The proportion of Gen Z adults who approve of President Donald Trump has increased, according to a new poll.
As per new polling by AtlasIntel, Trump’s approval rating among this group, classed as adults ages 18 to 29, has improved by 35 percentage points in two months.
Newsweek contacted the White House by email outside of normal business hours to comment on this story.
Why It Matters
Young people tend to swing toward the Democrats in elections, but a conservative shift among Gen Z voters proved key to Trump’s success in the November 2024 elections.
According to AP VoteCast, voters ages 18 to 29 supported then Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump by 51 percent to 47 percent. This was a narrower margin than in 2020, when Joe Biden carried the same age group by 61 percent to Trump’s 36 percent.
If this trend continues, Republicans may enjoy more success in future elections. And the Democrats, in turn, may struggle to regain lost ground. This will be of particularly importance in November 2026, when voters head to the midterm elections.
What To Know
In AtlasIntel’s July polling, 35 percent of Gen Z adults said they approved of Trump while 65 percent said they disapproved of him, leaving him with a net approval rating of -30 percentage points.
By September, 49 percent said they approved of Trump while 44 percent said they disapproved, giving him a net approval rating of +5 percentage points.
The July poll, conducted between July 13 and July 18, had a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points. The September poll was conducted between September 12 and September 16 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
The AtlasIntel polling follows April findings by the Yale Institution for Social and Political Studies, which found that voters aged 18 to 21 lean Republican by 11.7 points when asked who they would support in the 2026 Congressional elections.
Meanwhile, in July, YouGov/The Economist polling found that Trump’s favorability among Gen Z was on the up. His net approval among this group stood a -28 percent percentage points, an improvement on July when this figure was -38.
However, Trump’s popularity differs among various age groups, recent polls show. New polling by The Economist/YouGov says Trump’s net approval rating among millennials, roughly those born from 1981 to 1996, plunged by 14 percentage points in the last month.
As for the next eldest generation, Gen X, according to a July CNN/SSRS survey, Trump’s popularity had increased by 23 points since April with voters aged 50 to 66.
Meanwhile, it comes amid broader negative polling about the President. A recent Echelon Insights poll, conducted between September 18-22, showed that Trump’s disapproval rating had jumped from 51 percent to 53 percent since last month, while his approval rating was down two points to 45 percent. Overall, his net approval dropped by four points.
What People Are Saying
Speaking to Newsweek, Lucas Walsh, a youth political behavior expert and professor at Monash University in Australia said: “While Gen Z is often characterised as progressive and diverse, recent polling that shows a share of younger voters leaning toward Donald Trump might be less about ideology and more about frustration, survival, and distrust.”
He added: “Gen Z’s turn toward Trump might reflect not ideological alignment, but economic anxiety, disaffection, and deep distrust in democratic institutions. For a generation living in great uncertainty—from the GFC to COVID to cost-of-living pressures—Trump’s disruptive appeal offers both a protest and a sense of control.”
What Happens Next
As his presidency continues, Trump’s favorability among different demographics is likely to fluctuate. The extent to which he commands broad support will be tested when voters head to the midterm elections in November 2026.