Even the young men supporting President Donald Trump are tapping their feet impatiently on the release of the notorious Epstein files, a prominent pollster revealed on the Daily Beast Podcast.
John Della Volpe, founder of the youth-oriented opinion research firm SocialSphere, said the Epstein files came up as one of the promises that Trump supporters are holding the president to during a focus group conducted over the weekend.
“It’s basically two promises that this young man remembered, right? One is, you’re gonna give me a fighting chance to live my best life. And, are you gonna release the Epstein files? Literally, that is what he said—those two things,” he told host Joanna Coles.
“So that was one of the very first times, honestly, of the probably 50 focus groups I’ve done, that his name came up organically, but it did come up, and it came up within this, like, anti-establishment, ‘Maybe he’s not what exactly he promised to be.’”
Trump, who was close pals with the disgraced financier for years, signaled an intent to release the controversial Epstein files on the campaign trail last year: “I’d certainly take a look at it,” he said. “I’d be inclined to do the Epstein. I’d have no problem with it.”
But the Trump administration sorely let down its own base in July when the FBI said there was no “client list,” contrary to an earlier statement by Attorney General Pam Bondi that it was “sitting on my desk.”
Ten months into Trump’s second term, his Epstein promise appears to be backfiring.
Volpe said SocialSphere conducts a monthly poll asking participants whether Trump is having a positive or negative impact on their lives.
Days before the inauguration in January, 55 percent of younger men said Trump had a positive impact on them, citing a positive outlook for the economy and “feeling like they could be the providers that they want to be.” By the end of September, however, that number had plummeted to 31 percent.
But it’s not just economic issues driving young men away from the president. Volpe said Trump’s young male supporters were also paying attention to controversies surrounding the deployment of the National Guard to blue cities, Venezuelan boat strikes, and the East Wing teardown.
“They feel like they’re basically a distraction from what is the reason that so many younger men voted for him in the first place, which is, ultimately, he promised to help them be a better provider. And many are beginning to feel betrayed,” Volpe said.
“He needs to begin to deliver on the core promise,” he added. “When you have only 31 percent of younger men saying he’s making their life better, I can’t think of a worse number for him right now.”
Volpe raised the possibility of “significant backlash” in the 2026 polls as younger voters react to developments under Trump 2.0.
“Their kind of political identity is being developed through the first year of the Trump 2.0 term. Mostly all of it is negative,” he said. “That is going to be the vibe that they’re taking in ’26 and in ’28 in terms of, ‘He’s not delivering what he said. There’s more chaos, there’s less safety, there’s more economic concern. What is he doing about that?’”
In response to Volpe’s comments, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “the Daily Beast knew about Epstein and his victims for years and did nothing to help them while President Trump was calling for transparency, and is now delivering on it with thousands of pages of documents.”
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