Former President Donald Trump performs much better among young voters in a potential presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris than he did against President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Biden won the White House with the help of a plus-21 percentage point advantage over Trump among voters under 35, according to CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten.
Harris, the current favorite to capture the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, currently only outdoes Trump by 9 points among the young voters.
"You may make the argument that was better than Biden was doing before he got out, but compared to that Democratic baseline, where Democrats have historically in presidential elections, at least this century, been carrying that young vote by 20 more percentage points, she is way down from that," Enten said during an appearance on CNN.
Enten added that his findings go against the idea that Harris being atop the ticket will have a much better effect on motivating Democrats to vote.
Overall, 39% of Democrats say they're motivated to vote after Biden left the race but 55% say they are not, Enten said.
Among voters aged 18-29, 42% say they're motivated to vote and 49% say they're not.
"This idea, again, that the vice president has unique potential to dig in and get young voters to turn out … it's just not there in the numbers despite all the internet memes that are going around," Enten said.
The CNN data reporter also pointed out that Harris could be facing a generational shift among young voters.
Referring to a Pew Research study, Enten said voters aged 18-34 are split in terms of party identification, with 49% saying they identify as Republican and 49% saying they identify as Democrat.
Four years ago, the results were 56% Democrat and 39% Republican.
"So, when we say that Harris is doing worse than Biden, it's not that she's uniquely bad, it's rather she's fighting uphill," Enten said. "She's trying to fight against a wave that's going against the Democrats among young voters."