CNN political analyst Harry Enten presented another unfavorable update to Vice President Kamala Harris during a segment on Thursday.
A CNN/SSRS poll published on Wednesday indicates that Harris is ahead of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by 17 points among likely voters aged 18 to 29, and by 12 points among those aged 18 to 34. Nevertheless, Enten warned that fewer than half of this young demographic is “extremely motivated” to participate in the election, implying that a significant number may not vote on Election Day.
We’ve got Kamala Harris up by 12 points, now if we thin ourselves down a little bit, let’s go under the age of 30, what do we have? We have an even larger lead for Kamala Harris, she’s up by 17 points … But, of course, are these voters actually going to turn out and vote?” he began.
“Extremely motivated to vote in the 2024 election, look at this, overall voters [is at] 64%. For voters under the age of 40, it’s just 49%. I think the key question isn’t just who they’re going to vote for, it’s whether they’ll turn out and vote. Oftentimes, younger voters are less likely to turn out and vote, and I think this year is going to be quite similar to that,” Enten continued.
The vice president has been observed to maintain an 18-point advantage over the former president among young voters in national polls; however, this represents a decline of 10 points from Biden’s previous 28-point lead within the same demographic in September 2020.
Additionally, the data analyst emphasized results from a New York Times/Siena College poll, which indicated a notable gender disparity among young voters in the contest between Harris and Trump across six critical battleground states. Trump enjoys a 10-point lead among male voters, whereas Harris commands a substantial 38-point lead among female voters.
Currently, Trump is ahead of Harris in significant Sunbelt battleground states, including Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia, as per a New York Times/Siena College poll published on Monday. In contrast, Harris maintains a slight 2-point lead in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania; however, Trump’s previous underperformance in swing state polling during the 2016 and 2020 elections suggests he may exceed current polling expectations in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
The NYT polling indicates that Trump currently leads Harris by five points in Arizona, with a score of 50-45 percent, as well as in Georgia at 49-45 percent and North Carolina at 49-47 percent.
“The polls of these three states, taken from Sept. 17 to 21, presented further evidence that in a sharply divided nation, the presidential contest is shaping up to be one of the tightest in history,” the Times noted, citing the polling data.
