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https://www.npr.org/2025/10/31/nx-s1-5590153/young-voters-american-dream-economy

For many young voters, the future doesn't feel quite so bright. Gen Z and millennial Americans are feeling increasingly demoralized about their economic prospects, and some say their concerns have gone unaddressed by elected officials.

In communities of all kinds, voters in their 20s and 30s are confronting a financial reality of rising costs, mounting debt and minimal wage growth. But how is this changing their political views?

It's a question that NPR put to readers. We received more than 1,100 submissions from across the political spectrum from almost every state in the U.S.

Young voters are united in disappointment
Many young Americans feel a collective sense of disillusionment in the political system, and respondents told NPR that their financial struggles are exacerbating that pain.

Their life goals are on hold for some indefinitely
Young people shared that one of the biggest drivers feeding into their sense of political frustration is the struggle to get ahead financially or even just stay afloat.

When asked what economic success looks like for them, respondents didn't want lavish mansions or high-priced sports cars. Instead, their ambitions were more modest, often centering on the need for financial stability. Yet even that felt out of reach for many.

Young Americans said goals like owning a home, starting a family or pursuing a dream job feel increasingly like a luxury rather than an achievable milestone. Financial concerns are forcing them to reframe what's possible and sometimes choose one goal over another.

Financial roadblocks standing in the way
Many are navigating a unique economic moment where both median home and rental prices, for example, have risen at a faster pace than wages for roughly two decades. People are also waiting longer to buy homes. The median age of a first-time homebuyer in 2024 stood at 38, 10 years older than in the early 1990s, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Despite losing faith in most politicians, populism resonates
Young Americans see very few politicians actively addressing their concerns around affordability, leading some to lose faith in the effectiveness of either major political party.

Many respondents returned to the same point: that they're most inspired by populist-style leaders who focus on disrupting the status quo. It's a message that young people say goes past political labels, pushing some to opposite poles on the ideological spectrum and leaving others feeling stuck in the middle.

Young people have a right to be angry about what's happened in this country. For a couple of decades now living expenses, especially housing and healthcare, have been rising faster than wages. They were let down by politicians who seem to care more about protecting the wealth of the already wealthy than anything else. They were let down by older generations who told them if they work hard and get a good education they'll do well but for a lot of them it didn't work out that way even though they did everything they were supposed to do.