President Donald Trump is facing a sharp backlash from young voters, with new polling showing his approval rating among Generation Z has dropped to one of its lowest points yet.
The latest YouGov/Yahoo poll, conducted between June 26-30 among 1,597 adults, shows that among Gen Z voters, his net rating has deteriorated sharply, falling from -23 points in May to -41 points in June.
Net ratings do have a tendency to swing much more than a simple approval rating. Still, the president’s approval rating in June is low, at 27 percent. The margin of error is at plus or minus 3.2 percent.
Lucas Walsh, a youth political behavior expert and professor at Monash University, told Newsweek that Trump’s falling support among Gen Z voters may reflect how young people “respond to issues rather than party allegiances.”
Why It Matters
In the 2024 election, Trump made surprising inroads with young voters, narrowing the Democrats‘ traditional lead among Gen Z—a group that has typically leaned left in recent cycles. According to AP VoteCast, voters ages 18 to 29 supported Kamala Harris over Trump by just 51 percent to 47 percent. By comparison, in 2020, Joe Biden carried the same age group by a much wider margin, winning 61 percent to Trump’s 36 percent.
What To Know
Other polls also show a clear deterioration in support for Trump among the youngest voters, reinforcing signs that his modest gains with Gen Z in 2024 may be slipping away just months later. The latest Quantus Insights poll, conducted between June 30 and July 2 among 1,000 registered voters, found that just 35 percent of Gen Z voters now approve of Trump’s job performance, while 58 percent disapprove—a sharp drop compared to the previous month. In June, the same poll showed him with 46 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval among young voters.
The latest ActiVote poll, conducted between June 1 and June 30 among 523 adults, shows a similar trend. In June, 32 percent of Gen Z respondents approved of Trump’s performance, compared to 62 percent who disapproved—a dramatic slide from May, when approval and disapproval were nearly evenly split at 47 percent and 48 percent, respectively. These numbers suggest that whatever modest inroads Trump made with younger voters in 2024 may be eroding as Gen Z voters grow frustrated with his agenda and messaging.
The broader mood among young voters appears to be souring, too. The YouGov/Yahoo data reveals that Gen Z is becoming more pessimistic about the country’s direction overall. In May, 27 percent of Gen Z voters said the U.S. was headed in the right direction, while 53 percent said it was on the wrong track. By June, that optimism had dropped sharply: only 21 percent said the country was headed in the right direction, compared to 66 percent who believed it was off course.
This discontent does not appear to be translating into strong support for Democrats. The Quantus poll suggests that young voters are feeling politically homeless, with 43 percent of Gen Z voters saying that neither party represents American values.
A YouGov/Economist poll from last week suggests discontent with Trump among young people may be tied to his performance on key issues such as the economy and immigration.
Among Gen Z voters overall, Trump’s approval fell from 34 percent approve / 58 percent disapprove at the start of June to 28 percent approve / 66 percent disapprove by the end of the month.
On the economy, the decline was more modest but still negative: approval slipped from 33 percent approve / 54 percent disapprove in early June to 32 percent approve / 60 percent disapprove by month’s end. The numbers were even starker on inflation—a top issue for young voters—with Trump’s approval dropping from 32 percent approve / 57 percent disapprove at the start of June to just 23 percent approve / 69 percent disapprove by the end of the month.
On immigration, another issue where Trump’s messaging has been central, Gen Z voters’ support also eroded. His net rating went from 40 percent approve / 52 percent disapprove at the beginning of June to 30 percent approve / 65 percent disapprove by the end of the month.
Walsh said that while many young voters backed Trump in 2024, his “dizzying array of announcements across contentious issues” since then could be pushing them away. He noted that “economic hardship and uncertainty typically affect younger people disproportionately compared to older voters during economic downturns,” making them especially sensitive to pocketbook concerns.
“These younger voters often care less about red and blue party lines and more about issues, particularly progressive ones, and issues affecting the bottom line of their day-to-day lives,” Walsh added.
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