Dane County, the bluest county in the battleground state of Wisconsin, has seen a spike in youth voters turning out to vote early this week following Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent visit, a source familiar confirmed to Spectrum News.
Harris held a rally in Madison on Wednesday, home to the flagship of the University of Wisconsin system and its roughly 50,000 students, bringing in a crowd of 13,000. Over the course of the week, youth voters made up 19% of early voters this week, and spiked to 22% on Thursday following Harris’ event, according to a Democratic operative granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal data.
Last week, young voters made up 12% of early voters, according to that operative, meaning this week’s totals nearly doubled last week’s youth voter turnout.
Dane County is seen as key to the Harris campaign’s path to victory in the battleground state. It’s the fastest-growing county in the state, and Democratic margins have increased there from 2020 to 2022. The campaign, combined with local Democratic Party offices, has 15 offices in the county.
The campaign also has 7 organizers solely dedicated to youth organizing and college campus outreach, which may have also helped drive youth voter turnout at the current rate.
Tom Bonier of Target Smart said he is also tracking a gender gap in early voting in Dane County.
“At this point in the early vote in 2020 it was +8.4 women. As of today it is +10.2 women. This increasing gender gap is surprising, given that Republicans have invested heavily in turning out their voters early, unlike 4 years ago,” explained Bonier. “This is being driven largely by strong turnout from younger women, with a 12.4 point gender gap among voters under the age of 30.”
Bonier also said they are seeing a surge in turnout among young voters of color, especially with Asian American and Hispanic voters. Bonier said that collectively, these demographics account for 9% of the youth early vote in Dane County so far, compared to 7.7% at this point in 2020.
“This is consistent with the new voter registration trends we saw in Wisconsin, and around the country, in the period immediately following Vice President Harris assuming the nomination, where new registrations surged among younger voters, women, and voters of color,” Bonier explained, who said this surge likely benefits Harris more than former President Donald Trump.
The operative also shared that the Harris campaign is tracking a surge of youth voter turnout in the battlegrounds of Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. Georgia reportedly saw its best day for voters under 30 on Thursday, while in Nevada, young voters (18-29) made up 18% of early voters Thursday.
In Michigan, 59% of early voters who cast their ballots in person in East Lansing, home to Michigan State University, are 18-29; in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, 46% of early voters voting in person are 18-29.
“The strong early vote we are seeing from younger voters, along with the consistent poll data suggesting more younger voters intend to vote on Election Day points towards very high youth enthusiasm in general,” said Bonier. “I expect that we’ll see substantial youth turnout throughout the battleground states on Election Day, consistent with the trend we’ve seen since the Dobbs decision just over two years ago.”
He added that young voters, especially young women and voters of color, “have provided massive vote margins for Democrats, so these trends are likely to the Harris campaign’s benefit."
Wisconsin allows for same-day voter registration, meaning students who haven’t voted in their home state but are at school in Wisconsin can register to vote and cast their ballot on Nov. 5. Students should remember to bring a photo ID to vote in person, and if they don’t have one, they can get a voter-compliant Wiscard at Memorial Union for free, a Harris campaign official said.