Donald Trump is doing historically badly with young voters

Donald Trump is on track to lose younger voters in record numbers, a new poll shows.

(Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

published 15 August 2016

Donald Trump is on track to lose young voters in numbers never before seen in modern American history, a USA Today/Rock the Vote poll has found. Millennials have apparently rallied around Hillary Clinton, despite Trump's boasts that Bernie Sanders' supporters would come to his side after the Vermont senator's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination.

The USA Today poll shows Clinton defeating Trump 56 percent to 20 percent with voters under 35 — a significant number, as millennials now outnumber Baby Boomers. Assuming Democrats win young voters by double-digit numbers this fall, it will be the first time a single party has done so in three elections in a row since such data became available in 1952. "That could shape the political affiliations of the largest generation in American history for years to follow," USA Today notes.

Trump's numbers are so low among young voters, in fact, that they're worse than Richard Nixon's 32 percent with 18-to-29-year-olds in 1972 — the height of protests against the Vietnam War. But dissatisfaction with Trump does not translate to passion for Clinton for many young people. "She is not going to be a perfect president, but who would be?" said Elizabeth Krueger, 31.

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The millennials survey reached 1,539 adults between 18 and 34, and was taken by Ipsos Public Affairs between Aug. 5 and 10. The margin of error was 4.6 percent. You can read more about the results, including breakdowns of the numbers, at USA Today.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.