Axios Vibes: Young voters more skeptical about counts by machine
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Gen Z and Millennial voters are more skeptical about ballot-counting machines than older Americans, who by a clear majority trust machines more than people when it comes to counting votes, according to the latest Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll.
Why it matters: Conspiracy theories around voting machines spread by former President Trump and his allies have seeped into public consciousness in ways that could undermine trust in results.
- Every legitimate audit and expert after expert after expert has found that voting machines are extraordinarily accurate and safe from interference.
- "Young voters have come of age amid 'Stop the Steal' and the rampant accusations of voting machines being manipulated," said John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll, which is not affiliated with Vice President Harris' campaign. "This is all young voters know."
By the numbers: Overall, U.S. voters surveyed said they trust machines over people to count votes, 60% to 40%.
- That margin drops to 54% to 46% among Gen Z voters (ages 18-27) — the same as with Republican voters despite most of Gen Z's left-wing alignment. Among Millennials (ages 28-43), trust in machines was even lower at 50%.
- By contrast, about two-thirds of older Americans trust machines more than people.
Reality check: Gerzema said there may be more nuance to these findings, especially considering younger Americans' daily reliance on and comfort with technology.
- Younger Americans have less faith in data privacy, which may impact how they interpret questions about trust in voting machines.
- In the Vibes survey, 84% of Boomers — but just 70% of Gen Z voters — trust that their vote choices truly remain secret. And most of those Gen Z voters say they only somewhat trust, rather than strongly trust, the privacy of their votes.
- Some also may view clunky, simple-looking machines as too "low-tech" to trust — though, ironically, machines' simple nature and use of paper ballots are believed to help protect their safety and accuracy.
Methodology: The findings in this Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll are based on a nationally representative sample of 2,129 U.S. adults conducted online Oct. 22-24, 2024, among which 1,858 identified were registered voters.
- The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval.
- For this study, the data for the overall population is accurate to within +/- 2.4 percentage points using a 95% confidence level, and +/- 2.6 percentage points for respondents within the registered voters.
