Biden is facing a major age problem in 2024

Joe Biden’s age has become a major sticking point for many voters in the country, but it isn’t the only age-related problem his campaign is facing. Young voters are increasingly turning away from Biden, according to recent polling. 

As recently as November, Biden’s polling with young voters in the United States started to slip. For example, an NBC News Poll released then revealed that Biden trailed behind Donald Trump among younger voters aged 18 to 34. 

The poll was an early warning sign that Biden was in trouble with younger voters. Biden only saw support from 42% of those surveyed compared to the 49% who supported the former president in a hypothetical match-up in 2024. 

Biden’s falling popularity among the country’s youth continued to remain steady as time has passed and a poll from the New York Times and Siena College released near the end of December found Trump was still leading Biden with the young. 

Trump was ahead of Biden by 6 points with 49% among those polled, while only 43% of respondents favored the President, a result that the New York Times noted gave Trump a narrow 46 to 44 lead among all registered voters. 

Losing a portion of youth voters might not seem like a major issue but it could mean a loss in 2024 for Biden. Young voters were the segment of the country that was essential to Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020. 

An exit poll from the 2020 election conducted by NBC News found that Biden enjoyed a massive 24-point lead over Trump with voters aged 18-29 during their matchup in 2020. So what’s caused Biden’s big slip among younger voters?

There are a few explanations for Biden’s problem among young voters, with one of the major reasons being the President’s handling of the ongoing war unfolding in the Middle East, according to results from the November NBC News poll. 

Over half of the respondents (67%) noted that they weren’t happy with how Biden was handling the situation and the polling from the New York Times and Siena College revealed the war was hurting Biden with younger voters. 

A stunning 73% of respondents aged 18-29 reported that they disapproved of the way Biden was handling the situation with Israel and Gaza, which makes the conflict in the region a near-universal issue for Biden’s youth voters. 

“It’s what’s driving young voters away from Biden more than anything, even though it is obviously one part of a larger picture,” explained Usamah Andrabi, the communications director for Justice Democrats according to The Hill. But it's not the only issue. 

The Hill noted that the 81-year-old Biden “has never been an especially inspiring figure to young voters” pointing to his relatively moderate politics and staunch institutionalism as issues that haven’t intrigued the country’s younger voters. 

“Young progressives have been disappointed that [Biden] has not taken more expansive action on priorities from climate change to voting rights,” The Hill’s Niall Stanage wrote in his analysis of why youth voters were abandoning Biden.

However, while Biden has been losing support among younger voters, older voters have flocked to him and stuck with the man they think can beat Trump in the next presidential election, according to the results of several recent polls. 

For example, a December 6th CNN national poll showed that Biden’s approval rating among those over 65 was 49%. Moreover, the same November NBC News poll that found Biden down among youth also had up with older adults. 

CNN’s Ronald Brownstein noted that several recent polls have recorded a much higher approval rating forbidden among older voters, and he explained that it was likely the policies being implemented by Biden that curried their favor. 

“Biden’s biggest asset with seniors may be that he has a much longer list of policies he can point to that directly benefit them financially than he has for any other age group,” Brownstein wrote before listing off Biden's accomplishments. 

The Inflation Reduction Act, for example, provided relief from high drug costs while also eliminating co-pays for vaccines—a change that benefited roughly four million seniors in the United States. However, older votes can’t save Biden. 

“A better showing with seniors alone is unlikely to save Biden if he can’t regain at least some of the ground polls that show that he’s lost with young people since 2020,” Brownstein added that the older vote would be a strength.