James Carville, a strategist for Bill Clinton’s previous campaign, raised alarms on Sunday regarding the exodus of young voters from the Democratic party, a pivotal voting demographic for the party.
In February polling data, President Joe Biden garnered backing from 52% of Americans aged 18 to 34, whereas former President Donald Trump secured support from 48% of this critical Democratic voting bloc. Carville highlighted this significant shift from previous presidential elections, such as in 2020, labeling it as a concerning trend on “Carville’s Classroom.”
“I’ve been very vocal about this,” Carville said. “It’s horrifying our numbers among younger voters, particularly younger blacks, younger latinos … younger people of color. Particularly males. We’re not shedding them, they’re leaving in droves.”
In the 2020 presidential election, the support of younger voters played a crucial role in Biden’s coalition. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 59% of voters aged 18 to 29 cast their votes in favor of Biden, while Trump received 33% of the vote within this demographic. Recent polls suggest that Biden’s declining popularity among younger voters can be attributed to his handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, as many young individuals perceive him as being pro-Israel.
“I think this issue is deep, and I think it’s a lot deeper than just progressive advocates or young people or college campuses,” Carville asserted about the Middle East war in February. “I hope the president can get some kind of ceasefire and take this off the front burner because, frankly, its damage politically is pretty substantial. And if we get to Chicago at the convention and this thing is still going on, I don’t want to think about what‘s going to happen there.”
The substantial edge that the Democratic Party once had over Republicans among black Americans overall and Hispanic Americans aged 18 to 29 has decreased by almost 20% in the past three years, as indicated by Gallup data released in February.
