President Joe Biden has a youth problem. Weeks after the Democrat incumbent was found too senile to face federal charges for mishandling classified documents, a new survey shows Biden losing ground with younger voters.
An Axios-Generation Lab survey out Monday found Biden barely winning voters aged 18 to 24, by 52 percent to 48 percent. According to Pew Research Center, Biden carried 18- to 29-year-olds by 24 points in 2020.
“We don’t know enough yet,” Neil O’Brian, a political scientist at the University of Oregon, told Axios. “But this idea that young people are gonna keep populating into the Democratic Party? There are some question marks around that.”
A survey from The New York Times in December found Trump winning among 18- to 29-year-olds, by 49 percent to 43 percent for Biden.
The declining support among young voters comes as Biden tries to cultivate youth turnout with billions in student debt bailouts despite inflation and high interest rates pushing homeownership out of reach. Earlier this month, a CNBC survey of more than 1,000 Americans aged 18 to 34 conducted with Generation Lab found 41 percent think the economy is “poor” and 67 percent are living with family or roommates instead of their own home.
At 81, Biden is already the oldest president to ever hold office. Biden would be 82 by the time of a second inauguration. Trump, on the other hand, will be 78. The November contest will give Americans the unique opportunity to choose between two presidents who’ve already served four years in the White House.
Biden is also losing support among Latino voters. In December, a CNBC poll found Trump winning by five points this historically reliable voting bloc for Democrats.
Biden won the majority of Hispanic voters in 2020, according to Pew. First Lady Jill Biden didn’t help her husband’s case for their support two years ago when she compared Hispanics to “breakfast tacos.”
The statement provoked a condemnation from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
“We are not tacos,” the group said in a statement. “NAHJ encourages [First Lady Jill Biden] & her communications team to take time to better understand the complexities of our people & communities.”
Biden is even losing support among black voters. A Gallup poll released this month found the president’s 47-point lead “is the smallest Gallup has recorded in its polling, dating back to 1999.” Trump is on track to win nearly 1 in 5 black voters, according to Gallup.
The same Gallup poll based on interviews in 2023 found Democrats’ support among 18- to 29-year-olds at its lowest since 2005.