In a reversal, young white voters now support Trump, but Biden still holds a significant lead overall, thanks to gains among young black and Hispanic voters.

^Lless than a week ahead of Election Day, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden maintains his wide advantage over President Donald Trump in youth, the latest edition of Forbes Under 30 Voter Survey, Powered by John Zogby Strategies shows. Biden’s overwhelming support among young black and Hispanic voters is helping him weather a drop in support from young white voters.

The survey shows nearly six in 10 young voters (59%) support the Democratic nominee over Trump (37%) in a two-way race. Biden’s 22-point lead is identical to our September’s margin surveywhen he won the support of 57% of young voters, compared to 35% for Trump.

In a four-way race in our survey, Biden maintains his 22-point lead over Trump (55%-33%), while libertarian Jo Jorgensen draws 4% of young votes and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins garners 3%. This is an improvement from our September surveywhile Biden’s lead over the president was just 17 points in a four-way race (49%-32%).

What benefit this ultimately has for Biden will be entirely determined by attendance. With voting well underway across the country, young people would vote early in registration numbers in battleground states like Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. Four years ago, when young voters backed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by an 18-point margin, only half of voters aged between 18 and 29 went to the polls.

One of the few bright spots for the president in our poll is that he now leads Biden among young white voters by two points (49%-47%), a shift in September when the Democratic candidate led by 6 points (50%-44%) among the same group of voters. However, Biden made up for the loss in support with gains among young black and Hispanic voters. The Democratic nominee leads young black voters by 69 points (83%-14%), a gain of 19 points from September, and Hispanic voters by 34 points (65%-31%), a four-point increase from compared to last month.

Biden vs. Trump: Support among young voters from three racial groups shifted slightly.

Pollsters often lump 18-29 year olds into one block, but the most recent Forbes The survey of voters under 30 finds that Biden’s support is much stronger among Gen Z voters than among Gen Y voters. The Democratic nominee wins 18-24 year olds by 36 points ( 66%-30%), while it wins the 25-29 year olds by only 9 points (52%-43%). In September, this divide was a little narrower. Then, Biden edged Trump by 32 points among 18-24 year olds (62%-30%) and 13 points among 25-29 year olds (53%-40%).

Biden vs. Trump: Gen Z voters are more firmly in Biden’s camp than older millennials.

Trump leads Biden by 13 points among young white voters without a college degree (53%-40%) and 15 points among young white males in general (56%-41%). The president leads the Democratic candidate by 14 points (52%-38%) among young voters who say they live in a “rural” area. However, there are lingering signs that the president’s overall support base is weaker than Biden’s among younger voters. Young born-again Christian voters and young voters who identify as “blue-collar” say they support the Democratic nominee over Trump, a phenomenon also present in our last poll. Biden leads by 10 points among young Born-Again voters and 26 points among young blue-collar voters.

Biden’s base among young voters looks rock solid. He enjoys strong support from young female voters (64%-31%) and young suburban voters (63%-34%) compared to Trump. His support among young black (83%-14%), Hispanic (65%-31%) and Asian (62%-33%) voters also remains strong. However, her support among young black voters is somewhat weaker than Hillary Clinton’s among the same group in 2016, according to exit polls (Clinton carried young black voters by 76 points in 2016).

As Covid-19 cases soar across the country, young people say the pandemic is their top political issue (37%), followed by jobs and the economy (25%), then healthcare health (23%). The president did immigration a key issue in the final days of the campaign, but only 11% say it’s a major issue for them. Biden talked about the transition of the United States from the oil industry during the final presidential debate, drawing a severe reprimand Of the presidentbut only 14% of young people cited climate change and the environment as a major political issue.

Young voters were asked to name their top two political issues. Here’s how they stacked up.

On the same day, Dr. Anthony Fauci made his strongest statement yet in favor of a national mask mandate, our survey showed that a majority of young people (66%) indicated they want the US federal government to mandate the wearing of masks.

As the United States battles the global pandemic and its economic fallout, young people say they are unhappy with the status quo, with 60% saying the United States is on the “wrong path.” When asked if they thought the American Dream was ‘alive and healthy’, ‘currently in a coma’ or ‘dead and not coming back’, 47% said the American Dream was “currently in a coma” and 20% said he was “dead and not coming back. Only 26% of young people say the American dream is “very much alive”.

More than eight in 10 young voters (86%) think the election is important for their future, with 60% of 18-29 year olds saying it’s “very important”, while 26% say it’s “fairly important “.

Younger voters are more in favor of more revolutionary policies, rather than tinkering around the edges. When asked how the American Dream would be “best strengthened,” a majority (53%) said it would require a “big reset of the current system” rather than a “revisit” of “age-old principles” ( 34%). ) More than seven in 10 young voters (72%) support term limits for senators, congressmen and bureaucrats in federal agencies, and want big money out of politics (73%).

The Forbes The survey of voters under 30, powered by John Zogby Strategies, was conducted online on September 17, 2020 and consisted of 1,012 likely voters between the ages of 18 and 29. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.