Trump's Support Collapses Among Young Voters

[applegrove]

Trump’s Support Collapses Among Young Voters

July 22, 2025 at 10:36 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 272 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2025/07/22/trumps-support-collapses-among-young-voters/

A new CBS News poll finds Donald Trump’s approval among voters between 18 and 29 years old has plummeted over the last six months.

In February, Trump had a 55% to 45% approval rate. That’s now dropped to 28% to 72% — a stunning 54 percentage point negative swing.

[Phoenix61]

1. Good!nt

[yardwork]

7. It is an opportunity for Democrats, if we'll take it.

Young people are looking for radical changes.

[aka-chmeee]

31. I don't think so...

It's not enough, apparently, to present an intelligent, rational adult human being as your candidate. The 'young people' will like whoever promises them their ponies.

[flashman13]

48. That is really being disparaging of 'young people'.

They want new, activist leaders that campaign on economic reform, universal health care, affordable education, and a system that values something other than amassing the most money and stuff. They don't want ponies, they want a chance at living life without constantly being on the edge economic calamity.

Of course I'm an old gizzer and as a boomer I have to admit that we had our chance and we sold out for bangles and bobbles. Business as usual is what has gotten us into this mess. As I see it, the best way to make amends is to support 'young people'. The boomers need to get the hell out of the way.

[aka-chmeee]

56. Perhaps when they stop entertaining themselves with

"30 disgusting foods that Boomers actually liked" etc. ad infinitum and congratulating themselves for their obvious superiority, I'll moderate my view. I've spent the last 16 years since I retired repairing computers for the local school. It's depressing how many superman TSF and Rambo TSF and the like wallpapers they put on their computers.
Business as usual worked pretty damned well until Raygun and the Repugs came along and crapped all over the country determined to avenge Nixon.
I think I'll get the hell out of the way the same way the "greatest generation" did

[flashman13]

58. Sure there are a lot of brain dead kids out there. But there are plenty of others, especially women,

that are not. They are the only hope for the country. They have sent a loud and clear message with their support of Zohran Mamdan, AOC and a few others. I think they are right.

[DSandra]

54. They want politicians that mean what they say rather than use them for enrichment

The revolving door and other political corruption is well known and many voters, including young ones, are sick of it. Put a candidate that is not beholden to big corporations and means what they say and the young will vote. Just look at Bernie Sanders back in 2016.

You know the saying: Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line. The rocks come with the farm.

[senseandsensibility]

2. I will try to be magnanimous

and say that I hope this is a learning experience for them.

[Moostache]

3. I won't...

FUCK them all if they voted for Trump because of social media influencers or podcasts or anything else. Vote like an imbecile, elect an imbecile, suffer the consequences you goddamn fools.

They are responsible for all of this now and all of it later that is going to severely fuck them all square in the ass as they will never see student loan relief recover, they will NEVER save enough to buy homes or escape renter's prison in the future and they will be caring for or burying their grandparents and parents when Medicaid is further cut in the next 3 years...

It is their choice, and the results are their future. Enjoy it and own the pain you heartless, thoughtless ignorant and over-indulged fools.

[yardwork]

5. Whoa. Trump was elected on a tidal wave of white middle aged votes.

It's unfair to single out young people for our rage and contempt. In fact, I'm more forgiving of younger voters, who feel truly left behind.

My deepest rage and contempt is aimed at the well-off white middle-aged people who were doing just fine under Biden but voted for the most evil corrupt candidate ever. Explain that!

[Moostache]

14. Do not skip the important part (voted for Trump) and see the tree not the forest (youth)

Youth is not the issue - stupid young people are part of the issue, but their stupity and gullability is the central problem, not only their age or cohort.

ANYONE - young, old or anywhere inbetween - that voted for him is the problem and those that fit BOTH - Young AND Trump voters are who my comments are directed at. I love young people! I have 5 of them bewteen the ages of 17 and 27 in my family plus a 21 year old fiance for my son, so 6 now. NOT ONE OF THEM THAT COULD VOTE SELECTED "TRUMP" or stayed home.

I reiterate - IF you are young, old, alive or recently passed but selected "Trump-Vance" in November of 2024 I hate you, I blame you and I will never forgive you. If you voted for Harris-Walz, kindly disregard my vitriol, it is not aimed at you.

[DeeDeeNY]

51. You make a lot of sense.

My only objection is to your expression 'renter's prison'' in your previous post.

[senseandsensibility]

8. My adult life has been spent working with young people

I'm a retired teacher. To this day, I prefer young people to most older people. I find them to be full of hope, open minded and motivated by a desire for fairness and justice. Yes, they are imperfect. But I was at their age too. And I didn't even have social media to blame!

[moonscape]

59. How do you explain

55% seeing Trump favorably in Feb? Where did the motivation for fairness and justice fit in to that? Honestly curious, not making a counter-argument.

Is it social media and not being exposed to info outside one’s silo? It’s obviously multi-layered, but support to such a steep decline points towards not having paid attention, not engaging, because Trump is nothing if not transparent.

[senseandsensibility]

60. Honestly, and this is just a guess,

but I think they fell prey to misinformation on social media. Not good, of course, but there is an entire industry devoted to lying to them. If they are waking up now that is more than most older maga voters will ever do.

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. The overwhelming majority of young voters did not vote for Trump

The article conflates “support”, which usually implies voting for a candidate, with “approval”, which does not.

[Moostache]

29. Sorry, no sale on that...

Support or Vote - if you are not repulsed by Trump - his ideology, his BS persona, his lies, his cruelty, his genuinely foul aroma - you are guilty to a degree. Maybe people can see this as a non-binary situation, I cannot. Support for, Vote for, abide at all ... the only acceptable reaction Donald Trump is revulsion and disgust. I do not see any value in him or his ideolouges at all.

The idea that someone could 'support' Trump and not be an evil piece of shit does not wash.

[Fiendish Thingy]

32. You don't have to be "sold" on reality

And the reality is the majority of young voters do not, and never have, supported Trump.

[sop]

46. A majority of young voters (18-29) didn't vote in 2024, so it really doesn't matter who they supported.

[Fiendish Thingy]

61. Yes it does matter

Young voters are the largest untapped pool of voters in the nation, growing by around 4 million/year.

Although their turn out is unpredictable, when they do vote, they predictably vote for Democrats by a 2 to 1 margin over republicans nationally.

So, when someone like Mamdani can generate enthusiastic turnout among young voters - something like 37,000 new voters registered in NYC in the final week of the campaign specifically to vote for Mamdani- Dems should sit up and take notice.

Whoever can inspire and motivate young voters to show up and vote, and maintain that motivation through good governance, will control all branches of the government for generations.

[Playingmantis]

40. Same thing with Goldwater

They all loved him until the woke up.
..but before the election

[yardwork]

4. The question is why it hasn't dropped with everyone.

Last I saw his white middle-aged MAGA base still loves everything he's doing.

[Straw Man]

6. I think ...

The question is why it hasn't dropped with everyone.

Last I saw his white middle-aged MAGA base still loves everything he's doing.

... it's because they are constitutionally incapable of admitting they were wrong. Zero self-reflective ability: It goes with the territory.

[OldBaldy1701E]

41. Oh, it's more than that.

They are convinced that they are not wrong, regardless of facts or reality.

That is what we are dealing with.

[progressoid]

57. And they listen to media all day that reinforces their stance.

[Straw Man]

63. I think we're saying the same thing ...

... in different words.

[OldBaldy1701E]

66. Basically, yeah.

You said that they are incapable of admitting that they were wrong. Which says that they know that they are wrong but they won't admit it.

My point was that they have no idea that they are wrong. They will never admit anything because they have no idea that they are in the wrong on almost everything. They cannot fathom that they, or their orange idol, could be wrong.

But, yes, we are both pointing out that 'being the bigger person' is just something that they cannot do, whether it is because they won't admit they are wrong or that they have no idea that they are.

[Karasu]

23. Because the Overton window in this country is so far to the right that Republicans could personally whack their voters'

family members and still get like 40% of the fucking vote.

[Mr. Evil]

49. Because,

to them, he's the manliest of manly men.

[JI7]

9. "I'm still an incel and my life still sucks"

[Ping Tung]

10. How long until the Kinglet refers to them as Traitors, Weaklings, and Losers?

Will Loyalty Oaths be required in schools?

[ananda]

11. It's hard to know why he ever had any of their support.

But I've said that about a lot of groups he's targeting now.

So many people in this country just have zero critical and
research skills.

[W_HAMILTON]

16. "Kids make fun of boomers for believing everything they see on Facebook and then tik tok came out"

A quote I have saved from another message board that rings true...

Too many of our fellow Americans can't tell the difference between truth and propaganda and then end up falling for the propaganda because it doesn't have to be tethered by reality and instead can be as grandiose as need be to fool them.

[ananda]

39. They can think what they want about us boomers.

I could care less.

It's the lack of interest in hearing from all sides,
and having the ability to tell fact from fiction.

[MrWowWow]

12. Why Does this Matter to the @@Dtator?

He does what he wants with impunity. All past dictators have never cared a wit about their polling numbers. Why would this 💩 be any different?

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. The story conflates approval with support

“Support” usually implies voting for a candidate, whereas “approval” does not.

Trump has never had the electoral “support” (votes) from a majority of young people.

[H2O Man]

19. Right.

52% for VP Harris, to 46% for the felon in 2024. In 2020, Biden had 59% to the felon's 35%. In 2016, Clinton got 58% to 28% for the felon.

[Fiendish Thingy]

25. I think that's a measurement of voters 24-34 years old IIRC

Whereas most analyses consider the young voter demographic to be 18-29, sometimes 18-24.

Also, millions of Young voters didn’t vote in 2024, and few if any of those were disgruntled Trump supporters.

Young people are overwhelmingly progressive, and not the narrow 52-46 split you describe.

[H2O Man]

27. I only looked

at 18 to 29 for those statistics.

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. Hmmm

Different from stats of the age group that I’ve seen, although with so many young voters not voting this time, numbers may be true for those who showed up.

[republianmushroom]

17. Live and learn.

[Torchlight]

18. He'll soon be left with nothing but a constituency of dude-bro's

and an army of political commissars.

[Cha]

20. WTH "young voters"? Why was It There In

the First Place? Ask yourselves That.

[Martin68]

21. What was wrong with "Young Voters?" Under-informed? Just angry about everything? Don't give a shit?

[Paladin]

22. Fuck 'em.

Belated congrats to some of them for finally pulling their heads out of their asses.

[DinahMoeHum]

24. I don't give a shit what "young voters" think now. . .

. . .I care how they think come November's general elections. . .IF they even bother to show up.

[Scrivener7]

26. My kneejerk reaction: "dumbass kids, you change your mind NOW?" Makes me realize I'm old.

[CaptainTruth]

28. And it was obvious what he was years before the 2024 election!

People need to freaking pay attention!

People don't pay attention & we end up suffering for it.

[EnergizedLib]

33. It never should've existed to begin with

[lostnfound]

34. And why should we believe CBS News about anything?? Nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

35. I think a lot of progressives use themselves and the friends they aquired who shared their more left values as examples

That was from another era. Have you looked on YouTube lately? TikTok, X ?
So many American kids today have been brought up in hateful households whose parents are full on brainwashed against even the most moderate liberal. Since Rush Limbaugh started it on daytime radio.

I'm always reminded of the Borat scene on the RV of young men who he hitched a ride with. None of them knew it was a spoof. They spewed the most vile things about slavery being a good thing to demeaning women. And that was back in 2006, almost twenty years ago. Now those men probably are raising their own children to carry on the cycle of hate.

A lot of selfish, entitled brats out there who live for materialism and putting others down. A lot of them fall for the warning that "wokeism" is going to threaten their futures.

I think Democrats cannot underestimate the power of far right messaging, full of lies of course. But it works on grown ass adults, it will work on young people too.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

36. CBS NEWS POLL: Trump's approval trends among ages 18-29-Net 54 point negative swing

Link to tweet

CBS NEWS POLL: Trump's approval trends among ages 18-29

Early February
🟢 Approve: 55% (+10)
🟤 Disapprove: 45%

JULY
🟢 Approve: 28% (-44)
🟤 Disapprove: 72%

Net 54 point negative swing

[no_hypocrisy]

53. IT'S CBS FFS!!!

High approval rating perpetually is part of the "settlement agreement".

[Blue Owl]

37. Great timing, ya dumbasses

[GoodRaisin]

38. Well, he promised them lower prices and they took the bait.

They were vulnerable to all his lies.
Grocery prices down was a lie
Added 3.4 trillion to the debt on their backs
Took away their health care
Took away food assistance
Israeli-Palestinian conflict ended was a lie
Russia war on Ukraine ended was a lie
Placed the U.S. Military on the streets of LA
Used masked kidnappers to disappear people from the streets

Could go on but let’s just say young people haven’t seen one damn improvement in their lives since they helped get him elected. They got nothing but lies. Guess I’m surprised that 28% still approve but that’s all magats as we well know.

[moniss]

42. It may help us in the mid-terms but in reality

Crumb the 1st and his fascists don't care how low the approval goes since he won't be impeached and they will continue on their ways.

[Gimpyknee]

43. And you think Trump cares?

[CuriousSavage]

44. For many, especially the young, voting seems optional

Up until 90 seconds after my vote, I felt totally confident in the Democrats winning 2024. I vividly remember walking out of the polling place and the happy feeling slipping away. I saw an ordinary looking older white guy and his two young sons walking in. I try not to prejudge anyone but that, coupled with my community leanings and the Grinch-looking-down-at-Whoville grimaces they were all wearing walking in, made me certain that they were Magats on a mission. At that moment, I felt a chill. I knew my vote canceled that old guy's but not his two sons vote. The day after, I heard a young female coworker say that she didn't vote and I did all I could to restrain myself.
I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before. This election came down to subliminal fear of race and gender. Too many fragile white, straight Christian folk couldn't deal with the thought of a future that was less white, less straight, less Christian. As someone who meets all three of those characteristics, I loved seeing and hearing the diversity of faces and voices we had on our side. To many others, it was foretelling the end of "their" America. THAT is going to make them, young and old, vote R every time no matter what. Smarter people than me have to figure out a rock solid plan well before the midterms and general. Adding more performers to a rally isn't going to do it.

[bronxiteforever]

45. TSF is still strong with Gen X. It is a real right wing cohort.

Generation X is generally thought of as the generation born between 1965 and 1980. They approve of TSF even now. Being that they will replace the boomers, this is a problem for our party. Gen X is aging and voting regularly. That generation was influenced by Reagan and the 12 year run of the GOP in the presidency from 1980-1992.

[calimary]

47. What took 'em so long?

[Diraven]

50. Because he didn't keep any of his promises to them

Didn't lower prices, didn't end the war in Gaza, and didn't help incels get more girls. That was basically all the issues they cared about.

[damifino10]

52. My Question Is.............

Why should any credence should be given to anything CBS puts out? (Or any other network poll)

[Progressive dog]

55. More than half of

them have changed their minds in six months and we're stuck with their choice for four years.

[MrWowWow]

62. Doesnt Matter for @@D 💩

Just as it never mattered for any and all past @@|||Dtators

[Takket]

64. drumpf hasn't changed... so why is his support dropping?

that's the question the media should be asking itself, but it won't, because that would require the media to admit their horrible coverage is PART of the reason why his support was ever so high to begin with.

[Hassler]

65. Not impressed by voters who can so easily switch.

Apparently there are TACO voters too.