Yale Youth Poll: More Under-30 Voters Identify As Liberal, Young Voters’ Approval Of Trump Falls Sharply

A new Yale Youth Poll finds a growing share of voters under 30 identifying as liberal and a marked shift toward disapproval of President Donald Trump among younger cohorts.

Key Findings

Rising Liberal Identification. The poll released Monday shows 46% of registered voters under 30 now describe themselves as liberal, up from 39.3% in spring polling of the same age group.

Ideological Breakdown

While liberal identification has increased, the survey also documents a sizable conservative presence among young voters. Forty percent of respondents aged 18–22 and 38% of those aged 23–29 identified as conservative — higher shares than in the 30–34 and 35–44 brackets. Self-described moderates were the smallest group among the youngest cohort: 13% of 18–22-year-olds and 18% of 23–29-year-olds identified as moderate.

Trump Approval Among Youth

The poll shows a significant shift in views of President Trump among young voters compared with spring results. In the Monday poll, 64% of voters aged 18–22 and 66% of those aged 23–29 said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance — a reversal from earlier in the year, when the youngest cohort slightly approved and the 22–29 group narrowly disapproved.

Looking Toward 2028

Respondents under 34 indicated that Vice President Vance and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) could be competitive contenders in a hypothetical 2028 presidential contest. Among voters under 30, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) drew stronger first-choice support in the Democratic primary scenario than Governor Newsom and several other prospective candidates. On the Republican side, all age groups favored Vance in the primary hypothetical, though a majority of Republicans said they would back Trump if he were able to run again.

Top Concerns

The top three issues for respondents under 34 were the cost of living, protecting democracy, and combating corruption.

Other Findings

The poll also reported that younger voters were more likely than older cohorts to express antisemitic views — a troubling finding the authors highlight without providing causal explanations in the release.

Methodology

The Yale Youth Poll was conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 11 and sampled 3,426 registered voters nationwide, including 1,706 voters aged 18–34. The survey was administered in English. The margin of error is ±1.7 percentage points for the full sample and ±2.4 percentage points for the youth subsample.

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