Hillary Clinton losing support to Donald Trump among millennials, new poll shows

Younger people are thought to be central to Ms Clinton’s campaign, and she has managed to keep many of them on board with high-profile endorsements – until now

Andrew Griffin
Sunday 30 October 2016 18:25 GMT
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a copy of TIME magazine with his likeness of the cover as a woman tries to take a selfie at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) Presidential Preference Convention at Rocketown on August 29, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a copy of TIME magazine with his likeness of the cover as a woman tries to take a selfie at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) Presidential Preference Convention at Rocketown on August 29, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee

Hillary Clinton’s huge lead over Donald Trump among millennials is narrowing ahead of the presidential election.

Ms Clinton is still winning significantly among people aged between 18 and 34, according to a new USA Today poll. But that lead – which is a central part of the reason that she has until now been looking like the almost certain winner of the election next week – is getting smaller.

In the last two weeks – a period which has seen new reports of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, among other stories – Ms Clinton’s lead among millennials has dropped six points, from 68 per cent to 62 per cent.

Ms Clinton’s lead has been strong among young people for the entire campaign. She has been helped out by high-profile backing from figures including Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama, who younger people rank as the most important endorsements along with those of their parents.

Millennials said that the support of Barack Obama was “very important” to 36 per cent of them. And Bernie Sanders – who initially ran against Ms Clinton but has been active in encouraging people not to vote for Mr Trump – was seen as very important by 26 per cent of people.

Young voters who had backed Mr Sanders said that they thought it significant that he had given Ms Clinton his backing. Among people who supported Mr Sanders, 43 per cent said that it was very important that he had endorsed Ms Clinton.

Mr Trump is backed by only 21 per cent of young voters, and the endorsements that he has been able to make public are far less likely to make an impact. He hasn’t been able to deploy a single high-profile supporter – outspoken backer of Mr Trump Rudy Giuliani is “very important” to only 10 per cent of young Americans, according to USA Today.

The support for Ms Clinton is still holding strong among young black and Latino voters. He is supported by one 6 per cent of black Millennials, a historic low, and 19 per cent of young Latinos.

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