Biden's support among young voters plummets amid possible TikTok ban, Gaza war

As November’s election grows closer, polling has shown that Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden among young Gen Z and Millennial voters, even tying in some polling. This comes after Biden received a flood of support from young voters in the 2020 election.

Quinnipiac’s May poll found that in the five-way race with third-party candidates included, voters ages 18-34 were evenly split in their support of Biden and Trump at 35 percent. In the head-to-head matchup, Trump leads Biden by one point at 48 to 47 percent.

The most recent New York Times/Siena College poll from April found that 47 percent of voters ages 18-29 supported Biden, while 45 percent said they would vote for Trump. Once again, in the five-way race, the two candidates were tied, this time at 38 percent.

According to Axios, the last time voters under the age of 30 voted for a Republican over a Democratic candidate was in 1988, in which George H.W. Bush won. The year 2000 was the last time that the parties were close in support among young voters.

"Biden is out of step with young people on a number of key issues," Aidan Kohn-Murphy, the founder of Gen-Z for Change, which was previously TikTok for Biden, told the Washington Post. He called "the frustrations of young progressive leaders a barometer of widespread dissatisfaction among Gen Z voters." 

Over a quarter of left-leaning content creators on TikTok posted anti-Biden content in the first four months of the year, and a recent Morning Consult poll found that 67 percent of Gen Z voters said they were less likely to vote for him in November because of his decision to back legislation that could see TikTok banned in the US. 46 percent said they were less likely to vote for him because of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden’s White House has also reportedly been inviting only pro-Biden content creators to the White House, casting off those who have criticized them.

"I have noticed that there have been a lot more events with creators, but the creators that are getting invited are the creators who are very pro Biden and just parroting talking points or sharing photo ops of them smiling with the President. Not the creators who have been critical," said history content creator Kahlil Greene, who said that he hasn’t been invited back to the White House since he criticized the Biden administration over their stances on TikTok and the war.

Political influencer and digital strategist Annie Wu Henry told the Washington Post that Biden’s team "is trying to say that they’re handling influencers like the press. But the thing is, the press briefing room has to have Fox News no matter what. They have to allow all of the media in. When it comes to influencers, they only let in people who agree, and anyone who gives even a little bit of pushback is not welcome."