Alexandra Chadwick went into the 2020 election with the sole purpose of unseating Donald J. Trump. A 22-year-old first-time voter, she viewed Joseph R. Biden Jr. more as a protection than an inspirational political figure, someone who could push back against threats to abortion access, gun control and climate policy.
Two years later, as the Supreme Court eroded federal protections for all three, Ms. Chadwick now sees that President Biden and other Democratic leaders lack both the imagination and the will to fight back. She points out the generation gap—one she once ignored but now looks like a cave.
“How exactly are you going to lead your country if your mind is still stuck 50, 60 or 70 years ago?” Ms. Chadwick, a customer service representative in Rialto, Calif., said of many seventy-year-old leaders at the helm of her party . “It’s not the same and people aren’t the same and your old ideas won’t work as well anymore.”
A poll by The New York Times and Siena College found that only 1 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds strongly approve of the way Biden is handling his job. And 94 percent of Democrats under 30 said they want another candidate running in two years. Of all age groups, young voters are the most likely to say they would not vote for either Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump in a hypothetical 2024 rematch.
The numbers are a stark warning to Democrats as they scramble to stave off a meltdown in November’s midterm elections. Young people, long among the most unreliable part of the party coalition, marched for gun control, rallied against Mr. Trump and helped fuel a Democratic wave in the 2018 midterm elections. They still side with Democrats on issues , which are still becoming more important.
But four years later, many feel disengaged and disengaged, with only 32 percent saying they are “almost certain” to vote in November, according to the survey. Nearly half said they didn’t think their vote mattered.
Interviews with these young voters reveal the generational tensions leading to their disenchantment. As they reached adulthood, faced with racial strife, political conflict, high inflation and a pandemic, they sought help from politicians more than three times their age.
These older leaders often talk about maintaining institutions and restoring norms, while young voters say they care more about results. Many expressed a desire for more sweeping changes such as a viable third party and a new crop of younger leaders. They are eager for innovative action on the problems they will inherit, they said, rather than reverting to what has worked in the past.
“Every member of Congress, every single one of them, I’m sure, has been through some pretty traumatic times in their lives, and also chaos in the country,” said John Della Volpe, who studies young people’s opinions as director of research at the Institute of Politics. of the Harvard Kennedy School. “But every member of Congress has also seen America at its best. And then we all got together. That’s something that Gen Z didn’t have.”
The Biden Presidency
With the midterm elections coming up, here’s where President Biden stands.
At 79, Mr. Biden is the oldest president in US history and only one of several Democratic leaders approaching or in their 80s. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 82. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is 83. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, 71, is the baby of the bunch. Mr. Trump is 76.
In a rematch in the 2020 election, Mr. Biden would lead 38 percent to 30 percent among young voters, but 22 percent of voters between 18 and 29 said they would not vote if those candidates were their choice, by far the most -the largest share of all age groups.
Those voters include Ellis McCarthy, 24, who works part-time around Bellevue, Kentucky. McCarthy says he longs for a government that is “brand new”.
Ms. McCarthy’s father, an electrician and union member who teaches at a local trade school, met Mr. Biden last summer when the president visited the school. The two men talked about his union and his job, two things he loved. Not long after, her father fell ill, was hospitalized and, after recovering, was upset with the health care system and what the family saw as Mr. Biden’s failure to fix it.
“It feels like whether it’s Biden, whether it’s Trump, no one is stepping in to be a voice for people like me,” she said. “Workers are being left out to dry.”
Denange Sanchez, a 20-year-old student at East Florida State College from Palm Bay, Fla., found Mr. Biden “unconfident” in his promises.
Ms. Sanchez’s mother owns a house cleaning company and does most of the cleaning herself, with Denange stepping in where she can. Her entire family – including her mother, who has heart disease and a pacemaker – has battled bouts of Covid without insurance. Even while she was sick, her mother was awake at all hours making home remedies, Ms. Sanchez said.
“Everyone said we were going to crush this virus. Biden made all these promises. And no one takes the pandemic seriously anymore, but it’s still all around us. It’s so frustrating,” she said. Ms. Sanchez, who is studying medicine, also included college debt forgiveness on her list of Mr. Biden’s unfulfilled promises.
Democratic politicians and pollsters are well aware of the problem they face with young voters, but they insist there is time to engage them on issues that are a priority. Recent Supreme Court rulings striking down the constitutional right to abortion, limiting states’ ability to control the carrying of firearms and limiting the federal government’s regulatory powers over climate-warming emissions are only now beginning to take root in the minds of voters, said Jeffrey Pollock , pollster for House Democrats.
“We are no longer talking about theory; we are talking about a Supreme Court that is setting the country back 50 or more years,” he said. “If we can’t deliver that message, shame on us.”
While middle-aged voters consistently identify the economy as a top concern, it is just one of many for younger voters, roughly tied with abortion, the state of American democracy and gun policies.
That presents a dilemma for Democratic candidates in tough districts, many of whom say they need to focus their campaign message almost exclusively on the economy — but perhaps at the expense of galvanizing younger voters.
Tate Sutter, 21, feels this disconnect. A native of Auburn, Calif., who attended Middlebury College in Vermont, Mr. Sutter said he watched fireworks on the Fourth of July and cringed as another wildfire season began and aggressive federal action to combat global warming stalled in Congress. . Certainly, he said, he could see a brush fire pushing into the hills to the south.
“Climate plays a big role for me in my politics,” he said, expressing concern that Democrats aren’t talking about it more. “It’s very disappointing.”
Mr. Sutter said he understood the limits of Mr. Biden’s powers with an evenly divided Senate. But he also said he understood the power of the presidency and did not see Mr. Biden exercising it effectively.
“With age comes a lot of experience and wisdom and just know-how. But in terms of perception, it seems to be out of touch with people of my generation,” he said.
After years of feeling like politicians weren’t talking to people like him, Juan Flores, 23, says he’s turned his attention to local ballot initiatives on issues like housing or homelessness that he believes are more likely to make an impact on lives his. Mr. Flores went to school for data analytics, but drives a delivery truck for Amazon in San Jose, California. Home prices there average over $1 million, making it difficult, if not impossible, for residents to live on one income.
“I feel like a lot of politicians, they’ve already had a good upbringing,” he said. “The majority of them don’t really fully understand the scope of what the majority of the American people are going through.”
The Times/Siena College poll found that 46 percent of young voters favor Democratic control of Congress, while 28 percent want Republicans to take over. More than one in four young voters, 26 percent, don’t know or refuse to say which party they want to control Congress.
Ivan Chavez, 25, of Bernalillo, New Mexico, said he identified as an independent in part because neither party had made a compelling case for people his age. He worries about mass shootings, a mental health crisis among young people and climate change.
He would like third-party candidates to get more attention. He plans to vote in November but is not sure who he will support.
“I think Democrats are afraid of Republicans right now, Republicans are afraid of Democrats,” he said. “They don’t know which way to go.”
Young Republican voters were the least likely to say they wanted Mr. Trump to be the party’s nominee in 2024, but Kyle Holcomb, a recent college graduate from Florida, said he would vote for him if it came down to it.
“Literally, if anyone other than Biden ran, I would be more comfortable,” he said. “I just like the idea of having someone in power who can effectively project their vision and goals.”
Young Democrats said they look for the same in their leaders: vision, dynamism and maybe a little youth, but not too much. Several young voters raised the question about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 32-year-old Democrat from New York. Ms. Chadwick praised her youth and willingness to speak out — often against her older colleagues in Congress — and summed up her appeal in one word: “connectedness.”
Michael C. Bender and Alyce McFadden contributed reporting.
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