BILLIONAIRES BEWARE

Good News: America’s Most Important Voters Hate Trump

Bad news: They’re also beginning to doubt the “American dream” still exists.

Opinion

The most important group of voters in America no longer believes in our system, our elections, or our future. In a related development, they can’t stand Donald Trump or, for that matter, establishment leadership in either party.

According to the most respected survey regularly conducted among young voters, the 53rd Harvard Youth Poll of those 18-29, their outlook is bleak and their view of what will save America tracks not with mainstream pols but with the progressive voices that frighten them and their corporate sponsors the most.

That’s not just young Democrats, by the way. Gen-Z Independents and a growing number of Republicans feel that way too.

Why should we care? Well, first, young voters have played a decisive role in recent elections. And they seem to be doing so again. Early voting numbers suggest, for example, that in Texas, turnout is up, especially among Black and Hispanics and Black voters, and a big driver of the change is young people.

Furthermore, their priority issues—like combating corruption, taxing billionaires fairly, ending the war in Iran, restoring their chance to succeed economically—are the ones that currently seem to be resonating on the campaign trail, dominating the remarks of a wide range of Democratic politicians making a big impact on the home stretch of this campaign, like former President Barack Obama during his Michigan rally on Saturday as well as candidates including James Talarico in Texas, Jon Ossoff in Georgia, and Abdul el-Sayed in Michigan.

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Perhaps more importantly, by 2028, the presidential election for which the campaign begins in just a few days, the majority of eligible American voters will have been born since 1990. The views of that cohort are precisely what this “Youth Poll” tracks.

According to the Harvard study, almost two-thirds of young voters describe their upcoming midterm vote as in opposition to Trump and his policies, and only 14 percent say they’re showing support. Almost 8 in 10 disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.

Among their top concerns, according to the authors of the study, “Nearly nine in ten young voters (88%) call corruption important to their midterm vote, second only to the cost of living. 56 percent call it extremely important.”

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Shockingly, only 9% of the 18 to 29-year-olds surveyed say the United States is “generally headed in the right direction.” Almost two-thirds say we are on the wrong track.

This view translates into what is perhaps the most disturbing of the study’s findings: For the first time in this decade, the first time in ten iterations of the study, more of those surveyed felt that when they were their parents’ age they would be worse off financially than they are now.

Only one in four of those surveyed foresees a future in which they will surpass their parents financially. For an entire generation, the American dream is essentially seen as a hallucination, a figment of their parents’ or grandparents’ imagination.

When asked to cite the reasons they feel their economic futures are so bleak, nearly 7 in 10 “view the power of large corporations as a threat to their long-term financial security, while 62% say the same about the wealth and power of billionaires.” These views are held by 81% of Democrats polled, 67% of independents and 60% of Republicans.

Also among the top economic threats they see are Trump’s trade wars, out-of-control government spending, the rapid growth of the deficit under Trump, and their fear that AI will soon be replacing jobs.

These findings translate into a political paradox: Democrats have a big edge in the trust of young voters on almost every single issue, but two-thirds of those polled also disapprove of the party’s performance in Congress.

Take these results together and, while trends may be good regarding the upcoming election (more of the Democrats and independents surveyed, a substantial majority of whom oppose Trump and his supporters, plan to vote than do young Republicans), you can clearly see the looming problem.

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A group that will define the future of American politics—and be especially critical in determining Democratic fortunes—clearly embraces the priorities of progressive candidates that many establishment Democrats have pushed back on. They are, at the same time, unhappy with how current Democratic leaders are dealing with the challenges of the Trump era.

America’s voters of tomorrow support Medicare for all, a wealth tax, the right to abortion, and an end to U.S. military aid for Israel. In other words, those aren’t the radical views of the DSA as some old-school pols would have you believe. They are the prevailing views of an emerging new majority. Leaders who resist or do not reflect those views are consigning themselves to the dustbin of history.

None too soon, I might add.

A final finding of the study, however, should be chilling not just to out-of-touch political leaders from either party but to all of us. Only one-third of young voters actually believe our upcoming elections will be “fair and accurate.” This is not just a problem because it demonstrates how Trump and the GOP’s campaign against believing in our election outcomes has taken a grave toll on the country, but because those who do not believe in free and fair elections indicate they are significantly less like to vote.

Undoubtedly, this is one of MAGAworld’s objectives. Within days we will see whether they succeeded in suppressing the vote of those who truly care about America’s future or whether, as early voting indicates may be happening, Americans rising next generation majority seizes upon this election to begin undoing the damage done by Boomers and Gen Xers and to start remaking American politics consistent with their needs and values.

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David RothkopfChief Global Affairs Columnist

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