Some of Chicago’s young voters talk 2024 presidential election at the DNC
(CHICAGO) — Perhaps no demographic group has had more ink spilled about it this election year than young voters. Traditionally a Democratic group, 18- to 29-year-olds soured on Joe Biden’s presidency faster than many other groups — and that was before the war between Israel and Hamas touched off protests on college campuses and alienated young voters from Biden even further.
However, with Vice President Kamala Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee, young voters seem to have returned to the Democratic fold. According to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll from Aug. 9-13, registered voters under age 40 supported Harris over former President Donald Trump 57% to 37%. By contrast, in the previous ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, they supported Biden over Trump just 46% to 44%.
Of course, polls can tell us who voters support, but not necessarily why. So while in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, we convened a panel of three young voters — one liberal, one moderate and one conservative — to see how they were thinking about the 2024 election.
Two of them said they were likely to vote for Harris, while one was likely to vote for Trump, mirroring young voters overall. Among the reasons they gave included the candidates’ economic plans, high prices, health care, crime and the war in Gaza. Interestingly, all three panelists cited the economy as one of the most important factors to their vote — just as polls show that the economy is the top issue for young voters nationwide — but that didn’t always lead them to the same conclusions.
Before Biden dropped out of the race, both panelists we interviewed said they were likely to support him, but they were feeling much better about supporting the Democratic ticket now that Harris is headlining it. This mirrors a spike in enthusiasm among Democratic voters that has shown up in poll after poll since Biden’s withdrawal.
All three panelists also hailed from Chicago, and they weighed in on what it meant to them that the Windy City was once again hosting a DNC and whether anything they heard at the convention could change their votes.
Although young voters are usually only a small slice of the electorate, they are an important part of the Democratic coalition, so any drop in support among them could be a problem for Democrats. Our discussion shed some light on how these voters are approaching the 2024 election.
(WASHINGTON) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently sought a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to multiple people familiar with the outreach.
Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, Kennedy’s campaign manager, told ABC News that she and Kennedy reached out to the Harris team but have yet to hear back.
The outreach was the latest in a monthslong and fruitless effort by the Kennedy campaign to speak with top Democrats, including President Joe Biden when he sat atop the Democratic ticket, Fox Kennedy told ABC.
However, the most recent attempts to meet with Harris appear to have carried extra meaning: the Washington Post reported Wednesday that Kennedy wanted to discuss the possibility of serving in Harris’ cabinet in exchange for an endorsement to help her over the finish line this fall.
Fox Kennedy did not dispute the details of the story and told ABC News, “Bobby has always been willing to meet with both parties to discuss the possibility of a unity government.”
Democrats on Wednesday all but dismissed the possibility of working out a deal with Kennedy, whose poll numbers have steadily dipped throughout the summer.
“No one has any intention of negotiating with a MAGA-funded fringe candidate who has sought out a job with Donald Trump in exchange for an endorsement,” said Lis Smith, an advisor to the Democratic National Committee.
Kennedy has met multiple times with Republican nominee Donald Trump, including an in-person meeting in Milwaukee last month where the men discussed possible roles for Kennedy in a Trump administration, as ABC News previously reported.
(INDIANAPOLIS) — As Vice President Kamala Harris ramps up her presidential campaign, she spoke to fired-up members of historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta in Indianapolis on Wednesday, where she highlighted Biden administration wins and worked to shore up support from Black voters — a key voting group in the 2024 election.
“In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation, one focused on the future, the other focused on the past, and with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future, and let us be clear about what that future looks like,” said Harris, who was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority — another historically Black sorority.
“I know the leaders in this room, and I know the future we believe in, and we fight for,” the vice president added.
Harris’ 15-minute-long speech was well-received in the room of about 6,000 Zetas, where she was met with raucous applause throughout.
Harris touted some wins under President Joe Biden such as forgiving student loan debt, working to establish affordable childcare and tackling prescription drug costs.
She mentioned Biden’s address to the nation on Wednesday night — where he will talk about his decision to abandon his reelection bid.
“Tonight, our president will address the nation about his decision to step down as a candidate, and he will talk about not only the work, the extraordinary work that he has accomplished, but about his work in the next six months,” Harris said.
Harris also slammed former President Donald Trump over Project 2025, the conservative presidential transition blueprint fronted by the Heritage Foundation.
Zeta Phi Beta, like Harris’s own sorority, is a part of the “Divine Nine” — a collection of nine historically Black fraternities and sororities. Both the Zetas and the AKAs were founded at the vice president’s alma mater of Howard University, a historically Black university.
The significance of this moment for these women is profound. A last-minute organizing fundraising Zoom call Sunday night saw some 44,000 Black women donating nearly $1.6 million, which contributed to a record-breaking $126 million raised since President Joe Biden’s endorsement of Harris for the job, according to a memo the campaign sent outlining its path forward.
“Vice President Harris has well-documented support from the Biden-Harris coalition of voters that delivered victory in 2020,” said campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon. “She has significant advantages with key parts of the Democratic base: Black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, women, and young voters.”
Black voters are a key group of voters that both Harris and Trump will work to connect with as the November election approaches.
During her speech, Harris encouraged the Black attendees to head to the polls to “make history.”
“We know when we organize, mountains move; when we mobilize, nations change; and when we vote, we make history,” Harris said. “So let us continue to fight with optimism and faith and hope. Because when we fight, we win.”
Trump — as well as then-candidate Biden — have worked to court Black and Hispanic voters on the issues of the economy, education, immigration and more.
Trump has recently attended events at Black Conservative Federation Gala in South Carolina, 180 Church in Michigan and New York City’s South Bronx to court Black voters and announce his “Black Americans for Trump” coalition.
Trump has centered his appeal to Black voters by equating his criminal prosecutions to the historic discrimination Black Americans have faced.
The Harris campaign’s push comes at a time when it’s trying to shore up continued interest from a constituency that has historically voted for Democrats.
Harris’ event, which the White House announced in early July — before Biden’s decision to leave the 2024 race, came at a controversial time. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington this week and addressed Congress on Wednesday — yet Harris was not there. It marks the first time Harris will miss a world leader visit since she has become vice president.
Harris, who in her secondary role to the president, has created some distance from Biden on the war in Gaza. Some pro-Palestinian groups tell ABC News that if she is able to strike the right tone in the coming weeks, she could win back the support Biden had lost.
The vice president is scheduled to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday.
(CHICAGO) — Former President Donald Trump’s interview on Wednesday at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in Chicago kicked off with a contentious start where he refused to answer his previous comments and why Black voters should trust him.
Trump had a conversation with ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner and Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba.
The first question came from ABC’s Scott, who asked about Trump’s past inflammatory rhetoric toward women of color.
“Now that you were asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should black voters trust you after you have used language like that?” Scott asked.
“Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question. So, in such a horrible manner, a first question. You don’t even say hello. Who are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network. A terrible network,” Trump began.
He also lashed out at NABJ for starting the program late and said they had him attending under false pretenses that his 2024 opponent would be participating, too.
“I love the Black population of this country,” he said, pointing to his work with Sen. Tim Scott on “opportunity zones” and his work on the economy.
When ABC’s Scott followed up by asking him to answer her question, Trump responded: “I have answered the question. I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.”
The former president went on to mock Vice President Kamala Harris and when asked about Republican comments that she is a “DEI” hire, Trump deflected — asking the journalist instead to define DEI, which she did repeatedly.
NABJ is working with Politifact for real-time fact checking on Trump’s comments.
Trump’s appearance has stoked some criticism. April Ryan, the Washington bureau chief of theGrio who was awarded the NABJ’s “Journalist of the Year” back in 2017, wrote online that his invitation was “a slap in the face.”
Karen Attiah, the co-chair of the convention, resigned earlier this week after the NABJ announced Trump’s appearance. Attiah wrote in a post on X, “To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck,” explaining that his appearance was only partly behind her decision and that it was “influenced by a variety of factors.”
Others, however, have defended the decision.
MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend, who was formerly Harris’s spokesperson, wrote on X: “Some of the best journalists in the country are members of NABJ. So, why wouldn’t they interview Trump? He is the Republican nominee.”
“NABJ didn’t platform Trump. The voters in the Republican primary did. Just like anyone else who is running for President, he should sit for serious interviews and answer real questions,” she wrote.
Vice President Harris was also invited to attend, according to NABJ, which has hosted presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle for years. President Joe Biden, former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have all attended the convention.
NABJ, in a statement on Wednesday, said that it was in contact with Harris’s team for an in-person panel before Biden had dropped out but “were advised by her campaign that her schedule could not accommodate this request.”
“The last update we were provided was that Harris would not be available in person or virtually during our Convention. We are in talks about virtual options in the future and are still working to reach an agreement,” Lemon said.
Though the Associated Press and NPR reported the organization declined an offer for her to appear virtually on Wednesday.
As Trump is in Chicago, Harris on Wednesday will have lunch with Biden at the White House before traveling to Houston, Texas, for a political event and to deliver remarks Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.’s 60th International Biennial Boule. The sorority is a historically Black organization with hundreds of chapters across the U.S. and internationally.
As the 2024 race ramps up, both Harris and Trump will be looking to shore up support among Black voters.
On the campaign trail this year, Trump’s suggested Black voters relate to his indictment and has frequently claims he will stop undocumented immigrants from taking “Black jobs.”
Harris, who is likely to be the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to head a major party’s presidential ticket, recently encouraged Black voters to help make history by supporting her. In her speech, she pointed to wins under the current administration like the Child Tax Credit that reduced Black child poverty, student loan relief and lowering the costs of prescription drugs.
“In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation, one focused on the future, the other focused on the past, and with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future, and let us be clear about what that future looks like,” Harris said at the event.
A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found enthusiasm for Harris as the Democratic nominee had peaked among Democrats (88%) and Black Americans (70%).