Young voters are tilting further left and turning sharply against President Donald Trump, a new Yale Youth Poll finds, highlighting a deepening ideological divide between generations.
Poll Shows Young Adults Drift Further Left
The survey of 3,426 registered voters, conducted between Oct. 29 and Nov. 11, reports that 46% of adults under 30 now self-identify as liberal, up from 39.3% in the spring wave. Only 13% of 18- to 22-year-olds and 18% of 23- to 29-year-olds call themselves moderate, while a still-"substantial" bloc, 40% and 38% respectively, choose conservative.
Trump Faces Deep Disapproval Among Young Voters
Trump's standing with young voters has deteriorated fast. The poll shows 64% of 18- to 22-year-olds and 66% of 23- to 29-year-olds disapprove of his job performance, after younger voters were roughly split on him earlier this year.
That erosion tracks with longer-running trends. An Associated Press-NORC/MTV poll back in 2018 during the President’s first term found most young people viewed Trump as "racist," "generally dishonest" and "mentally unfit" for office.
Youth Turnout Lags As 2028 Picture Emerges
Yet ideology does not always translate into participation. An AP-NORC poll released in August 2025 found that while nine in 10 older adults say voting is very important, only about six in 10 young adults agree, and a third of younger adults admit they barely follow U.S. politics.
The Yale Youth Poll also hints at 2028's battlefield. Voters under 34 see Vice President J.D. Vance and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) as viable contenders, but Democrats under 30 lean more toward Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in a primary, while many Republicans would still back Trump if he could seek a third term.
Cost of living, democracy and corruption rank as the top three issues for voters under 34, a hierarchy that echoes youth-focused polling throughout Trump's second term, including surveys where young Americans favored Joe Biden or Kamala Harris over Trump and questioned whether the country is on the right track.
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