Young Americans Disapprove of Trump’s Performance, Policies, and Promises
Trump’s Disapproval Rating Among Young People At 60%
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Young Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Donald Trump’s performance as President after his first two months in office. Trump’s job approval rating from 13- to 25-year-olds sits at 35%.
Trump’s disapproval rating among young people is at 60%, putting his net approval rating among the group at -25. Disapproval at this scale and so early in an administration is without precedent in modern politics. During the same time period, the general adult population net job approval for Trump ranged from -4 (NBC/WSJ) to -15 (Gallup).
Additionally, Trump’s initial executive order barring travel from seven Muslim countries found little support, with approval of the order at just 30% for Americans ages 13 to 25. Trump’s proposed wall along the Mexican border is even less popular with young people, with just 23% in agreement with the plan.
On both policies, young people are significantly more opposed than the general adult population. Regarding the travel ban, adult support ranged from 45% (CBS News) to 54% (Morning Consult/Politico). For the Mexican border wall, adult support has consistently been just over 1 in 3: 37% in a recent Quinnipiac poll and 38% in a recent CNN/ORC poll.
Young people are significantly more opposed to both the travel ban and the border wall policies than are the general adult population.
In addition to limited support from young people on his performance in his first two months, Trump’s vision for the country elicited a strong and negative response from young Americans.
Just over 1 in 3 (38%) of college-aged young people (18–25) agree that as President, Donald Trump will improve the lives of young people and just 1 in 4 (28%) believe the U.S. government currently cares about young people. For young high school-aged Americans (13–17), only 30% think their lives will improve under the Trump Administration and only 23% agree that the government cares about young people.
Research & Editorial Team
Jeff Bladt, Chief Data Officer, DoSomething.org
Nick McCormick, Data and Survey Research Analyst, DoSomething.org
Keri Goff, Creative Director, DoSomething.org
Meredith Ferguson, Managing Director, TMI Strategy
2017 Polling Methodology:
The survey was distributed to individuals ages 13–25 across the United States and its outlying territories. The final sample includes 581 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting, meaning that the opinions and actions of 13-year-old females are just as well represented as those of 25-year-old males. Assuming a population size of approximately 45,000,000 13–25 year olds nationwide, a sample size of 581 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 4.07% margin of error.
2016 Polling Methodology:
The survey was distributed to individuals ages 13–25 across the United States and its outlying territories. Prior to analysis, the data was cleaned and weighted as follows:
• Individuals with completion times of under 5 minutes were excluded from the results.
• Individuals younger than 13 years of age or older than 25 years of age were excluded from the results.
• Weights were applied to create equal representations across gender and age.
The final sample includes 3,305 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting, meaning that the opinions and actions of 13-year-old females are just as well represented as those of 25-year-old males. Assuming a population size of approximately 45,000,000 13–25 year olds nationwide, a sample size of 3,305 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 1.7% margin of error.
About DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org is the largest tech company exclusively for young people and social change. We’re activating 5.5 million young people (and counting!) to make positive change, online and off, in every US area code and in over 131 countries. When you join DoSomething, you join something bigger than yourself. You team up with the young people who have clothed half of America’s youth in homeless shelters. And cleaned up 3.7 million cigarette butts from the streets. And run the largest youth-led sports equipment drive in the world. And more! You’ve got the power and the passion to make an impact — we’ll help you get it done. Welcome to DoSomething. Let’s Do This.
About TMI Strategy
TMI is a strategy consultancy that uncovers insights about young people to develop creative solutions that drive social change. Fueled by DoSomething.org’s proprietary data from millions of young people involved in hundreds of cause initiatives, we uncover what motivates young people to connect with companies and causes they care about. Not your typical agency, every project TMI takes on has positive impact on people, the planet, or both — and 100% of TMI’s profits support DoSomething.org. For more information, visit tmistrategy.org.
