With the final results of US presidential elections almost knocking at the doors, there has been an intense face-off between the current US President, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the presidential candidate from the Democrats’ side and ex-Vice President.

The upcoming presidential election which is underlined for being an exceptional one in American history, seems to have shaken things up. There seems to be a lot happening among the voters, especially the youth in terms of expression of opinions and concerns. This election is witnessing the highest turnouts in a century. The youth is very important for win with regards to the Presidential candidates in the United States. One such reason is that they are considered as new voters who can easily sway the decision of the votes. Hence, they are also considered as a source of frustration and at the same time as a potential advantage for the candidates. In some cases, the young adults have not turned up at the polls. They complain that politicians do not care about their issues and they thus feel less inclined to vote.

To understand the trend, one can observe that Obama’s 2008 victory was noted for a huge turnaround of the youth as he had made numerous efforts to reach out to them which threw the electoral weight in his favour.

Realistically speaking, Biden has not been considered as quite the youth influencer of the order of Barrack Obama who had earned 68% of the 18-29 years old voters compared to 2016 according to exit polls. But Biden seems to have performed better than Hilary Clinton who had 55% voters under the age of 30 years as per the IOP survey.

In the IOP’s 2019 fall poll, Biden is likely to have the support of 16% of voters aged 18-19 years and trailed on preference for the Democratic nominations. Biden has not only gathered the support of the youth voters as during the spring 2020 polls, but he also had a 34% approval rating among the young voters which has now raised to 47% and 56% among voters of the young age group.

Since then a lot has changed in terms of swaying the youth voters. It is not just about meeting their demands in terms of policies anymore. Initially, there were poll projections that showed that Biden was considered as an alternative to Trump.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone around the globe, and climatic degradation has been a major cause of concern for majority of citizens. The US citizens have seen about 27 different candidates enter the Presidential candidate race, and at this point, Biden is the only promising candidate standing tall giving a tough fight to Trump on various issues across the spectrum.

A major focus of Biden’s ideology has been the development of progressive policies. Trump has been criticized for being racial and a discriminator against minorities. People feel that Biden is a person on moral high grounds.

The country’s youth is seeking policies that favour debt reduction, plans to tackle climate change by 2030, and favorable medical policies. Trump had gathered a lot of popularity during the 2016 elections as his approach was neither traditional nor was he typically behaving like the regular Republican leaders.

In terms of handling of International relations by the US, Biden has also promised a better dealing with the situations in the Middle-east, Afghanistan and especially Iran, which has started developing its nuclear facilities following the literal dismantling of the Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA).

Environmentalists have shared that the youth today, has shown keen interest in saving the environment by taking initiatives towards mitigating greenhouse gas emission effects and efforts towards afforestation. Trump is known for vocally refuting the threat of climate change and global warming in his run-up to the 2016 polls while Biden has been praised from many quarters for appreciating the science behind the climate change and accepting it. The California wildfire, in the same year as Australian fire, both said to be caused by rising temperatures, is on the minds of not only US populace but also the entire world. Since Biden has taken care of including such major climatic changes which encompass larger population in his policies, the youth is very impressed by him. Moreover, he will visibly follow-up on the actions taken by Obama who had clearly delineated that the issue of climate-change is linked to national security. It is not just about listening to the younger generation but also about taking legitimate actions in their favour, which is exactly what Biden plans on doing. This is one of the major reasons why he is the most suitable candidate from the perspective of a younger mind.

As per a recent report from a survey by the Harvard Institute of Politics, nearly two-thirds of the voters aged between 18-29 years would be voting, which is much higher as compared to the 2008 elections.

The UN scientists have recently raised the concern that the world has only a decade to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and prevent irreversible harm to the planet. Their study suggests that countries like the USA need to bring in drastic global changes for the well-being of the environment. This is even more concerning given that US has exited the Paris climate accord of 2015 under Trump, which Biden is expected to reverse.

Joe Biden has shared that the country shall target to achieve ‘zero carbon emissions’ by the year 2050. For this, he has created a special task force that would be committed to address the issue of climate change. Also, his acute attention towards an assuring format of healthcare and wage structure looks quite promising to the young adults.

All these pointers clearly indicate that Biden is poised to gain significant momentum through young voters. Whether that pans out as a Democrat victory remains to be seen now.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.