It’s 2020 and Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada have already voiced their opinions on who should be the next Democratic nominee. And, while the GOP’s nominee is a foregone conclusion, big questions are still hanging in the air.
How do people feel about the economy?
What other issues will emerge as deciding factors in the general election?
While campaign managers, press and pundits use historical data to try to predict the future, pollsters and public opinion researchers scurry to create voter insights, keeping the voter data hush-hush in order to give their sponsors and candidates a competitive advantage. We know this at methinks, because, like many of our other customers, political researchers contact us when they need insights in a hurry.
But, since we like to share research insights broadly, we sponsored our own research to help everyone understand what the youth vote thinks are the most important issues in the upcoming elections.
More than 16m US citizens will be eligible to vote for the first time in the 2020 National Elections. If you’ve been following voter populations over time, you know that young voter registration and voting rates have been on the rise, and, unlike older voters, America has very few public opinion polls focused specifically on what younger voters care about. All of that said, let’s find out what younger methinks Thinkers see as their key issues in the 2020 Elections.
methinks surveyed over 1000 registered voters in the US, aged 18-30 and asked them to rank-order the political issues that they care about most. And, here’s what we found;
When asked for the three political issues that are most important to this demographic, these three issues were the most often referenced:
1. Human Rights
2. Healthcare
3. Education
When asked to provide reasoning for issues they designated as important, these were the most frequently referenced reasons;
For Human Rights, the most frequent reasons cited fell into these categories:
a. Women’s rights, with the most frequently used keywords associated with equal pay, equality and reproductive rights.
b. LGBTQ rights, with the most frequent keywords associated with equal treatment, and ending discrimination.
c. Immigrant rights, with the most frequent keywords associated with racism, inequality and families.
Here are some additional behavioral insights gleaned from this sample of young voters age 18-30:
- 34% of respondents age 18-30 will be voting for the first time
- 72% have never volunteered for a political campaign
- More than any other source, 24% of voters 18-30 get their news from Social Media
- 47% said they’ve attended a political event or rally
For the full set of insights, visit our thinker poll page.
Aaron Burcell
Aaron is the CEO of methinks. He has held executive positions at youth-oriented games and media companies in the past, and has won marketing awards and honors for his campaigns in mobile games and media. He is a graduate of Stanford, with a degree in political science.