NextGen America Releases First 2020 Presidential Straw Poll Results

Ahead of the first debate, Warren, Yang and Sanders lead among 18-35 year olds nationwide

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Today, NextGen America released the results of its first 2020 presidential straw poll that was conducted from June 11th to June 21st. With 6,035 SMS and email respondents, candidates Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Yang, and Bernie Sanders lead the pack among respondents of all ages and 18-35 years old nationwide. Over the ten days, Andrew Yang organizers on Reddit galvanized their supporters to answer our open poll, helping Yang surge into the top three candidates for all ages and tie Warren among voters under 35. Yang’s lead shows the power of candidates who can capitalize on digital organizing; however, no other polls register such a high level of support for his candidacy. Joe Biden underperformed with young voters by 5 percentage points (5% -10%), while Pete Buttigieg (9%-8%) and Kamala Harris (6%-4%) brought in similar support from respondents of all ages and young voters. Full results are available here.

Among pre-existing NextGen America supporters (those who had opted into NextGen’s SMS and email program prior to the straw poll’s launch on June 11th), Warren leads with 38% of respondents of all ages — 17 points ahead of second place finisher Sanders and 25 points ahead of third place finisher Biden. Among NextGen America supporters between 18 and 35 years old, Warren leads with 39% to Sander’s 26% and Buttigieg’s 9% — followed by Biden, Harris, and Beto O’Rourke.

NextGen America is already organizing young voters for the 2020 presidential primaries in ten battleground states, including Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Elizabeth Warren (29%) shows significant strength within NextGen’s targeted states with voters of all ages. Bernie Sanders trails Warren by two points with voters under 35 years old (28%-26%) in those 10 states, a gap that widens with all voters to six points (29%-23%).  

In 2018, NextGen America ran the largest youth vote program in American history — registering over 257,000 young people to vote and reaching over 7 million young people between 18 and 35 years old in person, online, through the mail, and over text. NextGen’s organizing efforts led to young people doubling their turnout and flipping the House of Representatives. With over 80 staff on the ground in ten states, NextGen is already hard at work organizing young people to make an even larger impact in 2020.