Young Americans Lose Hope -- and Turn Against Biden

Our society fails young Americans – it’s time for change

Never before have young Americans been as depressed and disillusioned as today.

This grim reality has been made abundantly clear by my organization’s battleground state polling in recent months – and was also recognized by an exhaustive piece in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ authors concluded that “young adults are more skeptical of government and pessimistic about the future than any living generation before them.”

But, why are young adult Americans so morose?

Well, three reasons:

1.     They have been utterly failed by us, meaning middle aged and older Americans.

2.     Young adults show almost no regard for once revered institutions in America.

3.     They foresee little economic opportunity to thrive the way their parents and grandparents did – and Biden greatly exacerbates that pessimism.

On that first point, consider the calamities and policy collapses experienced by Generation Z, the demographic born since 1998 and raised in this century. These young adults – 41 million of whom will be eligible to vote in 2024 – have vivid memories and lived experience of the Great Financial Crisis, intense political and cultural polarization in society, and the tyranny of the unscientific and illogical virus panic starting in 2020.

In fact, regarding the lockdowns and other macro abuses of the Covid panic, young Americans suffered the pain of the inane policies most acutely. At times, it seemed as though Covid tyrants like Anthony Fauci and Governor Gavin Newsom were actually trying to inflict maximum pain on the young, even though statistically young people were nearly invulnerable to harsh consequences of the virus.

Those same young people have also endured an education system that focuses on indoctrination rather than teaching usable skills. Specifically, they were subjected to curricula and a pop culture that impart lessons of collective guilt and shame, rather than patriotism and pride.

Nonetheless, young Americans were encouraged to take on mountains of personal debt to fund these toxic educational experiences. Upon leaving school, far too many of them discovered that they were prepared for little besides unhealthy self-loathing.

Those brave young patriots willing to volunteer to serve America in uniform were sent into needless foreign conflicts. Many of them died or were maimed physically and mentally in overseas adventures concocted by a corrupt Washington foreign policy establishment that is nearly always wrong, but never in doubt.

Those endless wars not only robbed America of lives and blood, but also the financial future of the republic. Constant warfighting and nation building created an albatross of untenable debt which now becomes the burden of the young…in an era of massively rising interest rates thanks to Joe Biden.

Given this backdrop, it is no wonder that young American adults so overwhelmingly lack trust in key institutions, including universities, churches, big business, media, and government.

Per the Journal’s article, more than twice as many Generation Z citizens say they have “hardly any trust” in Congress compared to Millennials and Generation X. Similarly, a 52% majority of young adults say they have “hardly any trust” in the press, by far the highest of any age group, and more than three times the skepticism of the Baby Boomers toward media.

Of course, the cynicism flows from a personal perspective, as well. Young people recognize that they face a massive uphill climb just to maintain their standard of living, with almost no expectations that they can exceed the success of their parents and grandparents.

Biden’s inflation crisis is especially important and crushing in this regard. In this “winner take all” economy structured by the oligarchs in league with the administrative state, only the already-successful thrive. Economic benefits flow disproportionately to an increasingly powerful and insulated group of credentialed cronies, almost all of whom are middle aged or older. For these connected elites, inflation can actually prove lucrative, as owners of inflated assets, especially equities and real estate.

But for the aspiration young, who are not substantial owners of assets, the soaring costs of Biden’s inflation sap their meager savings and depress their spirits. This disillusionment pervades the recent swing state polls conducted by my advocacy organization, the League of American Workers.  

Here are some of the appalling poll statistics, compiled by our survey firm, North Star Opinion Research:

-in battleground Arizona: only 15% of young American adults believe that “the American Dream is still attainable.”

-in battleground Michigan: only a paltry 9% of young Americans (age 18-34) believe that the country is on “the right track," by far the lowest of any age group.  Those same young Michigan voters completely indict Biden over the economy. Only 3% give Biden a “very favorable” rating on the economy while a whopping 43% say “very unfavorable.”

-in battleground North Carolina: just 29% of young adults said they plan to vote for Joe Biden in November

These numbers, in totality…point to a mass exodus of youth support from Biden. Such a shift is seismic, as young people have been a highly predictable Democratic constituency for decades.  

In contrast, evidence abounds that young people increasingly rally to President Trump. A recent Harvard-Harris poll found a stunning 64% approval of Trump’s tenure in the White House among 18-24 year old citizens.

Given how close states like Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin were in 2020, even a small shift among young voters could prove decisive in the Fall. Will young Americans help lead the charge against Biden and begin the process of national renewal?