Democratic Party losing support of young voters, says massive new poll

A massive poll of young voters has some inconvenient news for Democrats.

“Enthusiasm for the Democratic Party is waning among millennials as its candidates head into the crucial midterm congressional elections,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey of some 11,000 voters ages 18-34 conducted during the first three months of the year.

“Their support for Democrats over Republicans for Congress slipped by about 9 percentage points over the past two years, to 46 percent overall. And they increasingly say the Republican Party is a better steward of the economy,” the poll analysis said.

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And while two-thirds of the respondents are not especially fond of President Trump, they also said this distaste does not extend to all Republicans, or translate into automatic votes for Democratic candidates in the midterm elections.

“That presents a potential problem for Democrats who have come to count on millennials as a core constituency — and will need all the loyalty they can get to achieve a net gain of 23 seats to capture control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November,” the analysis said.

The findings also suggested millennials were open to third-party candidates — or sitting out the election and not voting at all. The poll also found a notable shift in a certain demographic.

“Two years ago, young white people favored Democrats over Republicans for Congress by a margin of 47 to 33 percent; that gap vanished by this year, with 39 percent supporting each party,” the analysis said. “The shift was especially dramatic among young white men, who two years ago favored Democrats but now say they favor Republicans over Democrats by a margin of 46 to 37 percent.

“The Democratic National Committee declined to comment on the Reuters poll. Republican National Committee spokeswoman Cassie Smedile said the poll indicates that young voters ‘like what they’ve seen’ from the party in power,’” the analysis said.