Tipsheet

Harvard Millennial Poll Spells Doom for Democrats

If Harvard's Fall 2014 Survey of Young Americans is as accurate as it's 2010 poll, next Tuesday will be a disaster for Democrats.

According to Harvard's poll of more than 2,000 18-29 year olds, 51 percent of definite millennial voters plan to pull the lever for Republicans Tuesday, compared to just 47 percent who said they were planning to vote for Democrats. That is even worse than in 2010 when 55 percent of definite millennial voters said they were voting Democrat compared to 43 percent who planned to vote Republican.

Among all millennials, Democrats still edge out Republicans 50 percent to 43 percent. But not only is that the smallest margin for Democrats among millennials since 2008, when they preferred Democrats by a 56 percent to 30 percent margin, but fewer millennials than ever say they plan to vote.

Just 26 percent of millennials say they are definitely voting this year, compared to 63 percent in 2008 and 48 percent in 20012.

Even worse for Democrats, for the first time ever in the Harvard millennial survey, more millennials now identify as "conservatives" 35 percent, then identify as "liberals" 33 percent. Just two year ago, in the Fall 2012 Harvard Survey of Young Americans, 37 percent of millennials identified as "liberal" compared to just 33 percent who said they were "conservative."