Skip to content

Poll: Few Millennials Plan to Watch First Presidential Debate

In contrast, 59 percent of senior voters say they will 'definitely' watch

Kayla Kaminski, from Dallas City, Ill., laughs as she waits with her homemade sign and shirt to see Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speak at an organizing event in Burlington, Iowa, in 2016. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Kayla Kaminski, from Dallas City, Ill., laughs as she waits with her homemade sign and shirt to see Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speak at an organizing event in Burlington, Iowa, in 2016. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Millennials may already match baby boomers in terms of their share of the American electorate, but a new poll reveals that only 32 percent of voters under 30 are “definitely” planning on watching the first presidential debate.

That’s compared to the 59 percent of voters over 65 who say they will “definitely” watch, the poll found.

After months of campaigning, the Economist/YouGov poll revealed that American adults hold diverse opinions on whether Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or her Republican rival Donald Trump will perform better in the debate.

who-will-do-better-graph

Seventy-two percent of likely Democratic voters think Clinton will do better whereas 58 percent of likely Republican voters think the same about Trump.

By race, 68 percent of black voters and 55 percent of Hispanic adults think Clinton will perform better in the debates.

The numbers for white voters who think Clinton will do better are lower at 32 percent, differing by only 1 point from the 33 percent who say the same for Trump.

Only 8 percent of black and 12 percent of Hispanic citizens think Trump will do better.

 

The poll also found that 73 percent of Democratic voters believe Trump will misstate more facts than Clinton. A much lower 45 percent of likely Republican voters believe the same about Clinton.

Trump has repeatedly said the presidential debates will be stacked against him, Reuters reported, triggering discussion over moderator behavior during the debates.

The poll revealed that just over half of likely voters said that moderators should try to correct the candidates if they say something untrue. Another 32 percent said moderators should leave it to the participants to correct each other. Still 17 percent were unsure of how the moderators should behave.

The poll surveyed 1,300 U.S. voters through web-based interviews from Sept. 18 to Sept. 19. The margin of error was 3.9 percentage points.

Recent Stories

Trump immunity protesters see ‘make-or-break moment for our republic’

Supreme Court sounds conflicted over Trump criminal immunity

At the Races: Faith in politics

Nonprofits take a hit in House earmark rules

Micron gets combined $13.6 billion grant, loan for chip plants

EPA says its new strict power plant rules will pass legal tests