How Joe Biden can Earn the Youth Vote

The suspension of Bernie Sanders’ campaign in early April crushed many young voters who believed he was the only candidate who represented their ideals. In the weeks since, hostility between supporters of Sanders and those of Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee, has risen. This increase in antagonism can be seen throughout the political world, including on Harvard’s (virtual) campus. 

Along with several college groups that supported Sanders, Harvard College Students for Bernie, a subgroup of the Harvard Democrats, announced that they would not endorse Biden in an April 11 tweet. Harvard College Students for Biden quickly responded, arguing that not voting for Biden amounts to a vote for Trump, emphasizing unity, and asserting that “Some of us don’t have the privilege to sit this one out.” Interactions have not gotten friendlier from there, with the two groups sparring on Twitter and through other platforms, including house email lists. 

As young voters could be a decisive factor in this election, it seems that Biden would be well-served to overcome such animosity and increase his support among them. Certainly, some youth will not be swayed toward voting for Biden; they may not change their minds on Biden due to Tara Reade’s recent accusation of sexual assault against him, or their hesitation may stem from concern about his policies. These policies, however, can change. If Biden wants to increase youth support — and he should, to build the strongest coalition against Donald Trump possible — he should prioritize more progressive policy proposals on healthcare and climate change, two of the most important issues to youth. Doing so could bolster his support with young voters concerned about his commitment to progressivism and aggressive action, and help him win in November. 

Healthcare as a Human Right

Though it is unlikely Biden will shift to a Medicare for All proposal in the vein of Sanders, changes to his current healthcare plan could help win support from voters who want a single-payer system. 

Healthcare is enormously important to young voters. According to John Della Volpe, a polling director at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, healthcare was the second most important issue for young voters in the 2018 midterms, behind only gun control. A single-payer system is extremely popular too: a 2018 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV found that 88% of young Democrats aged 15 to 34 favored single-payer insurance. More recently, the Harvard Public Opinion Project’s Fall 2019 Youth Poll found that 57% of respondents aged 18 to 29 who identified as likely to vote in a Democratic primary supported eliminating private health insurance. Though these numbers vary, the single-payer option is undoubtedly popular with young Democrats.

There were many candidates in the primaries who supported universal healthcare. Though Sanders was the candidate who centered his platform around the idea of healthcare as a human right, universal healthcare also won varying levels of support from other candidates. Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio both endorsed full Medicare for All, while several candidates, including Cory Booker and Kirtsten Gillibrand, backed the same policy with some exceptions.

By contrast, Biden falls into the least progressive camp. Though his healthcare plan would widely expand the Affordable Care Act, it falls far short of what many young Democratic voters hoped for. In short, Biden would maintain private health insurance while adding a public option for which anyone could sign up. Additionally, he would raise the value of tax credits to help more Americans get coverage. Currently, families making 100 to 400% of the federal poverty line are eligible for a tax credit that prevents them from paying more than 9.86% of their income toward health insurance. Biden plans to get rid of the 400% cap and reduce the percent of income paid to 8.5%. He estimates his plan would insure over 97% of Americans, stating on his website that it promises the “peace of mind of affordable, quality health care.” 

Though Biden’s proposal expands the Affordable Care Act and would cover more Americans, approximately 8.8% of whom are currently uninsured, its reforms are not nearly as dramatic as Sanders’. While Biden hopes to increase coverage to 97% of Americans, young voters, contending that healthcare is a human right, argue that the goal should be 100%. Many supported Sanders’ plan, which promised universal healthcare that would include vision, dental, and long-term care at home, and prohibit premiums, deductibles, and co-payments. 

It is unlikely that Joe Biden will be convinced to adopt a full Medicare-for-all system. He is a moderate who does not want to alienate his older, more centrist voter base. This, however, does not mean he has no room to shift to the left. A more aggressive plan that aims to cover the remaining 3% of Americans, an expansion of the public option to provide coverage for more types of appointments and procedures, and an acknowledgement of healthcare as a right and not a privilege could represent important first steps to gaining more support among youth.

The Push for Climate Action

In addition to healthcare, making climate change a priority issue is also critical for improving Biden’s chances to win over young voters. A whopping 80% of voters aged 18 to 29 agree with the statement that global warming is “a major threat to human life on earth.” Young people, after all, will be the ones living in a world hurt by unsustainable and unclean practices which are perpetrated by corporate greed. Though both Biden and Sanders proposed climate action plans based on the Green New Deal, Sanders’ was again far more progressive.

For months, the youth climate activist organization known as the Sunrise Movement has voiced concerns that Biden will not be aggressive enough in dealing with the climate crisis. In a breakdown of the climate policies of 2020 Democratic candidates, Sunrise gave Sanders’ Green New Deal a 95% compatibility rating with the Green New Deal and Biden’s Clean Energy Revolution only 35%. 

Most of the deficiencies in Biden’s plan stem from what they see as a lack of urgency and ambition. For instance, Sanders wanted to spend $16.3 trillion over the next decade toward climate action, creating 20 million new jobs in a green economy. Biden, on the other hand, has only committed to spending $1.7 trillion over the same time period and hopes to create 10 million new jobs. Similarly, Sanders’ promise to take the American economy entirely off fossil fuels by 2050 was far more ambitious than Biden’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, which would still allow the country to burn fossil fuels and release emissions. Perhaps most tellingly, Sanders demonstrated his strong commitment to aggressive climate action by stating he would declare climate change a national emergency. Biden has not said he will do so. 

There are several ways Biden could make his climate action proposals more ambitious and assuage some young voters’ concerns. Though many young activists have declined to endorse him, the leadership of the Sunrise Movement has shown a willingness to work with Biden and to try to push him to the left. For instance, the movement, along with multiple other youth activist organizations, recently sent a letter asking him to commit to transitioning to clean energy in the next decade. “We need to push Biden to be a stronger candidate more capable of mobilizing young and climate voters should he be the Democratic nominee,” executive director of the Sunrise Movement Varshini Prakash told VICE News a few days before Sanders dropped out. 

Unfortunately, Biden does not have a good track record in his interactions with Sunrise. But it’s not too late: a willingness to listen to the concerns of young people and to prioritize ambitious climate action could still help. Biden must recognize how integral aggressive action on climate change is to progressive youth voters, and actively work to make his policies reflect the urgency of the climate crisis. 

One only needs to glance at the Twitter feeds of Harvard College Students for Biden and Harvard College Students for Bernie to see the mistrust and anger between the two factions. While Harvard College Students for Bernie’s account has criticized President of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanen, Harvard College Students for Biden recently retweeted Tanden telling Harvard Bernie supporters to “get off [their] high horse.” Rhetoric like this can make Sanders supporters feel as though their political critiques will never be taken seriously. Young supporters of Sanders, including those from Harvard, feel disillusioned from a party they believe does not prioritize their interests; their lack of support could have a significant negative effect on Biden’s chances in the general election. 

In a race as significant and unpredictable as this one, Biden should not risk losing the youth vote. Restructuring his stances and policies on healthcare and climate, as well as on other issues, could increase Biden’s appeal to young voters and help him capture this important segment of the electorate. 

Image Credit: Flickr / Gage Skidmore