WHAT’S HAPPENING
Young Americans, especially men, are increasingly "blackpilling" out of politics and civic life. The term, borrowed from The Matrix, describes giving up on systemic change and withdrawing from political engagement.
This disillusionment comes despite a relatively strong job market, as Gen Z faces crushing student debt and expensive housing costs, and a pervasive sense that traditional markers of success are slipping out of reach. Recent polling even shows young men who backed Trump in 2024 now favor Democrats by wide margins.
THE FACTS
Young men ages 18-30 who are determined to vote now prefer Democratic congressional candidates 57 percent to 40 percent, a sharp reversal from 2024 when they helped elect Trump.
Only one-third of young men say they are extremely determined to vote in the upcoming midterms.
Nearly two in three adults under 30 who plan to vote say their main motivation is opposing Trump and his policies.
Just 9 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds say the US is headed in the right direction, a record low.
Women have gained 711,000 jobs since Trump's inauguration compared to just 65,000 for men.
Rent has more than doubled since 2000, far outpacing income growth, with young people most likely to spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing.
Credit card and auto loan delinquencies are increasing among adults under 30, while pandemic-era savings have dwindled.
For the first time in the history of the Harvard Youth Poll, young adults expecting to be worse off than their parents (27 percent) slightly outnumbered those expecting to be better off (25 percent).
Two-thirds of Democratic women ages 18 to 29 say men are largely to blame for women’s problems, compared to just 18 percent of Republican women. Only 16 percent of men say the same about women.
OUR TAKE
On the surface, we see our present age as so technologically advanced and convenient — no war forcing young men into combat or a Great Depression level economic catastrophe — and conclude from this that they have it better than anyone in history. There’s much truth in this.
But below the surface, the rot is deep and troublesome. In a labor market where women are capturing most of the recent job gains, and as relations between young men and women deteriorate, young men are left feeling both economically behind and personally blamed. It’s a bad sign when men are out of work and jaded, and when translated into politics, it could get ugly.
