<\/p>\n Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., left, Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, center, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., speak during a campaign event for El-Sayed, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., left, Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, center, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., speak during a campaign event for El-Sayed, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Dingell has often served as an early warning system for her party, cautioning that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was on track to win Michigan in 2016 and 2024. Now she was once again scoping out the shifting political landscape, and something caught her eye.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite frankly, I haven\u2019t seen that many people outside an event yet this year,\u201d said Dingell, whose district includes Ann Arbor and who said her attendance wasn\u2019t an endorsement.<\/p>\n A line of mostly young people stretched out the door and down the street, hundreds waiting in the cold evening air on Tuesday. Some had backpacks slung over their shoulders after coming from class, while others had traveled from afar.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Students and other attendees wait in line before a campaign event with streamer Hasan Piker and Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Students and other attendees wait in line before a campaign event with streamer Hasan Piker and Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Although they were there to see a progressive candidate, attendees didn\u2019t fit neatly into any ideological box. Instead, they shared a common dissatisfaction with both major political parties. Their frustration was a reminder of the anger that has coursed through modern American politics<\/a> and now appears to be simmering within a new generation ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.<\/p>\n Born into an era of Trump<\/p>\n Liam Koenig was in third grade when Trump was first elected president \u2014 a moment that has shaped his generation\u2019s understanding of politics. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just become increasingly more inflammatory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Now a high school senior in Oakland County, a longtime political bellwether in Michigan, Koenig described an era of constant conflict and anxiety. The mood among his peers, he said, is often somber and frustrated. <\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of us have lost hope in, like, tangible change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Younger adults are more likely than older Americans to have an unfavorable view of both the Republican and Democratic parties, according to AP-NORC polling<\/a> from February. <\/p>\n Still, that frustration hasn\u2019t led to disengagement for Koenig. He waited for hours to see El-Sayed. He described the campaign as different from what he\u2019s used to seeing, something more like Zohran Mamdani\u2019s successful run for mayor<\/a> in New York City. He wanted that kind of energy in Michigan.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not going to get people out with business as usual,\u201d Koenig said.<\/p>\n Karol Molina, an artist who recently moved from New York City, said she had been hunting for a candidate in Mamdani\u2019s mold when she arrived in Michigan. She settled on El-Sayed, who is facing U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in the state\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be able to live and, like, afford life without constantly scraping by,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Molina was looking for a clean break with the past. <\/p>\n \u201cI think the Democratic Party is losing because they\u2019re not really listening to what the people really want,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to keep a party that existed before Donald Trump. And that party doesn\u2019t exist anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Frustration \u2014 but not apathy \u2014 from young voters<\/p>\n Ethan Schneider, a third-year student at the University of Michigan, described today\u2019s politics as \u201ca little unserious.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to remain positive or not be jaded at a young age,\u201d said Schneider.<\/p>\n Schneider said he voted for Democrat Kamala Harris two years ago but, like many in line to see Piker and El-Sayed, was critical of her and her party. <\/p>\n \u201cHate them,\u201d he said of Democrats. \u201cThey feel very complicit, in terms of all the issues going on now. If not complicit, they\u2019re just doing nothing,\u201d <\/p>\n Younger people are rejecting both parties at much higher rates than older generations, according to recent Gallup polling<\/a>. More than half of Generation Z and Millennials identify as political independents, while a majority of older generations side with a party.<\/p>\n The Gallup polling found that this growing group of independents tends to be motivated by unhappiness with the party in power \u2014 a dynamic that could benefit Democrats this year but doesn\u2019t promise lasting loyalty. <\/p>\n Jacob Abbott, an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan, said he feels that the Democratic Party has strayed toward \u201ccorporate interest politics.\u201d<\/p>\n He dismissed concerns about El-Sayed\u2019s decision to campaign with Piker. The 34-year-old streamer has 3.1 million followers on Twitch and 1.8 million on YouTube, and he\u2019s said \u201cHamas is a thousand times better\u201d than Israel, described some Orthodox Jews as \u201cinbred\u201d and claimed that \u201cAmerica deserved 9\/11.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775805791_190_.jpeg\")
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