Harvard Youth Poll
Introduction
Ahead of tonight’s youth-focused CNN Town Hall event co-hosted by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School, the IOP released new findings from the Harvard IOP Youth Poll. For nearly twenty years, the Harvard Public Opinion Project has provided the most comprehensive look at the political opinions, voting trends, and views on public service held by young Americans.
The latest Harvard IOP Youth Poll indicates young voters between 18 and 29 years old are experiencing anxiety as much as joy, don’t think baby boomer voters or elected officials care about them, and are increasingly concerned about the moral direction of the nation.
“It is no secret that social media has exacerbated the stress and anxiety that is already so prevalent in the late-teen and early-adulthood years of young Americans. However, for the first time, we now have evidence that the state of our politics is contributing to the mental health challenges millions of young Americans already face,” said John Della Volpe, Director of Polling for the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. “To empower young voters, to persuade them to vote requires candidates willing to share and align their values with this emerging generation -- and understanding the stress inherent in our politics today is a critical first step.”
By election day 2020, the Millennial and Gen Z generations will represent more than a third of eligible voters. As indicated by the unprecedented youth turnout in the 2018 midterm election, the youth vote is likely to play a historic role in the upcoming primary and general elections. The poll finds that political engagement is heightened compared to this point in the 2016 contest.
Top findings of this survey, the 37th in a biannual series, include the following:
Key Takeaways
The youth vote -- especially young Democrats -- is poised to play an even more significant role in 2020 than in the 2016 presidential contest.
Generational conflict between young voters and Baby Boomers is brewing. By wide margins, younger Americans do not believe that the Baby Boomer generation, especially elected officials within that cohort, “care about people like them."
Protecting the environment is now central to both domestic and foreign policy agendas of young Americans.
Concern over the moral direction of the country rising since last presidential campaign.
Half of young Americans experience anxiety, and it is correlated with views related to state of our nation.
Detailed Visualization
Methodology
This poll of N=3,022 18- to 29- year-olds, organized with undergraduate students from the Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) and directed by IOP polling director John Della Volpe, was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs using the KnowledgePanel Calibration approach. In this approach, the calibrating sample was provided by the KnowledgePanel probably-based sample source, while the sample to be calibrated was provided by non-probability, opt-in web panel sample sources. Interviews were conducted between March 8 and March 20, 2019. The margin of error for the total sample is +/- 2.64 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.