Although Donald Trump has run for president four times—first with a short-lived Reform Party campaign in 2000, then three times as the GOP nominee—2024 marked the first time Trump won the national popular vote. It was a close election: Trump only won by about 1.5 percent, but he managed to attract voters beyond his core MAGA supporters. These new Trump voters included Latinos, independents, Gen-Z, and members of the Manosphere.
But according to an op-ed by Bloomberg News, Nia-Malika Henderson says many voters under 35 are now regretting their choice.
“One of the most surprising datapoints from President Donald Trump’s 2024 victory was his strength among young voters, a demographic that is typically a core part of the Democratic base,” Henderson, who previously covered politics for CNN and the Washington Post, explains. “In 2020, President Joe Biden won this age group (18-29) by 24 points. Yet, in 2024, Trump closed the gap, with former Vice President Kamala Harris winning this same group by just 4 points. Now, a Pew Research Center poll shows Trump steadily losing ground with a larger young cohort, revealing weaknesses in the very group that helped him win in November.”
Henderson adds, “In February, Trump had a 92 percent approval rating among voters under 35 who cast a ballot for him. Since then, his approval rating has dropped to 69 percent—a loss of 23 percentage points.”
She notes that many Gen-Z and Manosphere voters are upset about “the economy and Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Trump has long been a master of spin,” Henderson says. “But it is much harder to spin people’s everyday reality, which for some young men means little chance to move up. A May survey by the Young Men’s Research Initiative shows that 47 percent of men under 30 say the economy is getting worse.”
Aaron Smith, founder of the Young Men’s Research Initiative, told Henderson that young men are “worried about their future” and feel frustrated because they don’t see “a clear path to the middle class.”
Henderson concludes, “The GOP is betting that young voters, particularly men, will become a permanent part of the base. Yet, failing to deliver on Epstein could cost them support—especially if their policies aren’t giving young men a better economic future.”
