Hillary Clinton’s standing among millennials has increased since the summer, a new Harvard survey has found, and their support for her presidential candidacy is more than double than that of those who back Donald Trump.
But overall, their outlook is pretty bleak.
Those are among the findings of new poll of 18- to 29-year-olds by the Harvard Institute of Politics. The survey, the latest of several over the course of the campaign, found that 49 percent of young voters backed Clinton, the Democrat, compared with 21 percent who supported Trump, the Republican, in a four-way race.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received 14 percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein got 5 percent.
Clinton’s image has improved 9 percentage points since the summer in the 18-29 age group, while Trump’s has remained the same.
But the survey also found that half of young voters are more “fearful” about the future than “hopeful.” This was true across all demographic groups, with the highest level of anxiety among whites. Under a third of white women thought they would better off financially than their parents. More than a third of white men agreed.
Politics is the reason.
“Everything seems out of control, and our politicians care more about themselves than doing the right thing for all Americans,” a poll respondent said. “We're extremely divided, and very few seem to have any interest in trying to unite us.”
Nearly 9 out of 10 young African-Americans – 85 percent – believe their race is “under attack. Seventy-two percent of Hispanics and 45 percent of whites share similar views.
The survey spoke with 2,150 respondents. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.11 percentage points.
David Goldstein: 202-383-6105, @GoldsteinDavidJ