General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis Is Why Young People Really Voted for Trump
The data suggest that the swing in young adults voting for Donald Trump did not reflect a major shift in ideology. Rather, the swing seems to have resulted from moderate-to-somewhat-liberal young voters deciding to bet on Mr. Trump out of concern about the state of the economy and from young moderates and progressives who chose to stay home because they thought Ms. Harris was either too progressive or not progressive enough. This is a point with implications for Democrats and Republicans alike.
The most striking feature of the young adult Trump swing is that it occurred even though there has been no significant recent increase in the proportion of young adults who identify as conservative.
There is also not much evidence that young adults hold increasingly conservative opinions quite the contrary. A recent study by the sociologists Kyle Dodson and Clem Brooks found that from 2012 to 2020, public opinion in the United States toward racial minorities, immigrants, people who are gay or lesbian and other groups grew more socially accepting, with young adults at the leading edge of that change. Young Republicans became more socially accepting, too, if not on every issue.
This is part of a longer-term trend. Sociologists such as Mike Hout and Ethan Fosse have demonstrated that on a wide array of social matters, including the division of household labor between men and women, the morality of homosexuality, views of corporal punishment and feelings about prayer in school, the general trend across the past century is for Americans born each successive year to express slightly more tolerant, egalitarian and secular attitudes than the one before. Although these studies dont go all the way up to 2024, research from Gallup indicates that this development hasnt changed course in the last few years, no matter how much chatter there is about a vibe shift.
By contrast, the evidence is strong that economic considerations mattered greatly to young Americans in the 2024 election. While voters of all age groups cited the economy as a pressing concern, this was especially true for voters under 30, with 40 percent reporting that inflation had been the single most important factor in their vote for president, and 46 percent more saying that it had been an important factor. A substantial number of young people apparently believed that Ms. Harris would continue the Biden-era policies they held responsible for high prices and hoped that Mr. Trump would bring relief.
paywall free link
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/opinion/young-maga-trump-vote.html?unlocked_article_code=1.604.x-25.BDhp_M115sci&smid=url-share

NCDem47
(2,870 posts)Suckers.
Initech
(105,310 posts)The kind that Tennessee Ernie Ford sang about.
multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)Going to need them up thar in Greenland.
On the other hand, Sociologist dont use the most powerful statistics for their results. Like I said earlier, bring back the draft for 47s wars.
Initech
(105,310 posts)multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)Abolishinist
(2,587 posts)Another version, different context of course...
Initech
(105,310 posts)Literally gave all their money back to Amazon.
NJCher
(40,403 posts)Did I ever laugh!
pbmus
(12,616 posts)

B.See
(5,646 posts)young and old alike buy into shallow sound bites; instead of being willing to delve beneath the surface into the details as to why and wherefore. Example, that inflation and price of eggs sound bite without understanding the causes, or how 10 of the last 11 recessions occurred under a Republican administration (including once under TRUMP).
So they ignorantly (perhaps even willfully) buy into a bill of goods. Now it's "find out" time, or as I've written before, the school of hard knocks. For some it's the ONLY way to learn. So, yes, have fun, suckers.
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)Meowmee
(9,212 posts)Without a conscience to vote for a mass murderer who murdered over 1 million with covid.
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)if we ever want to get out of this mess.
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)They do what they want to do and that can change on a dime, out of cruelty in this case because only someone unusually cruel could vote for this.
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)I'm not sticking up for them. I'm just saying, with only the numbers who voted for Harris, we will continue to lose.
We MUST do something different.
The only way to avoid having this happen again is to look at who is out there and figure out who we can pick off to gain winning numbers. And then craft a message that gets them off their asses and into a voting booth.
We can dislike them, or feel more strongly about it. But we need them if we are ever to get the reins back.
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)Theres no guarantee they will vote for you End of story time to realize this important fact. If they could vote for him and try to justify it they can not be trusted again ever.
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)We have no choice.
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)But just remember that while the party tries to twist themselves into knots to please these people while you disregard people who actually vote for you and have for years consistently, (I don't mean young people in particular- this thread just happens to be about that demographic), whoever they are, they are self absorbed narcissists who will laugh at you and vote for whoever they please when the time comes to help themselves economically or for whatever other reasons. There is no bridge too far for them apparently since they voted for a mass murderer, in some cases not once but twice.These are demand voters: you must do this etc. or I won't vote for you. And maybe I won't vote for you anyway depending on how I feel.
betsuni
(28,006 posts)Mariana
(15,545 posts)For three elections in a row, the majority of voters aged 45 and up voted for Trump. Let's figure out how to change that.
Edited for clarity.
LearnedHand
(4,759 posts)Maybe a huge number of them didn't believe this would actually happen, but they are definitely not idiots (although a few may be, just like in other populations). And Scrivener 7 is right: We *do* need to pay attention to our messaging. If we aren't reaching them it's not because they don't want to be reached.
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)and heartless. It is unforgivable. If they're sorry and apologize fine, however most never will and the damage is done for good.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)ObscurePiton
(10 posts)You don't get to choose your electorate. If the electorate are psychopathic idiots, then representatives have to message accordingly.
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)Meowmee
(9,212 posts)Lie, cheat, murder millions. Hmmm, no maybe not. 😹
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)ObscurePiton
(10 posts)That in a representative democracy, politicians must message to capture the greatest possible portion of their constituency seems an entirely uncontroversial observation... yet, here we are.
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)Read my other reply. I also believe election interference affected this election, so that needs to be addressed also.
LetMyPeopleVote
(164,955 posts)yonder
(10,089 posts)However, we are dealing with a MSM that is increasingly chasing lopsided direction from their wealthy wranglers at the expense of minimally biased reporting.
Our side needs more, take-no-prisoners, muckraking voices to offset our normal, politics as usual approach. Right now, the squeaky wheel method seems to work just fine for them.
valleyrogue
(2,140 posts)Have you actually paid attention AT ALL to the growing extremism of young, white males?
This is all about sexism and to a lesser extent racism. The "economy" is complete and total bullshit.
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)The prevailing message in the media today is that young white men are the ones being discriminated against.
That's complete bullshit, but there is no opposing message. Certainly not one that meets them in the places they are gathering online.
Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)It's been about 30 years that we've been saying, "But right wing media and hate radio."
It's true, but we have never crafted a plan to counteract it.
I don't know what that plan should be, but we've all watched as the right wing took over social media with bots, who very clearly do craft the conversation. In 2016, the republicans gained access to every Facebook account via Cambridge Analytica and used actual psy-ops to turn many who had not been republicans, and to radicalize many who already were republicans.
All this while our side cranks out press releases, and maintains a different website for each rep, and thinks they're doing the job. That's not doing the job.
We need a messaging plan, and I'm not seeing it. The town halls are a good start, but they're only a start. And even the great town halls are missing an opportunity. They should be pounding a single simple message that becomes the headline. Yes, even a slogan, that republicans are taking WHAT IS YOURS and giving it to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
yonder
(10,089 posts)Xoan
(25,522 posts)Trust_Reality
(2,187 posts)The last line of the basic post says: "A substantial number of young people apparently believed that Ms. Harris would continue..."
Do you see the word "apparently"? That means it is speculation.
How did young people feel about Biden permitting Netanyahu to use massive American made bombs to kill thousands of Palestinians? How did they feel about Biden's unwavering support for Netanyahu's ethnic cleansing and probable war crimes? Concern about these issues would be more consistent with the other trends in the values of young people.
I (I'm over 80) was also concerned about Harris continuing this aspect of Biden's policies. Our governments always vote against the rest of the world (vetoes, etc.) at the UN as we provide radical unwavering support for Israel.
Israel and Netanyahu definitely soured me on Biden. (I knew too much about Trump to even consider voting for him or anyone other than Kamala, who I love.)
Celerity
(50,406 posts)But no, a direct broadbush personal attack in the form of a blunt youth bash is always sure to come from some here.
You have no right here to collectively call us:

If I said that about Boomers and/or Gen X collectively, I would flayed alive here. But you feel free as a bird to blanket smear us younger folk. That is pure bollocks.
True Dough
(23,357 posts)The Brits have some of the best "profanity."
I also get a kick out of hearing
end, especially in a Cockney accent!
AZJonnie
(875 posts)These kids thinking is so incredibly shallow and vacuous, I fear that the USA has literally become too dumb (on average) to govern itself. The long-planned goal of 'vouchers' and 'charter schools' and 'homeschooling' has come to fruition, and the finishing touches on the dictatorship are being completed as everything from grade schools to colleges and universities come under full-scale attack. Fascist authoritarians have dumbed this place down to the point where they could end 'democracy' and take it over wholesale as a dictatorship. And nobody appears to know how to stop them.
Demovictory9
(36,312 posts)the US legal system and it's hardly a blip.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)According to the exit polls, the majority of voters aged 18-44 cast their ballots for Harris in 2024. The majority of voters aged 45 and up supported Trump. The youngest voters were the least likely to vote for Trump.
pstokely
(10,792 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 27, 2025, 04:00 AM - Edit history (1)
some polls say tRump got more 20 year old men than 70 year old men, but 70 year men vote in higher numbers than 20 year old men
Mariana
(15,545 posts)Most men voted for Trump.
Celerity
(50,406 posts)As many observers expected before the election, there was a significant gender gap among young voters. Young women preferred Harris to Trump by a 17-point margin: 58% to 41%. But young men preferred Trump by a 14-point margin: 56% to 42%.
Notably, that gender gap is larger than the gender gap for the electorate overall.
Among voters of all ages, 52% of all female voters backed Harris, compared to 46% for Trump (+6). While among all male voters, Trump won 55% to 43% (+12). Young people who identify as nonbinary or in another way other than as a man or woman supported Harris by a 69-point margin.
There was a notable difference by age within the 18-29 age group.
Voters ages 18-24 supported Harris by 10 points, while their older peers (ages 25-29) supported Trump by 2 points. In the 2020 election, this group of young people were 21-25. That year, 18- to 24-year-olds supported Biden by 29 points, highlighting a major shift in vote choice for this segment of the youth electorate.
https://circle.tufts.edu/2024-election#youth-vote-+4-for-harris,-major-differences-by-race-and-gender
TxGuitar
(4,310 posts)Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.
That word is "Nazi." Nobody cares about their motives anymore.
They joined what they joined. They lent their support and their moral approval. And, in so doing, they bound themselves to everything that came after. Who cares any more what particular knot they used in the binding?
(Attributed to A.R. Moxon)
flvegan
(65,080 posts)It doesn't take a doctorate in history to know that Trump is/was terrible for this or any economy, nor to know just how shitty a businessman he has always been (not to mention just a shitty person in general).
If folks have all that information on their phones that they can't keep their faces out of, yet still couldn't sort this out, then, and I repeat myself, they're idiots.
iemanja
(56,103 posts)For the GOP. The commitment to losing is striking.
JI7
(92,087 posts)Scrivener7
(56,043 posts)Yes. They ARE idiots. But we need them to win, whether we respect their thought processes or not.
You know what was moving the needle? "Weird," and "smelly." And we backed off those. I'm not saying we shouldn't have, but in the end, what was our cohesive overriding message for the type of people who respond to "weird" and "smelly?"
We need one of those, whether we like it or not.
Hassler
(4,394 posts)They FO. Now onto the Find Out phase
GusBob
(7,913 posts)Aristus
(70,193 posts)Or are they going to double down on their stupidity? Because no one in this failing, fuckwitted country wants to admit when they're wrong.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)The majority of voters aged 45 and up cast their ballots for Trump, according to the exit polls. Surely we can convince some of them, especially with Social Security and Medicare at risk.
Aristus
(70,193 posts)They wanted bigotry, hatred, distrust, paranoia, and blinding incompetence, and they got it. So did those of us who didnt vote for him.
Its incomprehensible why they would want all of those things at the risk of their earned benefits. But then, Im not a Trumpster. Im accustomed to using my brain, and cant understand why others refuse to.
multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)That could swing them. Seems 47 screws a new group every day. Hes running out of suckers.
pstokely
(10,792 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 27, 2025, 10:59 PM - Edit history (1)
some data indicates tRump won the disengaged, Harris won the engaged
betsuni
(28,006 posts)They'll bullshit. Bullshitting is admired. Can't learn anything that way.
JI7
(92,087 posts)Probatim
(3,140 posts)multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)Those and billionaires are his base.
Emile
(35,223 posts)WarGamer
(17,326 posts)Or daycare at 3 years old?
Or expected them to turn out normal when from 8th grade until 10th grade they wore masks and moved their desks 10' from each other in class?
Or attended class from home?
Gen Z hasn't had it that easy.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)WarGamer
(17,326 posts)For decades the "right track wrong track" polling numbers have gotten worse and worse...
In general, Americans are pretty unhappy about the state of the country.
To many... Trump is NOT seen as a conservative, like Romney or McCain... Trump is seen as a disruptor, one to overturn the apple cart.
PLUS... Trump wisely played the right chords to attract younger MEN in the campaign through Rogan, MMA, etc...
Trump cobbled together an extremely WEIRD coalition... from old skool GOP'ers, PTA Moms, incel youth, haters, racists and lifes "losers" with grievances.
Calling Trump a "conservative" is weird.
I'm sure Steve Schmidt, Liz Cheney, Shrub and Bill Kristol would be the first to claim he's not a conservative.
He's a carnival barker and that's really the whole point.
Ars Longa
(169 posts)maddening thing is-
They knew who this guy was beforehand......
valleyrogue
(2,140 posts)who have been radicalized thanks to the poison called the "manosphere."
The "economy" is a bullshit excuse.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)Why don't they share in the blame?
multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)uponit7771
(92,957 posts)pstokely
(10,792 posts)but young people are hard to poll
Mariana
(15,545 posts)pstokely
(10,792 posts)nt
Mariana
(15,545 posts)womanofthehills
(9,884 posts)Their poll said 19 thousand who voted for Biden in 2020 did not vote in 2024.
Many reasons given but top reason was genocide.
ProfessorGAC
(73,157 posts)Or is that supposed to be 19 million.
19 thousand votes out of 140 million seems hardly worth reporting.
NoveltySocks
(414 posts)the morons doing moron stuff in the Clown Cabinet, I'm amazed at how people like this are even able to make it to adulthood. Whew.
Jack Valentino
(2,385 posts)The inflation rate in 1980 was up to 13.5 percent,
1979 was 11.3 percent, and 1981 was 10.3 percent---
that's over 34 percent over those three years!!
https://www.google.com/search?q=inflation+rate+in+1980&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS1151US1151&oq=inflation+rate+in+1980&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l9.4244j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Despite the spike we experienced, mostly in 2022, this was nothing compared to that time, especially over a three-year period!
Also, they misinterpret "high prices" as "inflation"--
lower inflation does not mean that prices are going to go down,
it only means the rate of increase will be less...
Prices will not go down much across the board without a "deflation"--
which will usually only come with a recession or a depression or severe economic crisis,
such as we experienced in 2008, and at the beginning of the covid pandemic...
AlanAdam
(100 posts)Ah yes, I remember it well. I graduated from university in 1979. For first two years of the 80s, home mortgage loan rates were around 20%. I didnt buy a house, but many of my friends were frantically trying get into a house, worried that rates would just keep rising.
Ursus Rex
(392 posts)and what happened to the cohort that voted him in?
The 80's were a total bullshit decade and the end of the America that we learned about in school -= at least those of us who had paid attention.
Probatim
(3,140 posts)What about the full grown adults in this country who voted for the orange asshole? I assume they get a free pass?
multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)Probatim
(3,140 posts)multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)Mariana
(15,545 posts)who have never voted for a Republican.
multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)except for Ike, and we are from the South. He was an Emirati PhD.
multigraincracker
(35,865 posts)There are lots of local college kids that are members too.
pstokely
(10,792 posts)particularly uneducated white men
JI7
(92,087 posts)Not about young people in general.
Ilikepurple
(232 posts)I agree it was alarming how we lost any momentum we had with younger voters, but I grow tired of the generation wars. The propaganda is so well seated now that I dont think any generation is immune to it. It seems that many will need a direct negative effect on their lives traceable to a specific Trump policy to shake loose propagandas hold.
pstokely
(10,792 posts)nt
Mariana
(15,545 posts)when the majority of their elders consistently vote for Republicans.
Iris
(16,452 posts)A smaller percentage of them voted for Trump than any other age group. If young people had been the only voters, Harris would have won in a landslide.
NoMoreRepugs
(11,424 posts)continues to be verified.
Jit423
(1,446 posts)reality from BS.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)The majority of voters 45 and older cast their ballots for Trump, according to the exit polls. The majority of those 18-44 supported Harris. The youngest voters were the least likely to vote for Trump.
ananda
(32,260 posts)They seem to have had no critical thinking skills whatsoever
possibly due to also having no powers of observation or
bullshit detection.
The economy was doing fine under Biden's leadership, after
suffering badly under Trump's.
So... duuuhhh
Mariana
(15,545 posts)What happened to their critical thinking skills, I wonder?
ananda
(32,260 posts)IOW, many people listened to the lies and fearmongering
and literally chose to buy into them as a kind of
confirmation of their underlying fears and phobias
which used to be kept in line through political correctness.
With no more political correctness, well... you know.
B.See
(5,646 posts)93 PERCENT of Black voters 55 and older voted for Kamala. As did 59 percent of Hispanic voters 55 and older. Our critical thinking skills are just fine, I think.
https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-racial-analysis-of-2024-election-results/
pstokely
(10,792 posts)a large portion of young men are anti-vaxxers
LudwigPastorius
(12,703 posts)Hey kids, how's that working out for you?
legallyblondeNYC
(95 posts)And the right just gave them a better and easier story.
RockRaven
(17,431 posts)Not an excuse by any means, but the information environment experienced by today's 18-35 year old Americans during their formative/aware years has been utter horseshit of other people's makings.
Now what is to be done about it? Because this isn't going to get better just by pointing at it.
tavernier
(13,759 posts)I know hundreds of young people and not one of them voted for Trump. All of my relatives who are in that age group say that their peers detest him and make fun of him. Something is rotten in Denmark.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)pstokely
(10,792 posts)how many dudebros do you know?
betsuni
(28,006 posts)durablend
(8,397 posts)nini
(16,799 posts)Then dont follow up with your own research. They have no clue what the facts really are.
Add in the failure of the media being controlled by right wing assholes and its near impossible to get our messaging through.
And its not just young folks who fall for the game.
eShirl
(19,344 posts)Good going.
biocube
(88 posts)need to lean in *hard* on economic populism. Republicans are literally talking about over-throwing "the woke oligarchy" while democrats are afraid of being called "soshalizt".
Blasphemer
(3,447 posts)Ping Tung
(2,714 posts)Quiet Em
(2,026 posts)so it's not surprising that they are ill-informed on economic issues.
I find it hard to believe they thought the con would be good for them economically.
Rent is high, housing prices are out of reach, the costs of college is way too high so their student debt is way too high. Harris/Walz addressed all this, but apparently it isn't reaching them.
W_HAMILTON
(9,117 posts)flamingdem
(40,516 posts)And it wasn't economy but identity and masculinity according to the last round of analysis.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)B.See
(5,646 posts)when one looks at the demographics.
More accurately, the majority of WHITE men voted for Donald Trump As did the majority of white women.
Hispanic women supported Kamala while the splite among Hispanic men was almost 50-50.
And even though there was slippage among Black men for Harris as compared to support for Biden, Black men and women still overwhelmingly supported Harris.
https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-racial-analysis-of-2024-election-results/
Mariana
(15,545 posts)B.See
(5,646 posts)the article I linked is the fifth in a series of releases and findings following the election.
And I would think that anyone interested in a clearer understanding of the demographic breakdowns of not only who voted, but why (as per the title of this thread) would be more interested in that kind of data,
rather than broad generalizations and brush strokes that tend to implicate everyone therein.
But hey, to each his/her own.
Mariana
(15,545 posts)B.See
(5,646 posts)you're making blanket statements in this thread that may be misleading or inaccurate.
For example, in an earlier post you wrote, "Older people were more likely to vote for Trump than young people." and went on to question the congnitive skills of said older people. However I linked to documented evidence that by a large margin, older people from certain demographics supported Kamala Harris.
https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-racial-analysis-of-2024-election-results/
Then in another post you implied that Harris would've won by a landslide if only young people had voted. However, another (later) study published by the same source I referenced above showed that it wasn't quite as clear cut as that:
https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-gender-and-age-analysis-of-2024-election-results/
H2O Man
(76,971 posts)GiqueCee
(2,360 posts)... are you kidding me, New York Times?!!? The once-revered "Paper of Record" is now several notches below the "Paper of Toilet." The Biden administration left the economy in the strongest shape it's been in decades, you mendacious dick-warts!
I was young once, and I recall what it was like to be stricken with AD/OS (Attention Deficit/ OH, SHINY!) and the young are all in for anything that differentiates them from their parents, no matter how stupid or destructive those decisions ultimately turn out to be. Like voting for a narcissistic convicted felon with the mental faculties of a six-year-old, and the moral compass of a rabid hyena.
Hmmm... could this be the result of decades-long effort to reduce the value of education to the level of a bowl of soggy cereal? No wonder Trump said, "I love the poorly educated!" But he didn't finish the sentence: "... because they're so easy to deceive and manipulate!"
As much as I hate to give conservatives credit for anything, their long game has been very effective. Apparently, crime DOES pay, with interest. Lie, cheat, steal, bully, intimidate, threaten, take children's lunch money; ANYTHING to further the interests of corporations and the wealthy. As I've said countless times, the obscenely rich have more money than they could spend in twenty lifetimes, but they still begrudge those less fortunate even the lint-covered change between the sofa cushions. ICK! What if Vance had relations with that piece of furniture! Never mind; the point is, in their diseased fever dreams they crave total dominion over the lives of others, no matter the cost.
And what happens after they achieve that evil goal? I think we're about to find out.
Woodwizard
(1,178 posts)A 20 year old was 16 at trumps last term, think they were paying attention? And some looking at the bleak housing and cost of living may have said screw it let it all burn to the ground.