Clinton's margin with millennials is even bigger than Obama's was in 2012
After a dismal start with young voters, Hillary Clinton seems to have finally won them over. A new poll by the Harvard University Institute of Politics released Wednesday shows Clinton leading Donald Trump by 28 points with voters between the ages of 18 and 29, with 49 percent support to his 21 percent. That winning margin puts Clinton ahead of where President Obama polled with millennials at this stage of the 2012 election; Obama, who was historically popular with younger voters, led Republican nominee Mitt Romney by 19 points two weeks ahead of Election Day 2012.
"After eight years of a complicated relationship with millennials, in the closing days of the campaign, Hillary Clinton is closing strong," said John Della Volpe, the institute's polling director. "Her favorability with 18- to 29-year-old likely voters is up significantly since the summer, and the combination of her strong debate performances, and failure [of] both Trump and the third-party candidates to expand their bases, gives her a lead of 28 points."
Clinton is now 22 points ahead of where she was in a poll Harvard took in July among young voters, and her favorability rating has similarly soared. Clinton is now viewed favorably by 48 percent of young voters, compared to the just 22 percent who view Trump favorably.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Harvard's poll was conducted online from Oct. 7-17 among 2,150 U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 and 29. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Who is fuelling the flames of antisemitism in Australia?Today’s Big Question Deadly Bondi Beach attack the result of ‘permissive environment’ where warning signs were ‘too often left unchecked’
-
Bulgaria is the latest government to fall amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Codeword: December 15, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign