More than a dozen youth voter groups announced their support for Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for president Friday.
Voters of Tomorrow, Leaders We Deserve and 15 other Democratic groups representing Gen Z and Millennial voters said they are working to usher in a new generation of American leadership.
“With our futures at stake, our announcement today signals the youth movement’s unified front and marks an important moment in the fight against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance,” the coalition said in a statement.
In March, when President Joe Biden was the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee, the Biden-Harris campaign launched a student initiative to mobilize young voters throughout the country on college campuses and online. The Biden-Harris campaign had won a joint endorsement from a coalition of 15 youth vote groups, including College Democrats of America, High School Democrats of America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Voices of Gen-Z — many of which are part of the coalition that endorsed Harris for president on Friday.
“As a champion of reproductive freedom, climate action, economic justice and gin violence prevention, Vice President Harris is uniquely equipped to build a coalition of young voters who will lead her to victory,” the coalition statement said. “Elevating Vice President Harris to the Oval Office would be historic: the first woman, first Asian American and second Black president. As members of the most diverse generation in our nation’s history, a Kamala Harris presidency would be one in which we see ourselves.”
The group said they are planning to register young people to vote and to spread the message about the stakes of the upcoming election.
“We know young voters will be key, and we know your vote cannot be taken for granted,” Harris said in a statement Friday announcing that she will deliver a virtual address at the Voters of Tomorrow Summit Saturday in Atlanta. “It must be earned, and that is exactly what we will do.”
In 2020, 65% of Gen Z voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for Biden — about 11% more than other age groups, according to an NBC poll.
Inflation/cost of living, jobs that pay a living wage, gun violence and climate change are the key issues for voters between the ages of 18 and 34 in the 2024 election, according to the Tufts Tisch College Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Young voters who say climate is their top issue are 20 points more likely to vote than other young people and 37 points more likely to prefer a Democrat for president. The Tufts poll found Democrats have an overall advantage among young people in the upcoming election, with 51% backing the Democratic candidate, 30% supporting the Republican and 16% undecided.
The poll found that 57% of youth are extremely likely to vote in 2024; another 15% say they are fairly likely to cast a ballot.