.” Another 41% of the survey sample reported being “I am neutral.” Only one-fifth of those polled chose the third option, “I am excited,” to describe their feelings about the Harris-Trump match-up.
