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By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
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President Donald Trump’s standing with the youngest voters has slid to a fresh low, according to the latest data from a national polling series, underscoring a steady erosion that has unfolded across much of his second term.
A June Economist/YouGov poll found Trump’s net approval (those who approve minus those who disapprove) among Americans aged 18 to 29 at minus 45, the weakest reading for that group in the survey’s tracking series.
Young voters helped reshape the electorate in 2024, making any sustained shift in their views politically significant as both parties look toward the 2026 midterms and beyond.
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The change is most acutely felt among Republicans, who relied on improved margins with younger Americans to help return Trump to the White House.
Key Points
- Trump’s net approval among Gen Z in the June 19–22, 2026 Economist/YouGov poll surpasses the previous low of minus 44 recorded in November 2025.
- Ratings among 18–29-year-olds have fallen 50 points since early 2025, when Trump began his term slightly above water, at plus 5 net points.
- The trend shows a sharp early decline, a modest spring recovery, and a renewed drop heading into summer 2026.
- Nationally, Trump’s approval is also negative, but the gap is significantly larger among younger Americans.
Why It Matters
Gen Z has emerged as a critical swing constituency, with about 47 percent of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 turning out in the 2024 election—close to historic highs.
Trump improved his performance with this group compared with prior Republican candidates, so a reversal in sentiment could reshape turnout dynamics and margins in tight races.
What To Know
The latest data comes from an Economist/YouGov poll conducted between June 19 and June 22, 2026, among 1,679 U.S. adult citizens, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
Within that survey, Trump’s net approval rating among 18–29-year-olds sits at minus 45.
Taken on its own, that figure marks a new low. Viewed in context, it completes a clear arc.
A Collapse From Early Gains
At the beginning of Trump’s second term, polling suggested a relatively competitive position among younger Americans.
In January 2025, the same tracking series showed a net approval rating of plus 5 among this group—one of the few demographics where support was not firmly negative.
But from there, the decline was swift.
By spring 2025, Trump’s standing among Gen Z had slipped into negative territory.
A March 2025 reading put net approval at minus 4, before falling further to minus 22 in April and minus 34 by June.
The downward trajectory continued into late summer and early autumn. By September 2025, net approval stood at minus 34.
Just two months later, in November, it dropped to minus 44—a record low at the time and the first indication of entrenched weakness among younger voters.
That proved not to be a floor.
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A Short-Lived Recovery, Then Further Decline
At the start of 2026, there were early signs of stabilization. January and February readings hovered in the low thirties below zero, at minus 31 and minus 32, respectively.
April brought something more notable: a partial recovery to minus 28, suggesting that sentiment among younger voters had softened, if only briefly.
Yet the rebound did not last.
By May, the figure had slipped again to minus 42. The most recent June reading of minus 45 now places Trump at his weakest point yet with Gen Z—deeper in negative territory than at any stage of the series.
Trendlines point clearly in one direction: despite periodic fluctuations, the broader movement has been downward.
AtlasIntel Data Shows Even Steeper Drop
Separate polling from AtlasIntel suggests a sharper break among younger voters, with net approval among 18–29-year-olds collapsing from minus 38.6 in December 2025 to minus 76.6 by May 2026.
That represents a roughly 38-point drop in just five months and a decline of nearly 60 points since the start of Trump’s second term, even as his overall approval remains relatively stable.
Why The Trend Matters
Separate polling snapshots earlier this year pointed to similar volatility, including a rapid deterioration in March that underscored how quickly sentiment among younger voters can shift.
That scale of movement is unusual in modern presidential polling, particularly for a group that had shown signs of competitiveness not long before.
Gen Z is also no longer a marginal bloc. Around 47 percent of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 cast a ballot in the 2024 election, according to The Voting Institute, a research initiative focused on voting systems and election design, reinforcing the group’s growing electoral weight.
At the same time, the 2024 race suggested a more fluid political alignment. Younger voters still leaned Democratic overall, but by far narrower margins than in previous cycles, reflecting a more competitive landscape that benefited Trump.
The current polling trajectory points in the opposite direction. Younger voters appear to be moving away from the president more quickly than the electorate as a whole—a divergence that could carry outsized consequences in close races.
What Polling Averages Show
Polling averages, which smooth out differences between individual surveys, point to a consistently weak national picture for Trump.
CNN’s “Poll of Polls”—aggregating recent surveys from Reuters/Ipsos, CBS News/YouGov, AP‑NORC and NPR/PBS/Marist between June 8 and June 22—puts approval at 36 percent and disapproval at 62 percent.
Other tracking averages tell a similar story. A New York Times rolling average of dozens of polls shows Trump at roughly 38 percent approval and 58 percent disapproval, while broader aggregates of major pollsters cluster in the high 30s for approval and the high 50s for disapproval.
Separate modeling by Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin places Trump’s net approval at around minus 19, indicating that disapproval outweighs approval by nearly two in ten voters—a level consistent with a president well underwater in national opinion.
What The White House Says
Officials in the Trump administration have consistently played down polling shifts, arguing that election results provide the clearest measure of public sentiment.
Spokesman Davis Ingle has pointed to the president’s 2024 victory, in which nearly 80 million Americans voted for Trump, as evidence of enduring support for what he has described as a “popular and commonsense agenda.”
In remarks used in response to multiple polling questions, Ingle has said the administration’s policies are already producing results and suggested that public opinion will shift as those outcomes become more visible, adding that the current phase is “just the beginning.”
What Happens Next
Polls taken this far from an election are not predictive on their own. But they can signal the contours of future battles.
If the current trend holds, Republicans may face growing headwinds among younger voters heading into the 2026 midterms. If it shifts, the story could look very different.
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