Voters under thirty are the least likely of all age groups to say they disapprove of ‘everything’ Trump has done as President according to a recent YouGov poll. Among Americans who say they already disapprove of Trump, the most likely of all age groups to say they agree with him on ‘a few’ things are those under age 30.
Overall, less than half of 18-29-year-olds (45%) disapprove of ‘everything’ Trump has done, compared to 55% of voters 30-44, a whopping 63% of voters 45-64, and 48% of voters over 65, as shown below. Voters 18-29 who already disapprove of Trump are also the most likely to say while they disapprove of ‘most’ things, they also agree on ‘a few’ things. This age group is also the most likely to say they disapprove of Trump on a lot of things, but approve of ‘many’ things he has done.
Voters under thirty are also evenly split on President Trump’s immigration statements on Twitter. When asked to rate his July 14th Tweet on the United States being too crowded and shifting blame to Democrats for the border crisis, 50% of voters under thirty rated his comments ‘Great’, ‘Good’ or ‘OK’, compared to 47% of voters 30-44. On the flip side, 50% of voters under thirty ranked his comments ‘Bad’ or ‘Terrible’, compared to 53% of voters 30-44 as shown below.
Trump’s July 14th follow-up Tweet criticizing the New York Times for a biased portrayal of detention centers also went over better with voters under thirty. Once again, half of voters under thirty rated his comments ‘Great’, ‘Good’ or ‘OK’, compared to 47% of voters 30-44 a shown below.
When asked to rate Trump’s Tweet thanking a Twitter follower for pointing out the difficulty of constantly defending himself against attacks from his opponents, voters under thirty were enthusiastic. A full 63% of 18-29 year-olds thought Trump’s response was ‘Good’, ‘Great’ or ‘Ok’. Only 56% of 30-44-year-olds, 61% of 45-64-year-olds and 59% of those over 65 shared this view, as shown below.
We saw a similar trend in Quinnipiac polling this spring, covering views of President Trump in light of the Mueller Report. Voters 18-34 were the most likely of all age groups to say they don’t think Trump committed any crimes before taking office, and the least likely to say Trump was still guilty after he was cleared by the Mueller report. This more nuanced approach to rating Trump among younger voters might seem odd, but it makes a lot more sense given that just 27% of 18 to 29-year-olds now consider themselves liberal — a 41% decline in liberal affiliation since 2008. Meanwhile, the share of young people who now consider themselves moderate has more than doubled, from 19% in 2008 to 45% in 2019. The reluctance of younger voters to completely discredit the President is a tribute to their more moderate, less ideologically ridged views. Younger voters don’t accept everything Trump does without criticism, but even those who disagree with him on a lot are still more ‘open minded’ to what he is doing right than older voters.
