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The American dream feels impossible for many young voters, who see no political fix (www.npr.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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In communities of all kinds, voters in their 20s and 30s are confronting a financial reality of rising costs, mounting debt and minimal wage growth. But how is this changing their political views?

It's a question that NPR put to readers. We received more than 1,100 submissions from across the political spectrum from almost every state in the U.S.

Many described a similar reality — one where economic worries loom large over their everyday lives and erode their faith in the ability of those in power. Taken together, their responses paint a portrait of a generation of voters discouraged by what they see in Washington and who increasingly feel as if they have no political home.

It is important to note that the responses are not from a representative sample of all young voters. But what readers shared helps highlight a steep challenge facing Democrats and Republicans alike as they work to win over these voters, who are collectively expected to make up more than half the electorate in 2028. Here is a snapshot of what readers shared.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20251031121338/https://www.npr.org/2025/10/31/nx-s1-5590153/young-voters-american-dream-economy

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[–] 31 points 1 year ago (10 children)

And it’s funny how the answer seems to be turning to the right wing. Concept that makes absolutely no sense

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    I grew up in a very conservative area. The people in my demographic only want to see change. The right wing government under Trump has been robbing the future blind with zero regard for anyone, but the sentiment I keep hearing is a perception that something is happening. "He's deporting the criminals," "he's saving our jobs," "he's making other countries pay us," "he's making America safe," ergo the idea that progression in any direction is progress. People are stupid and short sighted when they are struggling. So the adoption of populism makes a lot of sense to me

    Another anecdote, there was a guy I used to work with that would say "we have to go all the way right to come back to center" and they actually believe that would happen lol

    Anyway I hate this shit so much, have a good day

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I also live in a very conservative area with no hopes of moving any time soon. Your comment is spot on, they think he's actually trying to help when he is literally doing the opposite. However, it does appear that grocery prices going way up at the same time he's building a ballroom has kinda broken through to them a little bit. I'm sure they'll forget it in a week though like always :/

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I’ve seen this theorised as being one of the key reasons that Harris lost. Obama campaigned on “change” and won. So did Trump. So did Biden. And Harris’ pitch was kind of “I’m going to keep doing what Biden was!”

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    It actually makes a ton of sense and has oodles and gobs of historical precedent. Fascism is what happens during capitalist crisis. When you weaken education, revoke social safety nets, delay retirement age, encourage unaffordable housing, withhold wages, withold healthcare, and promote wealth inequality, you're going to get fascists. The emerging fascist wing is anything but irrational. They are reacting to real issues, and so they flock to the only people who appear to actually get anything done: the right.

    At the moment that the “normal” police and military resources of the bourgeois dictatorship, together with their parliamentary screens, no longer suffice to hold society in a state of equilibrium – the turn of the fascist regime arrives. Through the fascist agency, capitalism sets in motion the masses of the crazed petty bourgeoisie and the bands of declassed and demoralized lumpenproletariat – all the countless human beings whom finance capital itself has brought to desperation and frenzy.

    https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Becuase the so called "Left" Democrats aren't offering any real alternatives of lasting change. Only the Right are doing that

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    But the rights offer is practically openly 'We want to make everything worse for everybody' shouted with extreme enthusiasm for some reason.

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