Constance Lancelle, 22, of Milwaukee, was “definitely not interested in voting for Biden,” she said. But with Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate, she said, “I feel like politics have been a dream.”
Sierra Sanson, 23, of Medford, New Jersey, planned to vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party, or not at all. Now she’s thrilled to support Harris: “She’s a badass woman who I want to see succeed.”
Emily Baumel, 27, of Madison, Wisconsin, hadn’t planned to vote for president, but will now vote for Harris: “I have a lot less dread; I like how much hope she’s giving people.”
Harris’ candidacy has reinvigorated many Democrats and independents — and particularly young women. Their newfound enthusiasm is evident in interviews, and in early signals from polls in swing states and nationwide.
As a group, young women were never going to support Donald Trump in the election, according to national New York Times/Siena College polls. But that had not always meant backing President Joe Biden. His support among both women and the young (18 to 29), crucial to his 2020 victory, had been slipping before his exit from the race.
It’s still early in Harris’ candidacy, and the numbers of these voters included in polls are too small to make definitive conclusions, but so far she seems to be winning many of them back.
In Times/Siena polls this month of voters in six swing states, young women were, on average, 10 percentage points more likely to support Harris than they had been to support Biden in May.
Across those states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — 67% of young women now said they planned to vote for her, and 29% for Trump. A larger share of them support Harris in the Times/Siena polls than in any other age and gender group.
Young men were 5 points more likely to support Harris than Biden. But 53% planned to vote for Trump, and 40% for Harris.
Recent national polls from Ipsos and Marquette Law School found a similar shift among young women. “The historic summer we’ve lived through pulled some young women off the sidelines and into the election,” said Sarah Feldman, a senior data journalist at Ipsos. “These are more marginal shifts overall, but with an incredibly close election, these small decisive swings in support can matter.”
We called back young women who told Times/Siena pollsters this month that they supported Harris. Of the eight we reached for follow-up interviews, none said they had planned to vote for Trump, but they all had intended either to sit out the election, vote for a third-party candidate or begrudgingly vote for Biden.
“I would be proud to see her as president of this country, whereas with Biden, I was embarrassed by the idea,” Sanson said.
For many young women, Biden and Trump were the only presidential candidates they had been old enough to vote for, which they said left them feeling uninvested and discouraged.
Eloisa Gloria, 22, who is studying illustration at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, said she had felt “disillusioned” by politics. Now, she is excited.
“This is the first time I have voted and genuinely felt positive about the candidate,” she said. “I think Kamala is incredibly intelligent and that she will care far more about our well-being than simply winning the election.”
She has been watching livestreams of Harris’ rallies, she said. She likes her ideas for paying teachers more, prioritizing abortion rights and addressing climate change.
“This was actually one of the first elections where I was like, honestly, I can’t shame people who don’t vote,” said Areli Herrera, 25, a nonprofit worker in Milwaukee. “I get it.”
That changed with Harris’ candidacy, she said: “I kind of felt a breath of relief.”
Herrera said Harris is more moderate than she is. She is wary of Harris’ background in law enforcement, and disliked how she cut short pro-Palestinian protesters who had interrupted her at a rally. But she said she appreciates that center-left ideas might help the Harris campaign win over moderate voters — and defeat Trump.
Harris’ choice of Tim Walz for a running mate bolstered her support: “She’s done what I could never do in my dating life — she picked the right white man.”
None of the young women interviewed mentioned Harris’ being a woman or person of color as a primary reason for their support, but some said it was a bonus.
Mina Kim, 27, in Duluth, Georgia, has been uninterested in politics, and hadn’t planned to vote. But she has seen several things she’s liked from the Harris campaign, including efforts to cap the price of insulin and her support for reproductive rights.
Kim, who is Asian American, did not realize that Harris has South Asian heritage. “It wouldn’t be the reason to vote for her, but it’d be cool,” she said. “She’d be the first of many things.”
Overall, Generation Z women are “fiercely feminist and progressive,” more than any other group of Americans, said Melissa Deckman, a political scientist who is CEO of PRRI, a research firm, and author of the coming book “The Politics of Gen Z.”
Baumel, from Madison, works in health care and worries that Harris isn’t progressive enough, especially on the issues most important to her: student loans, health care and the Israel-Hamas war.
But Harris has two major things going for her, Baumel said: “One, she’s not a 70-year-old man or older. Two, I really like her VP pick. Coming from the Midwest, I love to see Midwestern dads.”
“Will I vote for her in four more years?” she said. “I don’t know, but she’s worth a shot.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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