Young voters right now overwhelmingly prefer Biden: The Economist/YouGov poll

Young voters overwhelmingly say they would support President Biden over former President Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up if the 2024 presidential election were held today, according to a poll released Wednesday.

In the Economist/YouGov poll — conducted via web-based interviews Dec. 16-18 — more than half (53 percent) of registered voters under 30 said they would support Biden, and less than a quarter (24 percent) said they would support Trump.

Another 10 percent said they would support another candidate, 4 percent said they were not sure, and 9 percent said they wouldn’t vote.

Among registered voters 30–44 years old, Biden still leads but by a slimmer margin; 49 percent support Biden, and 38 percent support Trump.

The trend reverses for older age brackets. Among registered voters ages 45–64, 39 percent support Biden, and 47 percent support Trump. Among registered voters 65 and over, 36 percent support Biden, and 53 percent support Trump.

This poll departs from other polls released this week that showed Biden more popular among older Americans. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Tuesday showed Trump ahead of Biden by 6 points among registered voters under 30.

Biden and Trump are the current front-runners for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Recent polls have indicated Biden’s popularity is waning slightly as Trump’s ticks up.

According to Decision Desk HQ’s average of national polls of a hypothetical Trump/Biden match-up, 45.5 percent support Trump and 43 percent support Biden.

Biden hasn’t led Trump in Decision Desk HQ’s national polling average since Oct. 16, when Biden was up by one-tenth of a percentage point. The incumbent held a mostly consistent lead over Trump for the first several months of the year, until mid-September.  

The Economist/YouGov poll surveyed 1,336 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.