The New York Times followed a Frank Luntz focus group of 13 young undecided voters over the course of the campaign, the oldest of whom was 27.
What they found out from their coverage of them is rather fascinating and pretty hopeful, because it appears that the group coming up does largely get it. By the election, they had two for Kamala, four who went in different directions, and seven who voted for Trump.
Townhall’s Guy Benson broke down the article and observed the word “phony” was applied to Harris “over and over again” and her campaign was referred to as “empty.”
When asked to describe her campaign in one word or phrase, the voters described her as “disingenuous,” “a little manipulative,” “radical,” “without substance,” “wine and cheese crowd,” “excruciatingly painful to support,” “rushed and disastrous,” “missing in action,” and “mediocre.” They pretty much nailed her dead to rights, even the two people who ended up supporting her. A couple of others said that she didn’t differentiate herself from Biden, with whom they weren’t satisfied.
As a group, they were concerned about illegal immigration, although their overriding issue was the economy. And interestingly when asked what it came down to in the end, one said “opposing the Democrats” and “out of touch progressivism” — making it clear that people see it, they get it, and they are rejecting it.
In something that bodes well for the future and JD Vance, they liked him and he was a factor in the decision for some of them. Some were also influenced by the Joe Rogan interviews that Trump and Vance did.
“I can’t believe it, but I did end up voting for Donald Trump,” said Abigail, a 23-year-old Virginian who backed Mr. Biden last time. She felt Mr. Trump was a strong leader, liked his choice of JD Vance and felt Democrats made assumptions based on gender. “I made that decision when I saw JD Vance’s interview with The New York Times. He is the future of the Republican Party. I’m more voting for Vance than I am for Trump.“
George, 21, Ga., white, student, didn’t vote in 2020: “I voted for Donald Trump. Like Abigail, I was really impressed with JD Vance, especially during the V.P. debate.“
McLane, 25, D.C., white, legal field, wrote in Romney in 2020: “I shocked myself and voted for Trump. No one tell my family. I was so impressed by JD Vance, the way he carried himself and how normal he appeared. I think I became radicalized on the men and women’s sports issue. The ad that said, “Kamala represents they/them. Trump represents you,” that was so compelling. While Trump is deranged, he represented normalcy somehow to me.”
Lillian, 27, Va., white, digital advertising, voted Trump in 2020: I think that Donald Trump or JD Vance should go on “Joe Rogan” regularly. That would be a cool way to check in and give a progress update.
Even one of the voters who didn’t end up voting for Trump was considering it after she saw Vance and said she hoped to see more of him in the future. So much for VP choices not mattering. I think in the contest between Vance and Tim Walz, the quality of the choice wasn’t even close. It looks like the public saw it too.
The biggest thing that struck me was how much they got it when it came to the media. They outlined some of the crazy media stories that broke in the last couple of weeks and called out the media spin on things like the comments about Liz Cheney.
Lillian: “I voted for Trump and made that decision the same day the mainstream media was having a meltdown after the Madison Square Garden rally. I also saw an ad from Democrats about abortion misinformation that really made me upset. I said, “You know what? I’m going to vote for Trump. Everybody hates him. They’re lying about pregnancies. Let’s just do it.”
Abigail, 23, Va., white, graduate assistant, voted Biden in 2020: “I saw how the media has become so corrupted in their cause against Trump. There was that Trump clip of him saying: Put Cheney in front of a bunch of shooters. But he wasn’t actually implying Cheney should be shot. I cannot vote for an establishment that just thinks it’s OK to lie to us…I hope that in four years, the mainstream media wakes up and sees everybody is fine and stops calling Republicans fascists just because they disagree with them.”
Joseph, 24, S.C., white, high school teacher, voted Biden in 2020: “The mainstream media was carrying Kamala Harris’s water. We need a check on the president to have a healthy democracy. If Kamala Harris was elected, there wouldn’t be a check on her from the media.”
Jack, 22, N.Y., white, underwriter, voted Biden in 2020: “I think the press really has a double standard when it comes to Trump versus Harris or just the Democrats in general. We saw it with the ‘garbage’ comment by Biden. That was kind of just glossed over. Seeing people on MSNBC and even The Times, unfortunately, saying Kamala ran a flawless campaign. Maybe it’s because Trump actually had substance and Kamala just ran on joy.“
Ayshah, 21, Iowa, South Asian, student, didn’t vote in 2020: “Most people don’t read the whole articles. They read the headlines and form their own opinion, and the headlines are often very anti-Trump.”
Mark, 24, Calif., Black, chef, voted Biden in 2020: “They go after Trump and never went after Kamala. They have their own biases. And they let it seep into their coverage of the election.”
George, 21, Ga., white, student, didn’t vote in 2020: “I don’t think there is a single mainstream news outlet besides The Wall Street Journal that even pretends not to have a source of bias. Seeing The Washington Post’s reaction to them not endorsing a candidate — people resigning — it’s hell on Earth over there. And The New York Times is just clearly biased. Everyone is just so not fair to Trump.”
So it’s very encouraging that young voters can see the spin of the media; they don’t like it, and they’re not falling for it.
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