Young Voters View Significant Climate Contrasts Between Biden and Trump
With both candidates having received enough delegates to secure their party’s nomination, the stage is officially set for a 2024 presidential rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Moving into the general election, the youth vote — and in particular, how younger voters view the candidates on the issues they care about — will be a critical factor in deciding the next president.
Climate Power and Data for Progress recently surveyed likely voters nationwide, including an oversample of 100 voters ages 18-34, to understand perceptions of recent climate actions taken by the Biden administration. The poll finds that U.S. likely voters back Biden’s most notable climate achievements, as well as ambitious pollution reduction regulations pursued over the course of his term. Additionally, we find that younger voters, those ages 18-34, are especially supportive of the president’s climate achievements and approve of his handling of the issue of climate change by a significant margin (+43 points) when informed about them.
The survey shows that approval for Biden’s handling of climate change and the environment improves by 17 percentage points among young voters after respondents hear more about his climate action. Approval of Biden’s handling of climate change and the environment reaches 69% among 18- to 34-year-old voters after respondents read a series of questions about his climate achievements.
Contrasting Biden’s record with Trump’s also proves effective. Notably, 18- to 34-year-olds prefer Biden’s approach by a +30-point margin over Trump’s approach: 60-30%. Exposing voters to more of Biden’s recent climate accomplishments expands that gap by +5 points: 64%-29%.
Climate Power and Data for Progress’ research also finds that Biden’s clean energy plan is widely popular, especially among young voters. Two tested frames — clean energy job creation and home energy cost savings — work equally well when talking about the legislation. More than three-quarters of 18- to 34-year-old voters support the plan with both message framings (77% and 78%, respectively). This suggests that both job creation and energy savings are viewed as credible accomplishments to highlight when talking to young voters about the clean energy plan.
In another sign of support for the Biden clean energy plan among young voters, investments in the electric vehicle (EV) industry included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are favored by a majority of voters ages 18-34 (65%), compared with 28% who oppose these efforts, reflecting the growing popularity of EVs among younger Americans.
Biden also signed into law the most ambitious climate legislation in history and has also taken significant steps on climate through regulations and executive actions.
The polling assessed responses to key Biden regulatory actions, revealing strong support overall. Notably, at least 70% of voters ages 18-34 support all of the regulations aimed at reducing pollution and cleaning up air and water, with topline voters also expressing majority support for all regulations tested.
Young voters also back Biden's actions to prevent adverse climate impacts from the natural gas industry and develop thousands of clean energy job opportunities.
A majority of voters ages 18-34 (57%) agree with Biden’s decision to pause approval of new liquefied natural gas projects to protect the climate and local communities from health impacts, while only 30% disagree.
The American Climate Corps, which offers young Americans opportunities to work in climate- and clean energy-related fields, is supported by a majority of voters (65%), including more than three-quarters of voters ages 18-34 (76%).
Conclusion
The polling makes clear that young voters react positively to a candidate who will take on climate change and prioritize clean energy investment, not one who embraces a return to a fossil fuel-centered energy plan. However, young voters are either not aware of or have forgotten Donald Trump’s record in office, and they are not yet giving Joe Biden credit for his historic accomplishments on climate.
Biden has taken historic action on climate that remains popular among young voters, while Trump’s record is simply unpalatable to the majority of 18- to 34-year-olds. Pointing out this contrast helps raise Biden’s approval among this subgroup and can be an important messaging tool in the 2024 campaign.
Read the joint memo released by Climate Power and Data for Progress here.
Survey Methodology
From February 28 to March 4, 2024, Data for Progress and Climate Power conducted a survey of 1,289 U.S. likely voters nationally, including an oversample of 100 voters ages 18-34, using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. This sample is also weighted to account for the oversample of voters ages 18-34 to ensure proportional representation of likely voters nationally. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.