Renzo Downey
In an effort to help Joe Biden win Florida on Election Day, NextGen Florida is hoping to turn out young voters in the final five days of the presidential campaign.
More than 926,000 Floridians under 35 have voted as of Thursday morning, already showing historic turnout. Among voters 18-29, 49% are Democrats while 24% are unaffiliated voters who NextGen Florida says overwhelmingly support the Democratic presidential nominee.
The progressive organization backed by California billionaire Tom Steyer believes young Floridians could shape the presidential election. The Sunshine State is a must-win battleground state for President Donald Trump, who has virtually no conceivable path to a second term without the state’s 29 electoral votes.
“Young people in Florida are motivated to vote in this election and we’re making it known,” NextGen Florida State Director Justin Atkins said in a statement. “We, along with our families, have faced countless obstacles this year, including a disastrous response to coronavirus and a health and unemployment crisis exacerbated by years of failed Republican policies. Young voters are fired up to fire Donald Trump and his associates in Florida.”
The organization is helping voters develop voting plans and helping them through the voting process.
Since June, NextGen Florida has spent $2.6 million on digital ads aimed at young Black and Latino voters on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Hulu and Pandora. Since the start of the month alone, they have run or scheduled more than $880,000 worth of ads.
The group’s targeting split between Black and Latino voters has been mostly equal with about $1.3 million spent targeting each group. In June and July, the spending focus slightly favored African American voters. Since August, the majority of ads have targeted Latino voters.
Ballots cast so far by voters 29 and younger make up a larger share of the turnout than they did in the 2016 election.
“These are the marginal shifts that could lead to a victory for Joe Biden in Florida that is fueled by young voters,” according to the group.
But voters supporting Trump are expected to turn out in larger numbers on Election Day rather than voting by mail.
NextGen Florida also took credit, in part, for increased youth turnout in 2018 compared to the previous midterm election in 2014.
An NBC News/Marist poll released Thursday shows Biden with a narrow lead in the Sunshine State, 51%-47%. Only 2% of likely voters are undecided, according to the poll.
Real Clear Politics’ polling average shows the former Vice President now up 0.5 percentage points in the state after that poll. Two polls showing Trump up 4 points, Susquehanna and right-leaning Rasmussen, swung the average in the President’s favor in recent days, peaking with the President up 0.4 points.
But FiveThirtyEight gives Biden a 65% chance to win the state, slightly worsening odds over the past week. Their model expects a 2-point advantage for the former Vice President when the votes are tallied.
2 comments
Sonja Fitch
October 29, 2020 at 12:05 pm
We all got to Vote! Vote Democrat up and down ballot for the common good!
Ronald Hoffman
October 29, 2020 at 12:30 pm
You mean Turn it BLUE like Baltimore , Philadelphia and East Cleveland? This is an interesting project by committed leftists who don’t give a crap about the poor black kids who live in filthy Democrat party run inner cities. Turn it blue,then eliminate the incentive to think for themselves politically and not like entitled “victims” who are encouraged by BLM to riot and loot every weekend risking injury or arrest. How about you self righteous Marxist ideology imbeciles create a safe environment for those kids with no parents , who are in jail for rampant substance abuse and violent crimes? Then worry about turning the states BLUE? Your party is a disgrace. John F. Kennedy be glad you’re not seeing this.
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