Donald Trump’s sinking presidential campaign has long lost key constituencies – women, blacks, Hispanics, college grads and so-called soccer moms – but now he is apparently turning off the highly motivated political group of young voters known as Millennials.
In recent days, the online message boards of Reddit, once a haven for pro-Trump tendencies, have become filled with comments from young voters – often in snarky tones – explaining why they have turned away from the bombastic billionaire.
More importantly, a new USA Today/Rock The Vote poll suggests that Trump may have permanently lost his bid to appeal to young voters and Millennial Bernie Sanders supporters.
The new poll found that among voters 18-34 years old, Clinton trounces Trump by 36 percentage points nationally (56%-20). Past Sanders supporters in that age category now back Clinton over Trump by a whopping 72%-11% gap.
In addition, it should be noted that Millennials have a disproportionate effect in swing states. The Trump campaign once had high hopes for Michigan, a big Rustbelt state which he won in the March GOP primary. But his appeal among 18-34 year olds is now a distant memory in the Great Lakes State.
In a July 30-Aug. 4 poll by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, Trump was losing in a two-way race with Clinton among Millennials by a 2-1 margin, 50%-25%, with one-fourth undecided. That compares to a March survey showdown between the two that gave Clinton a 47%-37% edge among young voters. In the latest EPIC-MRA poll, a four-way race in Michigan puts Clinton at 44%, Trump at 20%, and Johnson, Stein and undecideds all at 12% among young voters. In the overall electorate, the Democratic nominee was a comfortable 10 points ahead of the GOP candidate.
While the highly trumpeted divisions within the Democratic Party between Clinton and Sanders supporters are fading, with Trump struggling to capture 80 percent of the GOP electorate it now appears that disunity within the Republican Party is a bigger factor that Dem dysfunction heading into the general election.
The USA Today poll found that third party candidates who are making some noise are a benefit to Clinton among young adults. In a nation four-way ballot test, Clinton is at 50%, Trump at 18%, Johnson at 11% and Stein at 4%.
While Clinton’s bid to become the first female president is widely portrayed as a minimal voting factor for many Millennial women, the poll found that 70% of young voters say sexism plays some role in public hostility towards Clinton, and 39% say it is a major reason. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this issue is that 72% of young men — and 50% of young Republicans – say sexism is a factor.
In an increasingly brutal campaign environment, USA Today reports this:
… Majorities of Clinton and Trump supporters are driven by a desire to keep the other candidate out of the Oval Office. Of the quarter of Millennials who say they would not vote or do not know who they would vote for, almost two-thirds (62%) say it is because they do not like any of the candidates.
The new poll results also indicate that Millennials are highly invested in key policy issues. Those surveyed generally prioritized the economy, jobs, the minimum wage and paid leave; foreign policy, terrorism and homeland security; education, college affordability and student debt; and civil rights, mass incarceration and criminal justice reform as the most important issues for the next President of the United States. Majorities also agreed that police violence against African Americans (72%) is a key problem that the nation is currently facing.
All in all, these survey results strongly suggest that Trump will head into November with only one solid voting bloc on his side, working class white males without a college education.
Photos: CNN
