Young Americans’ Voting Patterns Reflect A Lack of Enthusiasm for the Candidates
A Plurality of Young People Identify as Moderates
Did you miss Part One of this report? Check it out.
For young Americans aged 18–25 at the time of the November 2016 election, nearly half (49%) of those who voted reported doing so for Hillary Clinton, while 37% reported voting for Donald Trump. Nearly 1 in 6 young people voted for a third party candidate.
This comes as no surprise given our 2016 Survey on Young People and Civic Participation, which showed that a plurality of millennials fail to identify with either traditional party.
Support for Clinton among young people matches the result of all votes in the election (49% vs 48%), while the support for Trump among young people is 9 points lower: 37% vs. 46% for all voters.
This voting pattern follows closely the political leanings of today’s young people. Thirty-two percent of young Americans (13–25) identify as liberal or very liberal, while 25% identify as conservative or very conservative. Clinton and Trump won overwhelming majorities with their respective ideological groups.
The largest group (42%) of young people, however, consider themselves moderates. This group disproportionately reported not voting — nearly 2x the self-reported rate of not-voting compared to young liberals/conservatives — in the 2016 election. For young moderates who did vote, 45% went for Clinton and 33% to Trump.
Research & Editorial Team
Jeff Bladt, Chief Data Officer, DoSomething.org
Nick McCormick, Data and Survey Research Analyst, DoSomething.org
Keri Goff, Creative Director, DoSomething.org
Meredith Ferguson, Managing Director, TMI Strategy
2017 Polling Methodology:
The survey was distributed to individuals ages 13–25 across the United States and its outlying territories. The final sample includes 581 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting, meaning that the opinions and actions of 13-year-old females are just as well represented as those of 25-year-old males. Assuming a population size of approximately 45,000,000 13–25 year olds nationwide, a sample size of 581 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 4.07% margin of error.
2016 Polling Methodology:
The survey was distributed to individuals ages 13–25 across the United States and its outlying territories. Prior to analysis, the data was cleaned and weighted as follows:
• Individuals with completion times of under 5 minutes were excluded from the results.
• Individuals younger than 13 years of age or older than 25 years of age were excluded from the results.
• Weights were applied to create equal representations across gender and age.
The final sample includes 3,305 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting, meaning that the opinions and actions of 13-year-old females are just as well represented as those of 25-year-old males. Assuming a population size of approximately 45,000,000 13–25 year olds nationwide, a sample size of 3,305 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 1.7% margin of error.
About DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org is the largest tech company exclusively for young people and social change. We’re activating 5.5 million young people (and counting!) to make positive change, online and off, in every US area code and in over 131 countries. When you join DoSomething, you join something bigger than yourself. You team up with the young people who have clothed half of America’s youth in homeless shelters. And cleaned up 3.7 million cigarette butts from the streets. And run the largest youth-led sports equipment drive in the world. And more! You’ve got the power and the passion to make an impact — we’ll help you get it done. Welcome to DoSomething. Let’s Do This.
About TMI Strategy
TMI is a strategy consultancy that uncovers insights about young people to develop creative solutions that drive social change. Fueled by DoSomething.org’s proprietary data from millions of young people involved in hundreds of cause initiatives, we uncover what motivates young people to connect with companies and causes they care about. Not your typical agency, every project TMI takes on has positive impact on people, the planet, or both — and 100% of TMI’s profits support DoSomething.org. For more information, visit tmistrategy.org.
