Kellyanne Conway warns GOP of problem with young voters, says Democrats building a 'turnout machine'

Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said she's worried young voter turnout in the 2024 election will hurt the Republican party as the Biden administration turns to social media influencers.

"I think we got some work to do on the young people who think differently on abortion perhaps, guns, or climate change,'' Conway told Fox News' Laura Ingraham.

While most Americans (53%) say medication abortion should be legal, 66% of Americans ages 18-29 say it should be legal compared to the 12% that say it should be illegal, according to Pew Research Center.

Conway also said she’s concerned the left is becoming a “turnout machine” with young voters because of the administration’s use of influencers.

“Influencers have this domino effect, lemming-like effect of people just all...wanting to be part of the same crowd,” Conway said.

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Conway: GOP has work to do with younger voters

While Conway criticized the Biden administration, she noted it was a “smart strategy” to lean on social media influencers, and that the GOP has “some work” to do in appealing to younger voters.

“Look, the Republican party cannot wait for the young to turn old and the single to be married to find new voters, that’s for sure,” Conway said. “I think we’ve already won the policy arguments on the economy, on education, on a number of issues. I think we’ve got some work to do on the young people."

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Abortion was young voters' top issue during the 2022 midterm elections, with 44% of younger voters citing abortion as the issue that most influenced their vote, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University as known as CIRCLE.

“We need to compete for ballots, not just voters and not just minds,” Conway said. “And I think they’re trying to do that with these influencers. I have faith in the American people, I think they’ll catch onto this and say I want a policy argument.”

Biden administration looks to influencers to boost youth vote

While President Joe Biden has yet to announce a reelection campaign, the administration is set to partner with hundreds of influencers to help boost the president’s standing with younger voters and counter former President Donald Trump’s social media following – especially if he is the GOP’s 2024 nominee, according to Axios.

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"We're trying to reach young people, but also moms who use different platforms to get information and climate activists and people whose main way of getting information is digital," Jen O'Malley Dillon, White House deputy chief of staff, told Axios.

Voters ages 18-29 prefer Democrats by a significant margin, with the demographic voting for Democrats over Republicans by a 28-point margin in 2022 as well as voting for Biden over Trump by a 24-point margin in 2020, according to CIRCLE.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kellyanne Conway, former Trump aide, says GOP has a youth vote problem