Young Americans’ apathy toward the Republican Party is not ideological; It comes from the simple fact that they can no longer afford to dream. They grew up with a basic American covenant: work hard, graduate, get a good-paying job, buy a house and raise a family. But the gateway to that dream is a stable income, and for millions that is no longer attainable. Youth unemployment is at 10.4% – more than double the national average – and housing costs have exploded by 47% since 2020. A generation that did everything we told them would mean the American Dream now faces an economy where the math doesn’t add up.
For millions of Gen Z voters, economic participation is becoming aspirational rather than feasible. They are building advanced skills shaped by AI, working longer hours in a volatile labor market, yet facing stagnant wages and financial insecurity far worse than their predecessors. And the problem isn’t their work ethic; they are the economic rules written in Washington.
The Republican Party is dead wrong in assuming that young voters reject conservatism. They reject a system that they believe is working against their ability to achieve the American Dream. Before the 2024 election, 58% of Gen Z and younger millennials were unsure about voting because they believed neither party understood their economic realities or offered younger candidates. Youth turnout ultimately fell below 2020 levels.
YOUNG AMERICANS GIVE BIG THUMBS TO DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, TRUMP: POLL
The latest Harvard Youth Poll underlines why: 56% of young Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction. They look at Washington and see a political class governing as if it were a senior center, trying to survive in the most expensive economy of their lives.
When a hard-working 26-year-old with a degree and two jobs still can’t afford an apartment without a roommate, they’re not blaming capitalism — they’re blaming the policymakers and executives who have created an economy they can’t get into.
They see companies lobbying to expand the H-1B pipeline under the false claim of a “worker shortage,” knowing that this will suppress wages and slow innovation. They see fewer job openings, lower wages and no entry point on the career ladder. And they see multinational companies distorting the housing market and driving up prices far beyond what entry-level wages can support. They no longer see a free market.
FAITH IN THE AMERICAN DREAM DECREASES AGAINST SOUR ECONOMIC FEELINGS, FIND THE OPENING
Gen Z men supported Trump in 2024 by a 14-point margin. They rejected identity politics and believed in an America First vision where hard work would finally pay off again. They still believe in that vision, but they are losing patience with Republican leaders who talk about culture while ignoring the wages, affordability and economic hardships that shape their lives. Too many in our party dismiss these concerns as something they are entitled to, forgetting that they were elected to represent the American worker.
The Republican Party has a choice: lecture young Americans about resilience while ignoring the economic crisis before them, or engineer a realignment that gives them a path back to the American Dream.
The housing crisis has become its own form of disenfranchisement. The average starter on the housing market is now 40 years old, an age at which previous generations were already busy building stability.
Young Americans are either delayed or denied the opportunity to begin their path to the American Dream. And if conservatism claims to stand for that dream, then it must create the economic conditions that make it possible. Otherwise it’s lip service and we’ll lose an entire generation.
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Anyone who calls Gen Z entitled should try to enter today’s housing market with a $48,000 salary while competing with foreign labor and wealthy corporate buyers. The deck is stacked against them and it’s clear that this is out of the question.
The Republican Party has a choice: lecture young Americans about resilience while ignoring the economic crisis before them, or engineer a realignment that gives them a path back to the American Dream.
That means giving American workers an edge over foreign workers by tightening H-1B abuses and incentivizing companies to invest in domestic talent; reopening entry-level access through apprenticeships; restoring wage growth by closing loopholes that allow companies to bypass American labor; and reclaiming the first-home market from corporate and foreign buyers so that young Americans can finally buy.
It means making AI an engine of opportunity rather than displacing it, and removing the regulatory barriers that lock out young entrepreneurs before they get started.
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Republicans won this generation once. And we can only do that again if we are willing to rebuild an economy worthy of their ambition. If we refuse to confront the forces that are crushing young Americans, we will lose them for decades.
This generation is ready to work hard, build and dream. The real question is whether Republican leaders have the courage to build a country that finally believes in them.
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