New Poll Finds Young Excited to Vote in November Elections

If Democrats are to take back the House and [less likely] Senate, they will need young voters to show up at the polls in far greater numbers than in 2014 when less than 20 percent of those under 30 voted. A new Harvard Institute of Politics poll finds a huge jump in enthusiasm among young Americans about voting in November's midterm elections. They found that 37% of Americans under age 30 indicate that they will “definitely be voting,” compared to 23% who said the same in polls prior to the 2014 midterm elections.

And enthusiasm among young Democrats is substantially higher than with Republicans; a majority (51%) report that they will ‘definitely’ vote in November compared to 36 percent of Republicans who say that.

Voter enthusiasm pools have often been a better predictor of election results than horse race polling of individual Congressional races, and Republicans enjoyed a similar advantage in enthusiasm in 2010 and 2014 when they made substantial gains in Congress.