THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT

Trump Hit With Ominous Warning From Young Republicans

The president’s 2024 coalition is crumbling.

Donald Trump is facing a growing backlash from the young voters who helped propel him to victory in 2024.

Trump made significant gains with young Americans in the last presidential election, particularly young men, more than half of whom voted for him.

But less than two years later, that support appears to be slipping, with mounting economic frustration threatening to become a major problem for the president and his party ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The latest Harvard Youth Poll, conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 among 2,024 Americans aged 18 to 29, found that roughly half of young Republicans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.

Trump and his party have been losing ground on the economy since he launched his war with Iran in February.

The war has caused fuel prices to spike. AAA figures show the average price of gas in the U.S. at $4.27 a gallon, while diesel stands at $6.31.

Inflation also rose faster than expected in September, largely driven by surging gasoline prices, according to the Labor Department.

And Americans are not happy about it, especially young Americans.

The Harvard poll found that 77 percent of young Americans disapproved of the president’s economic leadership.

The same poll showed that nearly half of young adults said their households were struggling to make ends meet or surviving with only limited financial security.

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It also uncovered a troubling shift in expectations about the future: For the first time in the survey’s history, the share of young adults who expected to be worse off financially than their parents slightly exceeded the share who believed they would do better.

Twenty-seven percent said they expected to be worse off than their parents, compared with 25 percent who anticipated being better off.

Although the difference falls within the poll’s margin of error, the longer-term trend is striking. In fall 2021, 39 percent of young adults expected to surpass their parents financially, while just 17 percent expected to fare worse.

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“At the beginning of adulthood, younger people should be able to see a path from hard work to a secure life, and the big question is whether that promise still holds,” John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, said during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.

A separate New York Times/Siena poll paints a similarly bleak picture for Trump. Ninety-four percent of young Americans described economic conditions as poor or only fair, a higher share than in any other age group.

The same poll found that 86 percent disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 87 percent opposed the war in Iran.

For some young voters, the economic strain has become personal.

“How the presidency is being ran right now is not my cup of tea, with the cost of everything so expensive,” Kaylynn Hitchcock, 21, of Athens, Georgia, told The New York Times. “There’s not a lot of affordable housing. The price of gas is ridiculous. We are not getting raises with our jobs.”

Isaack Juarez, 27, a truck driver from Phelan, California, said he had voted for Trump in 2024, hoping the president would improve the economy. Instead, he said, rising fuel prices have left him feeling the financial squeeze.

“I was like, maybe he’d have a good economy,” Juarez said. “But it turns out that, no. I’m hurting every single time I stop at the gas station.”

The growing disillusionment poses a serious threat to Republicans heading into the midterms. Not only because young people are a crucial part of Trump’s coalition, but also because the economy will be at the top of voters’ minds ahead of the midterms.

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And polling shows that young people are turning away from the Republicans as a result.

The New York Times/Siena survey found that a significant majority of voters aged 18 to 29 believe Democrats are better equipped to handle every issue included in the poll, including the economy, the cost of living, and gas prices. No other age group showed a stronger preference for Democrats across those issues.

The poll also showed that 70 percent of young voters identified as Democrats or said they leaned toward the party.

That is 15 percentage points higher than in the newspaper’s final poll before the 2024 election, putting the figure around the level seen during Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign, when a surge in youth support helped carry him to victory.

Young voters’ preferences in congressional races have shifted even more dramatically. Nationwide, voters aged 18 to 29 now favor the Democratic candidate in their district by 44 percentage points, compared with a 10-point Democratic advantage in the poll conducted two years ago.

The Harvard Youth Poll offers another warning sign for Republicans: Nearly two-thirds of Americans under 30 who plan to vote in next month’s midterm elections—63 percent—said their primary motivation was to oppose Trump and his policies.

At the same time, enthusiasm among young Republicans appears to be weakening. The share of young Republicans who said they would “definitely vote” in November fell from 46 percent to 34 percent, suggesting the party could face a turnout problem among a demographic that helped deliver Trump’s return to the White House.

For young Americans who feel increasingly shut out of economic security, frustration is turning into a broader rejection of the political status quo.

“We are the generation that will change things, because we can’t afford anything,” Rachel Rivera, 23, a store associate in McKinney, Texas, told The New York Times. “We’re just kind of fed up.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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