Young People In Seattle Want A New Mayor, Polling Shows

The Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) July Civic Heartbeat polling shows that Mayor Bruce Harrell and his progressive challenger Katie Wilson are in a statistical tie for the upcoming Mayoral election. The results mark the second time NPI has demonstrated Wilson’s viability in a matchup the powers that be have pretended was a forgone conclusion. Wilson won’t win with flashy, big name endorsements or outside spending from the usual power brokers, but the polling seems to suggest one possible, alternative path to victory. If her campaign can get young people to vote, Wilson will be the next Mayor of Seattle. 

Change Research interviewed 651 likely primary voters. When asked who they are voting for in the primary, 29% said Harrell and 27% said Wilson with the largest bloc, 39% saying they were not sure. Once the respondents saw the information in the voters’ guide, they swung in favor of Wilson: 35% to her, 33% to the incumbent, and 19% still undecided. Respondents also put Wilson (40%) above Harrell (37%) when asked about a race between just the two of them and the margin widened (43% vs. 39%) after they heard the candidates’ statements in the voter guide. 

NPI also found that the biggest divide in responses revolved around age. Wilson scored 53% of voters 34 and younger — Harrell got a measly 9%. As for voters 65 and older, Harrell won 54% and Wilson 14%. Dividing into two brackets of “young” and “old” voters, voters below 50 go 46% for Wilson and 18% for Harrell while voters 50 and older pick Harrell 48% of the time and Wilson 17%. 

Unfortunately for Wilson, young people just do not vote as much as older people. As of noon on Monday, 65% of the 105,000 ballots turned across King County so far belong to voters over the age of 55, a solidly pro-Harrell demographic. Voters under 35, who are most likely to vote for Wilson, only account for about 11.3% of the 105,000 ballots returned so far. 

While more young people tend to turn in their ballots closer to election day, it's still clear that younger voters are wildly underrepresented. Almost 60% of Seattle residents are 39 or younger, but they are nowhere near the majority of voters. Only 16% of Seattleites are over 60 and yet they represent their largest voting bloc by far. 

Want more young people to vote? Be the change you want to see. Turn in your ballot by August 5 at 8pm and tell the young people in your life to do the same.