Poll: Young voters more motivated after Dobbs decision

The survey, which was performed by Global Strategy Group from late July by means of early August, polled 1,000 younger voters throughout seven states: Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All of the states have a aggressive race for governor or Senate — or each. The March survey additionally included Texas respondents.

The memo, which the group mentioned would function a roadmap for its messaging, discovered that defending rights — together with however not restricted to abortion — is vital to youthful voters.

The group, which was initially based as a part of billionaire businessman Tom Steyer’s political operation, focuses on turning out younger voters for Democrats. It has dedicated to spending $34 million this election cycle within the seven states that had been polled, together with Texas.

NextGen’s memo argued that the Dobbs decision has “helped to awaken the youth vote in a difficult midterm,” with the survey discovering that 2-in-3 of these polled mentioned that the “decision has made them care more about what happens in November.”

It additionally discovered that younger feminine voters had been overwhelmingly against the Dobbs decision. Just 18 p.c of these polled supported it, whereas 76 p.c opposed it. That was even true amongst younger Republican ladies: In that subset, 36 p.c supported the Dobbs ruling and 57 p.c opposed it, with NextGen arguing that the Dobbs “decision is a massive wedge for the GOP when it comes to the youth vote.”

The survey memo additionally factors to the juggling act liberal teams and candidates have needed to handle this 12 months regarding President Joe Biden’s still-sagging reputation. While the group declined to share Biden’s particular approval rankings amongst younger voters, the memo acknowledged that “young voters, like the rest of the electorate, are down on Biden … and they feel frustrated and disappointed with the state of the country.”

(The survey was fielded earlier than some current large strikes from the White House, together with the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act and Biden’s order to forgive some scholar debt.)

But the group pointed to younger voters nonetheless supporting Democratic candidates downballot, discovering that Democratic standing in a generic congressional poll ticked up 3 factors since March, to a 16 level benefit.

“For a lot of them, they don’t identify as Democrats, but they do care about progressive issues,” mentioned Johnston.