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‘Our generation feels under attack from many directions’: Takeaways from the Spring 2022 Harvard Youth Poll
“Our generation is looking to those in power for a sign that they understand that we live our lives feeling constantly under threat.”
It seems America’s youth remains engaged but doesn’t feel like political leaders are listening. And based on poll results released by Harvard on Monday, that perceived disconnect between young people and the powers that be may have serious repercussions come Election Day.
As next fall’s midterms slowly approach and races heat up, the Institute of Politics at Harvard University released its spring poll results Monday giving a glimpse into how the youth of the United States might engage with that election.
The poll indicates that 18-to-29-year-olds are on track to meet the record-breaking turnout the 2018 election saw in this November’s election. The majority (55%) prefer Democratic control, but many feel politics aren’t the way to make change — with 36% thinking “political involvement rarely has tangible results,” 42% believing their vote “doesn’t make a difference,” and 56% agreeing that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing.”
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Conducted by a team of undergraduate Harvard students, the Spring 2022 Harvard Youth Poll explored four main areas: domestic politics, identity, education, and mental health.
These themes came out of discussions among the team at the Institute of Politics and were based on results from the fall poll, Alan Zhang, the student chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project, said at a press conference April 25.
This spring’s poll is the 43rd in the biannual series and surveyed 2,024 18-to-29-year-olds.
The data was collected by Ipsos Public Affairs using the KnowledgePanel Calibration technique, the same methodology the survey has been using since 2009, according to John Della Volpe, the director of polling.
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“Rather than connecting to a piece of technology, whether it’s a landline, telephone or mobile phone or etc., the sample is recruited based upon the address in which they live. Roughly half of the sample is recruited based upon that methodology,” Della Volpe said in the press conference. “The other half is supplemented by additional online methods to ensure that we have a full representation not just of the demographic group broadly, but specifically within all the important age and education and race and ethnicity and gender etc. demographics as well.”
The results of the survey were posted online April 25. Here’s an overview of the four main themes:
Domestic politics
Turnout among the surveyed age range should be high this fall, Kate Gunderen, a junior from Connecticut who led the research team on domestic politics, said at the press conference Monday. Despite this expected high turnout, Democrats can’t count on the blue wave that occurred in 2018 — the electorate could look different this fall than it did four years ago and turnout may be influenced by lower levels of political advocacy, Gundersen said.
Approval ratings for President Joe Biden dropped to 41% from 45% last fall among young Americans, with many disapproving of his handling of the economy, according to Gundersen.
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“Amongst those who disapprove of the president, the leading reason for disapproval was ‘effectiveness,’ which critically stands as a leading reason for disapproval amongst Democrats, independents and Republicans — [a] rare moment of consensus amongst persons in this generation,” Gundersen said at the press conference Monday. “President Biden has failed to keep momentum with the generation that brought him into the White House.”
About 60% of both young Democrats and young Republicans see the other party as a threat to democracy, according to survey results.
“Young Americans are widely dissatisfied with our system, our parties and our politicians,” Gundersen said. “However, our midterm numbers reflect that young Americans don’t seem to be turning away. They are a political force that is committed to working in our system, broken as they see it. That being said, politicians and parties better note these numbers and work to understand and fight for the generation as the midterms approach.”
Gundersen said Biden is being dubbed ineffective — at 36%, “ineffectiveness” was the leading reason cited for disapproval of Biden — but that doesn’t mean that young Americans disagree with his values.
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“Young Democrats are more likely to say that he has not followed through with campaign promises,” Gundersen said. “Young Democrats also say that they want to hear more from President Biden. So I think the problem that he’s facing is one of communication and it’s one about reaching back out to those voters that he captured in the Trump conflict.”
Specifically, 40% of young Democrats say they want to see and hear more from Biden.
Identity
This year was the first time the poll did a deep dive into LGBTQ trends and identification, said Maia Alberts, a junior who led the identity research team.
The poll found that 21%, or more than one in five, young Americans identify as LGBTQ and almost half of those survey respondents reported feeling under “a lot” of attack because of their sexual orientation.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of young Americans report they are either “very” or “somewhat” comfortable with a close friend coming out as LGBTQ — further broken down to report 84% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans are comfortable with a friend coming out as LGBTQ.
The poll also looked into the use of they/them pronouns and friends transitioning genders, where it saw stronger partisan divides. Overall 61% of young Americans are comfortable with a friend transitioning from one gender to another, with 77% of Democrats, 33% of Republicans and 64% of independents being comfortable.
More than half of young Americans are comfortable using they/them pronouns and 46% are comfortable with transgender athletes participating in sports that correspond with their gender identities.
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The other main topic highlighted by Alberts and the identity research team was racial identities.
“Three-fifths of young black Americans believe people of their racial background feel under attack a lot in America,” Alberts said at the press conference. “This number is about the same today during the Biden administration as it was five years ago under Trump.”
Young Black Americans reported the highest percentage of feeling under “a lot” of attack, but young Asian Americans (43%) and Hispanic Americans (37%) also feel under attack. Nineteen percent of young white Americans feel the same.
“Minority groups representing sexuality, race, religion, and politics don’t feel safe in America,” Alberts said. “Elected officials and others in power must understand that we are looking not only for assurances but actual concrete actions to make institutions more inclusive and more equitable.”
Education
Regardless of party affiliation, the survey showed young Americans think education is a “critical foundation for American strength and future,” education research lead and freshman Tommy Barone said. Young Americans ranked education above the military, technology, and democracy as the most important factor to the United States’s global strength.
“While young Americans believe education is essential to our future, they feel that the education system is failing to meet the moment,” Barone said. “Just 1/3 of young Americans are satisfied with the current state of K through 12 public education, while 57% report satisfaction with their own K through 12 education.”
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Nearly half of the young Americans polled, or 46%, said they agree that parents should have more control over their children’s education.
Another factor covered by the survey was student loan debt. Across partisan and demographic lines, Barone said the survey shows young Americans “unequivocally want action” regarding student loan debt, with 85% favoring some form of action on student loan debt but only 38% favoring total cancellation.
“Young Americans care deeply about education and know it is essential to our future, but they’re frustrated. Frustrated about a lack of parental control, frustrated about the quality of education we’re giving our kids, frustrated with the burden of student loan debt,” Barone said. “Elected officials who understand these frustrations can forge important connections with critical young voters.”
Mental health
Nearly three-quarters of young Americans, or 71%, believe there is a mental health crisis in the United States, according to the poll results.
“Our poll first began to ask about mental health when we and many of our generation were out of school and lockdowns were enforced across the country. Then, we were alarmed at the high numbers we found,” sophomore and mental health lead Nosa Lawani said. “Now as lockdowns, school closures, and mask mandates have gone away in most of the country, we have seen no change in the numbers.”
More than half (52%) of young Americans reported feeling “down, depressed, or hopeless” for several days over a two-week period. There were no statistical differences based on age, education, race, ethnicity, or where they live, according to the Institute of Politics.
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Almost a quarter, or 24%, reported having thoughts at least several times in the last two weeks that they would be “better off dead” or of “hurting themselves.” This is slightly down from 28% last year. These thoughts are more common among respondents who are Black, Asian, Female, LGBTQ, or in a “bad” financial position.
More white young Americans reported having access to support or resources to help them deal with depression or thoughts of self harm, with 57% saying they have access, as compared to only 40% of Black young Americans saying the same.
“Our generation feels under attack from many directions. Young people are facing a persisting mental health crisis fueled by the current state of American politics,” Zhang said. “Our generation is looking to those in power for a sign that they understand that we live our lives feeling constantly under threat, and that it’s taken a toll on our mental health.”
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