A new poll shows that most young people think that President Biden should have a primary challenger because his support among young people keeps going down.
The Young America’s Foundation (YAF) hired Echelon Insights to do the poll. They asked 1,650 high school as well as college students what they thought about a wide range of political and social problems.
56% of high school students and 61% of college students think that Biden should have a strong challenger in the primary. This includes 68% of high school students and 62% of college students who say they are liberal.
Biden is being challenged by Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and some polls show that Kennedy Jr. has as much as 20% of the backing of Democrats.
The poll shows that both high school and college students are less happy with the president than they were in 2021. The number of high school students who like him has gone down from 58% to 33%, and the number who don’t like him has gone up from 29% to 47%. The number of college students who like him has gone down from 62% to 38%, and the number who don’t like him has gone up from 28% to 51%.
Both college and high school students were worried about the economy, but high school students were slightly more worried about school safety than the economy. Race relations, immigrants, and crime in government were ranked as less important by both groups.
Both groups agreed that there should be a limit on how old presidential candidates can be. Nearly three-quarters of college students agreed with the idea of age limits. People who wanted age limits usually said the oldest presidential contender should be between 60 and 69 years old.
Only 19% of the high school students polled said they were conservative or just somewhat conservative, but 21% of the college students said they were conservative or just somewhat conservative. Both high school and college students were most likely to say they were moderate. This was true for 33% of high school students along with 32% of college students.
“Before the GOP primary debate, our research shows that Gen Z students throughout the political spectrum think about a wide range of important issues, such as a candidate’s age and how much they need to feel safe inside their schools. It’s interesting, though, that the top issue for young voters boils down to the economy,” said Scott Walker, who used to be the governor of Wisconsin and is now the president of YAF. “Many people worry that when they finish college, they will not be able to get a good job, start their own business, or pay for a place to live. Everyone running for office in 2024 would do well to pay attention to the problems that matter with this important group of voters.”
