Young voters will be surveyed about 2024 in innovative polling model
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
About 500 young voters are flying into D.C. this weekend to take part in a unique election poll — spanning three days, with group discussions and information sessions.
Why it matters: It's called Deliberative Polling, and researchers are taking a pulse of 18-year-olds (and 17-year-olds about to reach legal voting age) who will participate in their first presidential election this November.
How it works: Unlike normal polls that produce rapid responses, Stanford University created a model that aims to give respondents neutral and deep knowledge about a wide range of topics — and then collect their opinions.
- "America in One Room: The Youth Vote," co-hosted by Close Up, Stanford, and several other nonpartisan groups, has participants from across the country.
Topics include health care; the economy, AI, and taxes; the environment; and democracy and elections.
Between the lines: "I'm sure the presidential election will come up, one of the reasons we're hosting the event now," Alice Siu, associate director of the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford, tells Axios. But "they're not specifically talking about the candidates."
- Discussions will present proposals for and against an idea, such as requiring social media users under 16 to have parental consent to create online accounts.
- Organizers aim to keep discussions constructive.
Participants are surveyed via questionnaires before and after the process.
- Researchers will track shifts in opinion.
The fine print: The group will be holed up in a Capitol Hill hotel, all expenses paid through nonpartisan sponsors who support the Stanford project.
- Research firm Generation Lab says it recruited the in-person sample of voters from members of 2024 and 2025 graduating high school classes. The group Helena and the Neely Center at USC Marshall are also co-partners.
What's next: Results are expected to be made public in August.