CHICAGO (AP) 鈥� 鈥� .鈥� 鈥� 鈥� 鈥� .鈥�
In the days since President exited the presidential race and endorsed Vice President , Gen Z voters jumped to social media to share coconut tree and 鈥渂rat summer" 鈥� reflecting a stark shift in tone for a generation that's voiced feeling left behind by the Democratic Party.
Youth-led progressive organizations have warned for months that Biden had a problem with young voters, pleading with the president to work more closely with them to refocus on the issues most important to younger generations or risk losing their votes. With Biden out of the race, many of these young leaders are now hoping Harris can overcome his faltering support among Gen Z and harness a new explosion of energy among young voters.
Since last Sunday, statements have poured out from youth-led organizations across the country, including in , , , , , and , as leaders thanked Biden for stepping aside and celebrated the opportunity to organize around a new candidate. On Friday, a coalition of 17 youth-led groups endorsed Harris.
鈥淭his changes everything,鈥� said Zo Tobi, director of communication for the Movement Voter Project, a national progressive funding group focusing on youth-led organizations, when he heard the news that Biden was dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris. 鈥淭he world as it is suddenly shifted into the world as it could be.鈥�
As the campaign enters a new phase, both Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, are delivering messages aimed at younger voters who could prove decisive in some of the most hotly contested states.
Harris recorded a brief video message shown Saturday at a conference of Gen Z activists and elected officials in Atlanta.
鈥淲e know young voters will be key, and we know your vote cannot be taken for granted,鈥� Harris told the gathering, highlighting her support for gun safety, abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and action to combat climate change.
Eve Levenson, the national youth engagement director for Harris鈥� campaign, attended the conference in Atlanta, and she praised young voters across the country for their response to the vice president鈥檚 elevation to likely nominee.
鈥淎s amazing as it is to see the tremendous youth enthusiasm online, what has been even more incredible is how that online energy has already translated into a tangible desire to take action and get involved with our campaign,鈥� she said, citing new voter registrations, small donations from young voters and student requests to help start campus-based campaign organizations.
Trump, in his own address Friday in Florida to a conference on faith hosted by Turning Point USA, derided Harris as an 鈥渋ncompetent鈥� and a 鈥渇ar left" vice president. He vowed to champion religious Americans' causes in a second White House term.
鈥淲ith your vote, I will defend religious liberty in all of its forms,鈥� Trump told the conservative group that focuses on high school, college and university campuses. "I will protect Christians in our schools and our military and our government and our workplaces and our hospitals, in our public square and I will also protect other religions."
John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, who has worked with Biden, said the 鈥渨hite-hot energy鈥� among young people is something he hasn't seen since former President Barack Obama鈥檚 campaign. While there's little reliable polling so far, he described the dynamic as 鈥渁 combination of the hopefulness we saw with Obama and the urgency and fight we saw after the Parkland shooting.鈥�
In many ways, it was the first time many young people felt heard and felt like their actions could have an impact on politics, he and several young leaders said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 reset this election in profound ways," he said. "People, especially young people, for so long, for so many important reasons have been despondent about politics, despondent about the direction of the country. It鈥檚 weighed on them. And then they wake up the next morning, and it seems like everything鈥檚 changed.鈥�
About 6 in 10 adults under 30 voted for Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, but his ratings with the group have dipped substantially since then, with only about a quarter of the group saying they had a favorable opinion of him in the most recent AP-NORC poll, conducted before Biden withdrew from the race.
That poll, along with polls from The New York Times/Siena and from CNN that were conducted after Biden dropped out, suggest that Harris starts off with somewhat better favorable ratings than Biden among young adults.
Sunjay Muralitharan, vice president of College Democrats of America, said it felt like a weight was lifted off his chest when Harris entered the race.
Despite monthly coalition calls between youth-led groups and the Biden campaign, Muralitharan spent months worrying about how Biden would fare among young voters as he watched young people leave organizations such as the College Democrats and Young Democrats to join more leftist groups.
College Democrats issued statements and social media posts encouraging the party to prioritize young people and to on the war in Gaza and have 鈥渨orked tirelessly to get College Dems programming鈥� at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this summer. But they received limited outreach in return, Muralitharan said.
A Harris campaign represents an opportunity to move in a new direction, he said. The vice president has shown her vocal support for issues important to young voters such as climate change and , Muralitharan said, adding that she may also be able to change course and distance herself from Biden's approach to the war in Gaza.
鈥淭he perpetual roadblock we鈥檝e run into is that Biden is the lesser of two evils and his impact on the crisis in Gaza," he said. "For months, we鈥檝e been given this broken script that鈥檚 made it difficult for us to organize young voters. But that changes now.鈥�
Santiago Mayer, executive director of the Gen Z voter engagement organization Voters of Tomorrow, said the Biden campaign 鈥渃reated an entirely new framework for operating with youth organizations鈥� that can now be transitioned into supporting Harris' campaign.
鈥淕en Z loves VP Harris, and VP Harris loves Gen Z," he said. "So we鈥檙e ready to get to work for her.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Christine Fernando, The Associated Press
