Keller: Harvard poll of Generation Z paints bleak picture about young voters
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
The latest National Youth Poll out of the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in Cambridge, Massachusetts paints a bleak picture of the state of mind of 18 to 29-year-olds.
More than 4 in 10 said they're barely getting by financially, with women and non-college young people especially struggling.
And that's upsetting some old political assumptions about these voters.
Majority in poll are Independents
It's been a lynchpin of Democrats' strategy for decades: twenty-somethings will vote for us if we can turn them out. But the Harvard poll sticks a fork in that theory.
Out of the half of those polled who signed up to vote last year, a huge plurality were registered Independents. Democrats could only manage a tie with Republicans. And most of these young voters classify themselves as moderates. The rest split evenly between liberalism and conservatism.
No wonder the youth vote isn't the windfall Democrats thought it would be. And it seems the issues that often animate marchers aren't necessarily driving young voters' decisions.
Economy is number one issue
The Harvard poll found economic issues are number one with them, followed by democracy's health and immigration. But other hot-button issues like abortion, gun control and the environment don't register beyond the survey's margin of error.
"Those fundamental issues of just having the food on the table, having a roof over your heads, being able to pay your bills really does come first over a lot of the cultural issues that may have motivated a lot of the discussions leading up to the election," said Jordan Schwartz, chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project which oversaw the poll.
Voter trust in governmental institutions has been marginal for years, and Generation Z is no different. More of them trust the military than they do the Supreme Court, the presidency or Congress. But even there, young-voter confidence is in decline.
"And now even 60% of the country doesn't say that they trust the United States military all or most of the time, which is about as low as its ever been," said Schwartz.
But here's a bit of good news. Asked if your parents understand you, more than six in ten said yes, mostly or completely. Just 18% said rarely, and only 8% said not at all.
31% approve of Trump
But while they may like their parents, this generation doesn't much care for the new leadership in Washington. Only 31% of them approve of President Trump's performance so far, a whopping 15 points below the latest national average for all voters.
But the Harvard poll shows these voters are genuinely up for grabs -- if the economy improves for them before the next election.
