Poll: Biden Enjoys Record High Approval Rating Among Young Voters

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:27 pm

Young voters have been largely receptive to President Joe Biden and his policies, a striking change from the years under the Trump administration. According to the latest Harvard Youth Poll, Biden enjoys a 63% approval rating among college students who are registered voters, the highest approval rating of any president in the youth poll’s 21-year history.

The poll found that 59% of 18-to-29 year old Americans approve of Biden’s overall job performance, with 65 percent saying that they approve of his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and 57 percent saying they approve of his approach to race relations.

Speaking to The Washington Post, John Della Volpe, a former Biden campaign youth vote adviser and the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics polling director, said that Biden “hasn’t really changed much but it’s like the ‘boy next door’ phenomenon: you take a second look and you see these qualities that you never appreciated before.”

“You knew he kind of had the same values but he shares much more of your values that you might have thought before — certainly in the way he thinks about government and America and people are responding to how quickly he’s been able to instill some of his values in the practice of government,” he added.

Additionally, the poll found that more young Americans are hopeful about the future under a Biden presidency than they were in the year after former president Donald Trump took office. At the time, more than two-thirds (67%) said they were fearful about the future while 31% reported feeling optimistic.