(The Hill) — A growing number of young Americans say the U.S. is on the wrong track, according to new polling from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
The Fall 2025 Harvard Youth Poll, conducted in early November, shows 57 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 say things in the country are on the wrong track, an increase from the 51 percent who said the same in both the spring 2025 poll and the fall 2024 poll, which was conducted before the election.
Meanwhile, only 13 percent of young adults say the country is headed in the right direction, compared to 15 percent who said so in the spring poll and 11 percent in last year’s fall poll. In the latest survey, 28 percent of respondents say they are unsure.
There is a clear partisan divide in responses, with 84 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans saying the country is on the wrong track.
Democratic responses are mostly unchanged from the spring 2025 survey, but Republican and independent voters have grown more pessimistic about the direction of the country.
The share of Republican young adults who say the country is generally headed in the right direction dropped 10 percentage points from the spring, when 43 percent held this view. Those who say the country is on the wrong track, however, stayed roughly stable, from 26 percent in the spring to 27 percent in the latest survey.
Independent voters saw the inverse trend, with those saying the country is headed in the right direction staying roughly consistent — from 9 percent in the spring to 7 percent today — but those saying the country is off on the wrong track rising 10 points: from 51 percent in the spring to 61 percent today.
The survey comes amid heightened concerns about affordability, a trend reflected in the Harvard survey. Only 30 percent of respondents say they think they will be financially better off than their parents.
Young adults, across party lines, cite inflation as their top economic concern, with 37 percent overall saying it’s the most important economic issue they would like the government to address, including 48 percent of Republicans, 36 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of independents.
Health care comes in second as the most important issue for the government to address, with 15 percent of young adults overall, 23 percent of Democrats, 14 percent of independents, and 11 percent of Republicans holding this view.
Health care is the second most important issue for Democrats and independents, but for Republicans, taxes is the runner-up, with 13 percent choosing that issue.
The poll reached 2,040 18-to-29-year-olds and was conducted Nov. 3-7. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.94 percentage points.