By Ariel Edwards-Levy

(CNN) — Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.

Young adults say, 57% to 13%, that things in the country are generally on the wrong track, rather than headed in the right direction. Just 32% describe the US as a healthy democracy or one that’s “somewhat functioning,” while 64% call it system in trouble or one that has completely failed.

The survey, which included 2,040 adults under the age of 30 and was conducted between November 3 and 7, 2025, sheds a light on the views of young Americans on the country’s economic and political situation.

“Young Americans are sending a clear message: the systems and institutions meant to support them no longer feel stable, fair, or responsive to this generation,” John Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, said in a statement. “Their trust in democracy, the economy, and even each other is fraying — not because they are disengaged, but because they feel unheard and unprotected in a moment of profound uncertainty.”

Seventy-two percent of respondents — including 88% of Democrats, 73% of Republicans and 66% of independents — say it’s at least somewhat important to them that America is a democracy. That’s a downtick from 78% overall in 2021, coming almost entirely from Republicans.

The poll finds that President Donald Trump’s approval rating currently stands at just 29% among adults under 30, with congressional Democrats and Republicans at a similarly low 27% and 26%, respectively.

Asked about their preference for the outcome of next year’s midterms, registered voters younger than 30 favor a Democratic-controlled Congress over a Republican one by a 17-point margin, 46% to 29%, with roughly one-quarter unsure.

Overall, only about half of all young adults say they will definitely or probably vote next year, and just 28% say they consider themselves to be politically engaged, though few say they’re completely tuned out of political news.

In an open-ended question about the national issue that concerns them most, 29% name economic issues, with 18% naming issues relating to government, politics and democracy and 10% mentioning immigration-related issues. Young adults are divided on their personal financial prospects, with 30% expecting to end up better off financially than their parents when they reach their parents’ age, 25% expecting to be worse off, and 26% expecting to be about the same.

The survey also finds that about one-third of young adults, 35%, say they regularly use generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. By a 30-point margin, 44% to 14%, young adults expect AI to take away more opportunities from them than it creates, with the rest expecting no change or unsure about it.

The Harvard IOP poll used the nationally representative Ipsos KnowledgePanel, and the results have a margin of error of +/- 2.94% pts for the full sample.

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