Grady Blood will turn 18 in July, just in time to vote in the presidential election this November.
“I feel very patriotic and proud to vote in a presidential election,” Blood said. “I’m an optimist who really does believe in democracy and that people need to vote the way they believe.”
Blood, a resident of Mansfield, Massachusetts, said he is undecided and does not support either President Joe Biden or former President Donald J. Trump. The Massachusetts native does, however, acknowledge that he would “more enthusiastically” support Kamala Harris for vice president.
Support for Harris to replace Biden continues to rise among young voters, a key swing demographic in the 2024 presidential election. Following Biden’s performance at both the presidential debate and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization press conference, increasing amounts of young voters are echoing larger Democratic sentiments for Harris to replace the 46th president as party nominee.
“I feel like Biden is going to stick it out, but he is going to lose a lot of support from his own party,” Mary Higgins, said.
18-year old Illinois resident, Higgins, believes that by staying in the race, “Biden is shooting himself in the foot.”
While Biden and his campaign have said that they will not step aside, undecided and unenthusiastic young voters have begun to confront the possibility that a successor may need to be nominated late in the race.
Polling conducted by Data for Progress found that swing voters, rather than partisan voters, are likely to be younger voters. Many of these younger swing voters have begun to look to Harris as an alternative to Biden.
A poll released on July 2 found that if Harris were to replace Biden as the nominee, she would have 45% of the vote, with Trump at 47%. This result is within the margin of error that suggests there is no clear leader in a race between the vice president and the former president.
A political insider in Washington, D.C, granted anonymity to speak freely about the state of democratic politics, stated that they believe that despite Harris polling stronger against Trump than Biden, her potential administration’s policies wouldn’t differ greatly from that of her predecessor.
“Policy is personal,” they said. “And from a personal standpoint, I don’t think you would see a lot of changes from what Biden has already put into place. I think a lot of the cabinet would remain the same, so I think Harris would stay consistent with what Biden has set up so far.”
David Zarefsky, professor emeritus of communications at Northwestern University, said he attributes Harris’ upward polling and popularity in young demographics to her “extensive experience as vice president” and “relative youth” compared to Biden.
“Replacing Biden with another candidate is the only way to inject some excitement in the race and focus the attention back on Democrats’ imperative, which is beating Trump,” Zarefsky said.
A July 3 poll found that 74% of registered voters believe that Biden, who will turn 82 in November, is too old to be an effective president.
Blood, 18, believed that the main reason for his misgivings about Biden are due to his age. Given this reason, he ultimately prefers Harris, 59, to be selected as the Democratic nominee instead.
“Obviously, after the recent debate, there has been a lot of criticism of Biden, people saying he’s unfit physically,” Blood said. “I think the marketing of Kamala as Biden but younger is good enough for me.”
If elected, Harris would be the first woman, the first South-Asian woman, and the first African-American woman to serve as president in the United States.
If Harris is elected, Higgins hopes, “that the rest of the world will see a new generation and know that we do care about having strong women lead us.”
