Donald Trump Flips First Time Voters

President-elect Donald Trump secured more first-time voters than four years ago, according to exit polling, taking away the Democratic Party’s majority with the group.
Among the voters asked by NBC, 56 percent of first-time voters chose the Republican over the 43 percent who selected Vice President Kamala Harris. Four years ago, 64 percent of first-timers picked President Joe Biden, while Trump only attracted 32 percent.
Although the group made up only around 8 percent of all voters in 2024, the numbers showed a shift in appeal for Trump, who also fell behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the demographic in 2016.
First-time voters were among six groups that favored Trump over Harris in Tuesday’s election, with women, Latino men, younger, rural and moderate voters voting more for the Republican than the Democrat.
Among the first-time voters were 8 million from Gen Z, who narrowed the Democrats’ lead among 18 to -29-year-olds from 24 percent in 2020 to 13 percent in 2024.
Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement analyzed this group specifically, finding that young voters shifted toward Trump but mostly favored Harris. This potentially means that older first-timers tipped the scales in favor of the president-elect.
When it came to new voters aged 18 and 19 who were not eligible to vote in the 2022 midterms, at least 13 states saw more registrations than they did with the same age range in 2020.
Among the states that saw rises were the battleground states of Michigan (26 percent), Nevada (19 percent), and Georgia (8 percent). Three other swing states—Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania—all saw a drop in young, first-time voters.
Tufts’ analysis in October explained that Gen Z had become a major force in civic life, voting at higher rates than previous generations, but it remained a challenge for both parties to reach them.
Trump has appeared to gain support from this demographic not through direct campaign messaging but by appearing on podcasts, including The Joe Rogan Experience, with which many younger voters engage.
The Harris campaign, meanwhile, tried to reach younger, first-time voters through its vast social media campaign and celebrity endorsements, which did not appear to have paid off. As the Vice President delivered her concession speech Wednesday, she thanked younger voters.
“To the young people who are watching, it is OK to feel sad and disappointed,” she said. “But please know it is going to be OK. On the campaign, I would often say when we fight, we win. But here’s the thing, here’s the thing. Sometimes, the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up.”