Veteran pollster Frank Luntz joined “Morning Joe” on Friday to discuss findings from a recent focus group he held with undecided Gen Z voters.
Luntz shared that, after watching the first — and likely only —presidential debate between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, he assumed a gap would open up in the polling between the two candidates.
“I had thought that Trump’s debate performance would disqualify him,” Luntz said. “I thought looking at the two candidates side by side, which the American people had been waiting weeks and months to see, that, just as Biden’s performance cost him the nomination, Trump’s performance would cost him the election.”
However, that wasn’t the case: Polls show Harris and Trump remain in a statistical dead heat.
Since the presidential race remains so close – especially in the seven battleground states that will likely decide the election – Luntz said undecided voters will be essential to either candidate’s path to victory, particularly young undecided voters.
“Make no mistake, we are on a pin’s edge right now and the essential key point of this is that who they vote for is the next president of the United States,” Lunz told the “Morning Joe” panel.
According to one young voter, Chris from Florida, Trump’s debate performance did impact how he plans to vote in November.
“I think I’m gonna vote for Kamala Harris,” Chris said. “I just can’t get over what happened in 2020 and what’s been reaffirmed in the debates and the general statements made during the campaign.”
“It’s not just the riot but the alternative slate of electors scheme is a bridge too far for me,” he went on to explain.
Another participant, Angelo from New York, said he was previously leaning toward Harris but is now floating the idea of writing another candidate’s name on the ballot.
“The more I look back into it, the more I watch the debate, the more I look into her campaign, I just cannot trust her,” he said. “I’m not gonna vote for Trump but the more I think about it, the more I just don’t know if I can vote for Harris.”
That wasn’t the case for Ayshah from Iowa, who told Luntz that if the election were held today, she would cast her ballot for Harris.
“I just want to see what she will do because I know she’s gonna have to run again later,” she said. “So, I’m hoping she will be an exemplary president for this term.”
Abigail from Virginia said the discussion with her fellow Gen Z voters influenced her to look further into both candidates. However, she also expressed hesitancy in supporting Trump due to his actions in the days and months after the 2020 election.
“Some people said some things tonight that motivated me to do a bit more research,” Abigail told Luntz. “But the thing is, I do not want to vote for someone, I do not want to tell my children I voted for someone, that threatened democracy.”
“I need to analyze and think a little more before I just vote for Trump,” she said.
Reflecting on his conversation with the group, Luntz offered advice to both campaigns on how they can appeal to Gen Z voters in the closing weeks of the election:
“Trump, if he wants to win, needs to say less,” Luntz suggested. “If Harris wants to win, she needs to say more. They don’t like who Trump is but they agree with him on inflation and immigration. They do like what Harris represents but they still feel like she hasn’t been sufficiently forthcoming.”
“If she loses, it’s going to be because she didn’t answer the questions that voters had wanted her to answer,” Luntz said. “And if he wins, it’s because he finally realized he needs to say less, not more.”
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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