Amid all the political drama happening across the country and the general lack of faith in the two-party system to actually solve people’s problems, a bunch of younger Americans are like, “Peace out” to both the national Republican and Democratic parties. The new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey, asked a whopping 19,682 American adults about what’s going on in U.S. politics as President Donald Trump gets closer to hitting his first 100 days in office. And guess what? The results show that 64% of independents are not feeling the Democratic Party, while a whopping 71% have some serious beef with the Republican Party. Those high numbers of not-so-great opinions are pretty much the same among Gen Z independents. Yeah, it’s not looking too hot for the traditional parties among the youth.
Meanwhile, Gen Zers and millennials are more likely than Gen X and baby boomers to be like, “Nah, I’m good” and identify themselves as independents. And with all this uncertainty in the air, a lot of voters are jumping into the political pool without any strong ties to the old-school parties.
One major concern for many young independents is the whole corruption and shady politics situation. Nathan Gong, a 19-year-old student at the University of Texas at Austin, is one of those not impressed with the current state of things. He thinks it’s a major bummer that members of Congress are spending more time raising money than actually doing their job of, you know, legislating and solving problems for the people they’re supposed to represent. Gong, whose parents are immigrants from China, still hangs on to some of their conservative and libertarian beliefs, but he’s ditched the party labels and now rocks the independent status.
According to Gong, the Republican Party has some serious catching up to do, especially when it comes to connecting with younger voters and other groups that haven’t really been on the Republican train. As for the Democratic Party, Gong thinks they’ve gone a bit overboard in some areas. He feels like they might be trying a little too hard to show empathy and help folks out, but they might be losing touch with what regular Americans really want. Gong also thinks all the focus on identity issues has been a bit much and that it showed in recent elections.
On the flip side, Jack Nagel, a 26-year-old independent from California who works for GoodParty.org, thinks the Democratic Party is kind of frozen in place. He feels like they’re not really doing much to counter what Trump is up to or give voters a clear message. Nagel, who grew up being taught about America’s democratic values, is now seeing more division and less action from elected officials.
Despite his beef with the Dems, Nagel isn’t jumping on the Republican bandwagon either. He sees the GOP as pretty much being all about one person right now, and we all know who that is. According to Nagel, the Republicans aren’t offering any vision beyond their leader, which doesn’t sit well with him. In his words, he’s “politically homeless” and doesn’t see any party that lines up with his beliefs.
The new poll found that a big chunk of Gen Z independents feel like neither the Dems nor the GOP are really fighting for people like them. And a whopping 78% of them think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Not to mention, 67% of all independent voters aren’t too pleased with how Trump has been handling things as president. And get this, almost half of Gen Zers are strongly disapproving of Trump, with Gen Z women leading the pack in the disapproval department.
When it comes to feeling how Trump’s administration has been doing, a good chunk of Gen Z voters are straight-up furious. Independent voter Natasha Mizell, a 25-year-old who grew up with conservative Cuban parents but has shifted a bit more progressive, is definitely disappointed with Trump’s behavior. She thinks his unprofessional comments and divisive actions are setting a bad example for the country. Extremism has turned off a lot of young people from the two-party system, and Mizell believes her generation is ready to shake things up and make some changes.
Overall, it seems like independents are feeling a bit left out in the cold when it comes to the traditional parties. But hey, there’s hope on the horizon. Nagel believes that getting more independents involved at the local level can pave the way for some much-needed reform in the future. It’s an uphill battle for sure, but hey, someone’s gotta do it.
