How Democrats May Lose Young Voters and the Future
An anti-Trump, anti-Maga message frame turns off voters of the future. They want practicality.
This is the third in an accidental series of warnings to my fellow liberals:
"Don't Hate Trump Voters" -- because we need to win millions of them back to build a durable supermajority movement.
“How to Cure the MAGA Blues” - because you need a positive outlet for your animus.
"How Democrats May Lose Young Voters and the Future" - in case you still think hate is a strategy.
A Fournier axiom: If you want to own the future of America, become a student of the people who will inherit it: young Americans.
For a quarter century as a Washington journalist, I kept ahead of the curve on political coverage by focusing my reporting on the social and political leanings of the nation’s youngest voters.
A years-long series of polls at the Harvard Institute of Politics (where I served as a both a fellow and a board member in the early aughts) helped me recognize that millennials didn’t see government or politics as a positive way to improve their communities, their country, or the world. The only way millennials might engage Washington, I wrote at the time, is if they first radically changed it.
We now know Millennials largely disengaged. They certainly didn’t transform the system.
The pollster and thinker behind that seminal work, John Della Volpe, still studies young voters, mostly Generation Z. His latest report carries a warning for the Democratic Party, which tends to take for granted its strength among young voters.
President Trump maintains a surprising youth coalition with 49% expressing optimism; notably 48% support among Black Americans
Economic focus dominates: 54% approve on jobs, while traditional social issues show more skepticism
Young Americans want Democrats to focus on tangible solutions (30%) and bold vision (24%) rather than opposition (10%)
“When asked, ‘If Democrats want to connect with you, what kind of message would resonate most?’ young Americans provided a clear roadmap for engagement,” Della Volpe writes. “Rather than ideological positioning or partisan attacks, their responses call for solutions that address tangible needs while offering hope for the future.”
Framing the party’s message around opposition to Trump and the MAGA-hijacked GOP might make liberals feel good, but young voters aren’t interested in virtue signaling. They want practical solutions to everyday problems, the data shows, particularly among young White, suburban, and non-college educated young adults.
They’ll vote for candidates with a bold vision for the future, those who emphasize inspiring, forward-looking narratives. This holds strongest with young female, Black, and urban voters, Della Volpe writes.
Significantly, only 10% selected opposition to Republican policies as their preferred message—even among core Democratic constituencies like Black respondents (13%) and party members (11%). This mirrors our earlier findings about young voters' growing skepticism of purely partisan approaches.
Read more about Della Volpe’s work here and ask yourself three questions:
Are you happiest obsessing over the machinations of MAGA elite in faraway Washington or focusing your energy on local issues, where you can have a tangible impact on your community?
Should the Democratic Party listen to young voters and give them the practical solutions they want? Or ignore them for four years and then schadenfreude-scorn them when their MAGA ranks grow?
If you’ve read this far, you must at least acknowledge the possibility that Trump wants you hating him and his voters — and he hopes Democrats continue to ignore theirs.
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Career politicians often exemplify hypocrisy because their primary allegiance is to political survival, not principles. This behavior is particularly glaring in the Democratic Party, where leaders frequently espouse lofty ideals but abandon them when political expediency demands it. A stark example is Senator Chuck Schumer, who lambasted former President Trump for supposedly considering preemptive pardons—a move that never even materialized. Yet when President Biden actually issued preemptive pardons, Schumer remained conspicuously silent, revealing a double standard that undermines credibility. Such actions expose a fundamental issue: career politicians often prioritize partisan loyalty and power over consistency or accountability. This hypocrisy is not lost on younger voters, who see it as emblematic of why the political establishment cannot be trusted to deliver meaningful change.
This isn't meant to be a sweeping condemnation of either political party. But a lot of young people think they're being laughed at behind closed doors. This perception is their reality. In this race to the bottom, it's all about who's lying the least.
Amen!