Vice President Kamala Harris' path to becoming the official Democratic nominee is rapidly clearing. But while her road to the White House may not be so clear, she seems to already be gaining the support of young voters, a key demographic to deciding who the next president of the U.S. will be, according to a new study.
The survey was carried out by Axios and the Generation Lab between July 22-24, the immediate 72 hours following President Biden's announcement to end his reelection bid. The poll had a sample of over 800 nationally representative 19-34 year-olds.
Over the past few months, several studies showed young voters' discontent over a second Biden term was increasing the group's support of former President Donald Trump. But as the landscape of the 2024 elections quickly changes, Harris seems to be gaining momentum and extending the gap, possibly holding the group that has voted blue for decades.
The survey asked candidates who they'd support in a potential Biden-Trump and Harris-Trump matchups.
In a Biden-Trump race, 53% of respondents said if the elections were to be held now, they would vote for Biden, while 47% said they would vote for Trump.
Conversely, in the days following Biden's historic announcement, 60% of respondents said they would vote for Harris, compared to 40% who said they would cast their ballots for Trump.
But the actual race is not the only place the Democratic Vice President is widening the gap, so is in overall favorability rates.
When asked about overall impressions, 45% of respondents said they had an extremely or somewhat favorable impression of Harris. Meanwhile, 33% and 34% said the same of Biden and Trump respectively.
Now, as Harris becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee, many questions loom large, one of them being who she will pick as her running mate.
"Kamala has the opportunity to be expansive in her thinking, not regressive." Mike Madrid, former GOP strategist told the Latin Times in a recent interview. "And that's the way I think she should be thinking about it.
The Axios poll shows that while most respondents seem to be unsure about who her VP pick will be, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro emerge as very early favorites.
For Madrid, while these are all strong candidates, one name being thrown around emerges as his top contender— Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
As immigration continues to be a major issue, and some of her most apparent weaknesses against the Trump campaign, Kelly's tough border policies which have fared well among the general public could be key for Democrats to own and drive their preferred narrative, Madrid says.
"I think Mark Kelly is the best choice. He is the only Democrat who has been really tough on the border and moved towards a position of kind of common sense, probably because he's in a border state," Madrid said. "And he has done very well with Latino voters as a Democrat. So if he wants to both go to where voters, latino voters and American voters are at, no one's done that better than Mark Kelly."
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