--- title: Poll: Only 1 in 5 Millennials Lean Republican description: A new poll from USA Today/Rock the Vote shows Clinton trouncing Trump among young voters canonical: https://time.com/4452330/millennials-republican-rock-the-vote/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-15T14:51:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:42:54.007Z article:section: Politics og:title: Poll: Only 1 in 5 Millennials Lean Republican og:description: A new poll from USA Today/Rock the Vote shows Clinton trouncing Trump among young voters og:url: https://time.com/4452330/millennials-republican-rock-the-vote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Poll: Only 1 in 5 Millennials Lean Republican twitter:description: A new poll from USA Today/Rock the Vote shows Clinton trouncing Trump among young voters twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Only 1 in 5 Millennials Lean Republican, Poll Finds > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8ea93032-6715-49ed-98b6-340fd7ae3ce7&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Young Republicans Explain What They Think of GOP Candidates [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Young Republicans Explain What They Think of GOP Candidates](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3wQIKwZN.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2016-02-11. GOPMIllenials_v2_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 15, 2016 2:51 PM UTC GOPMIllenials\_v2 by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 15, 2016 2:51 PM UTC A new poll finds a significant gap in young voters’ support for the Democratic Party over the GOP, which could signal trouble for the 2016 election and beyond. The latest [USA Today/Rock the Vote poll](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/14/donald-trump-historic-trouncing-among-younger-voters-hillary-clinton-president-poll/88666746/) found that while about half of young voters lean Democrat, just 20% lean Republican. Millennials have surpassed the Baby Boomers in terms of population, according to the U.S. Census, and could again play a major determining role in the 2016 race for the White House. Fifty-six percent of voters under the age of 35 would support the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if the election were held today, compared to 20% who would support Republican nominee Donald Trump. The poll is the latest to suggest young voters, who helped President Obama solidify his wins in 2008 and 2012, are leaning Democratic this election cycle. A separate [Harvard Institute of Politics](http://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/harvard-iop-spring-2016-poll) poll of 18 to 29 year-old likely 2016 voters found that 61% wanted a Democrat to win the White House, up 6-points from a 2015 poll. Support for Republicans, on the other hand, fell 7 points between Spring 2015 and Spring 2016, when just 33% of millennials said they wanted the GOP to take the White House. The latest poll also shows that the young liberals who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary are looking to support Clinton in the general election. About 72% of former Sanders supporters now say they’d vote for Clinton; 11% would vote for Trump and 11% won’t vote. The USA Today/Rock the Vote poll was conducted online between Aug. 5 and Aug. 10\. A reported 1,539 adults age 18-34 were surveyed online. The poll has a margin of error of 4.6%. Read more poll results at [_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/14/donald-trump-historic-trouncing-among-younger-voters-hillary-clinton-president-poll/88666746/). ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:02] I think it's much easier to be, at my age to be a [00:04] democrat than a republican. In AP government we took [00:07] a quiz to see which presidential candidate we agree [00:10] with most and everyone in my family got Michael [00:12] Rubio. I think he's risen from the bottom and that gives [00:15] me motivation to do the same. I know this issue, not [00:16] because I read about it in a book I see it every day. I'm [00:23] a Republican because I do not like poverty. Same thing [00:26] as the Democrats, but I have a different way of going [00:29] about it. I'm Republican because that's how I came up. [00:33] He's very, very pro- life. That means a lot to me. [00:37] Another thing is, taxes I guess. I don't like Taxes. [00:42] The environment is my biggest concern. The [00:44] democrats address the social issues that we pay [00:47] attention to and as high school students. We can't keep [00:50] spending this much money as a federal government. [00:52] The republicans need to do a little more. Donald [00:55] Trump, he's a very smart man. That's way a lot of [00:58] younger guys I know are really into Trump. They think [01:00] he's going to shake things up and he's like gonna build [01:04] a wall [ UNKNOWN ] so manly, and I'm like guys .>> [01:07] Since the summer I've seen almost all the candidates [01:10] on the republican side .>> I followed candidates on [01:13] twitter actually. I've gotten there signatures I've talked [01:16] to them. Donald Trumps are pretty funny also follow [01:18] [ UNKNOWN ] his family put out a cute video I loved [01:21] it .>> On Facebook I always see articles about how. [01:25] Bernie Sanders is like the hero, how Donald Trump is a [01:28] total bigot, how everyone in the Republican Party is [01:31] old, white and racist. This is an election where the [01:35] issues are important but almost equally as important [01:37] Are the way that people run campaigns. But then you [01:39] see we have two Hispanic candidates running for [01:42] office, we have a black candidate, Ben Carson, we [01:44] have Carly Fiorina, a woman, all running for office. Just [01:46] the way the candidates present themselves and the [01:48] way they treat one another, the way they interact with [01:50] one another, and the way they interact with voters. 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