TikTok bill tests Biden’s relationship with young people who ‘don’t feel a connection’

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Gaza protesters interrupting President Joe Biden‘s public appearances have served as a reminder of his political problems with young people this election cycle.

But a possible upheaval of TikTok is the latest political development that could upend 81-year-old Biden’s appeals to the demographic before November.

Young people’s political power as a voting bloc has historically been downplayed because of a tendency not to turn out compared to other demographics, but not this year, according to pollster David Paleologos. That is because it is the one demographic, defined as people aged 18-34, or members of Generation Z and younger millennials, that is “dramatically different” in recent polls in contrast to previous election seasons, said Paleologos, Suffolk University’s Political Research Center director.

“In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College but won young voters by 19 [percentage] points,” Paleologos told the Washington Examiner. “In 2020, Joe Biden won young voters by 24 points. In today’s polling, if the polls are right, Biden trails among young voters.”

In Suffolk University’s poll this week with USA Today, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, had a 6-point advantage over Biden among young people, 37% to 31%, with a “whopping 24 points going to third-party options,” such as the Green Party’s Jill Stein, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Cornel West, Paleologos added. In January, two months ago, Biden was at 26% and Trump was at 32%.