Among younger voters who supported him in the 2024 election, a new Pew poll released on Thursday revealed that President Donald Trump has lost significant ground since he took office in January.
The poll shows that when voters aged 18-34 who backed Trump were surveyed in February, he had a 94% approval rating. But when that group was questioned about his job performance between Aug. 4-10, Trump was down to 69% support.
Trump’s poor performance among this key demographic echoes his overall poor standing in the poll. Only 38% of those surveyed approve of his performance and in nearly every demographic group those ranking him as negative outweighs his positive support.
These are bad numbers—like the recent jobs report—that Trump cannot change by simply firing an official and hiring a hack who will tell him what he wants to hear.
Trump spent much of the 2024 election cycle successfully trying to appeal to younger voters. A key element in his electoral strategy involved appearances on male-focused podcasts in the so-called “manosphere,” most notably his interview with Joe Rogan.
It was perhaps a harbinger of his precipitous slide that Rogan has been among the prominent voices criticizing Trump for covering up the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Even podcaster Joe Rogan has criticized Trump.
Trump’s administration has seen him take a variety of positions opposite to the interests of younger Americans, which has most likely contributed to his downward spiral in support.
His administration has rolled back policies put in place by former President Joe Biden that focused on providing relief from student loans. Instead, the Trump administration under Education Secretary Linda McMahon has pushed for wage garnishment and other policies meant to squeeze student loan borrowers already facing financial pressure.
Trump has made the attack on transgender rights a top priority in his administration. He has put policies in place to punish local schools for allowing transgender people to compete in sports and has attacked colleges and universities for doing the same. The administration is being sued at multiple levels for their attempts to exclude transgender people from everyday life.
The push from Trump to attack migrant families, many of which include younger people, probably doesn’t help either. Under his administration families have been separated, members of families abducted, and others have been harassed. Young people have directly been in the crosshairs of his actions, most recently highlighted by the fear thousands are experiencing as possible targets during the “back to school” season.
The tariff policies embraced by the Trump administration are hurting Americans across all demographics. His haphazard approach has affected the costs of goods and services, and the effect is now showing up in negative unemployment reports. The recent decision by fashion retailer Claire’s, who specializes in a younger clientele, to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy was in part attributed to Trump tariff pressure.
His administration’s signature legislative achievement, the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” further undermines his support with younger people by making cuts to the social safety net. Proposals by his team to offer up extremely convoluted payments (so-called “Trump Accounts”) that don’t make up for the shortfalls he put into law, nor are likely to raise the declining U.S. birthrate, are unlikely to turn the tide in his favor.
Americans across the board have given Trump bad reviews, but the people who will have to live the longest with the repercussions of his decisions—even after they voted for him—are increasingly seeing the entire enterprise as a bad deal.