Losing voters’ support is no surprise for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. But this time, this loss is coming at a place where it would hurt the most: young voters.
Alongside people of color, these were the voters who helped Biden clinch the top office.
Why Young Voters Are Steering Away From Biden
Some of the reasons why young people voted for Biden en masse were:
- They wanted low gun violence
- They expected climate actions
- They want to see students loans eradicated
But by now, the administration has failed to deliver on any of the aforementioned issues.
Many millennials and generation Z voters voted for him for another fact: he was running against Donald Trump, which pushed many anti-Trump voters in favor of him.
But this would also not be a factor in favor of Biden this time.
The historic voter turnout of young people was responsible for installing him in the White House and the Democratic majority in the Senate and the House.
Back in 2020, exit polls indicated that Biden won 65 percent of voters aged 18-24 and 60 percent aged 18 to 29 years old. But that support is eroding as per the surveys.
Biden Failed to Deliver to Young Voters
According to the Quinnipiac University Poll, 58 percent of voters aged 18 to 34 disapproved of Biden.
Their reasons for doing it are simple. Biden pledged to take drastic measures against gun violence, and the promises were so extensive that Biden forgot that realizing those promises would not be an executive task only.
This is not that Biden was unaware of his constitutional authorities. Having served as the vice president for eight years and a Senator for many terms, he knew the limitations of the office of the president.
But voters do little scrutiny when they measure the promises of candidates. Thus extra ambitious president found it hard when he saw the reality that he could not do much to reduce gun violence alone.
The same is the case with student loans. For a long time, the administration failed to provide significant relief to students who are in a debt trap. However, just recently, the administration managed to wipe off loans of almost 40,000 students while giving relief to another 3.6 million students.
The protests regarding mammoth student loans gained pace recently, which mounted the pressure on the White House. This prompted the Education secretary to acknowledge the problem.
“Student loans were never meant to be a life sentence, but it’s certainly felt that way for borrowers locked out of debt relief they’re eligible for.”
(Miguel Cardona)
The problem with climate change is the same. Biden remained unlucky in the sense that Russia invaded Ukraine during his tenure, which skyrocketed oil and gas prices.
This has urged him to take some drastic actions which are not in line with his manifesto. For instance, he lifted the ban on ethanol fuel to curb oil prices, but that is detrimental to the climate.
Similarly, the decision to resume federal oil and gas leasing is also not so popular when seen from the progressives’ lens.
This has undermined Biden’s agenda of climate change and is alienating young voters at large. Not only this but in the times of COVID, maintaining existence was obviously a bigger goal compared to lowering climate emissions. At that time, reducing emissions would mean more job losses at a time when the government was already facing an employment crisis.
Final Thoughts
But this may not be the factor impacting voters’ decisions on the polling day. Multiple reports have indicated that a ruling party is likely to lose midterm elections, which is troubling for Biden as well. Now at a time when border violence is also going to be high in the wake of lifting title 42, Biden’s problems are only going to increase. This would eventually help Republicans in gaining a majority once again.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.