Trump 2.0 arrived. The protests didn't.
From roars to whispers: Where did the youth resistance go?
The first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s first term in office were ripe with resistance: The Women’s March, protests at airports over his then-Muslim ban, and a campus culture that was defiant of his presidency. On any given day, I could scroll through my Instagram feed and find a flood of anti-Trump posts – from high profile celebrities to my outspoken classmates.
This time around looks markedly different. There are few mass demonstrations and there is little social media activism.
I was struck last week when I walked through New York City’s Washington Square Park, at the heart of the NYU campus, and saw a mere handful of protestors (I could count them on one hand) quietly chanting (though it sounded like more of a whisper) in opposition to some of Trump’s policies, struggling to capture attention from those passing by them. Even just last year, when President Joe Biden was in office, that same park was filled to the brim with protesters at the peak of pro-Palestine demonstrations on NYU’s campus.
Certainly, there are some who have spoken out against the president and his administration in the first 100 days of the Trump 2.0 era. Harvard sued the Trump administration over its decision to freeze funding to the university. A 50501 subreddit community is pushing back on DOGE policies and funding cuts with in-person protests. And Democratic lawmakers like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Cory Booker held a sit-in on the steps of the Capitol Sunday over the GOP budget plan that brought out some of the most vocal youth activists of the Trump 1.0-era, like the youth-led organization Voters of Tomorrow (Booker also broke the record with a more than 25-hour-long filibuster at the start of this month).
But the energy is far lower than it was eight years ago – and the youth-led resistance is smaller and less vocal than it was during Trump 1.0.
What’s driving the shift? There’s definitely a fear of retaliation from some left-leaning young people, especially those at universities that are being targeted by Trump and have cracked down on demonstrations or changed their DEI policies. Beyond that, there’s the well-documented culture shift, and many young people are in favor of Trump and his administration’s policies. At the same time, there’s a cohort of young people who are tired of growing up amid constant crises, sick of talking about politics all the time, and just want to live a normal adolescent life.
Today I checked in with a few young people to see how and if their perspectives have shifted since Trump’s first term in office. Their POVs are quite different.
As far as the protests go, Elaina, who’s 25, and lives in Tucson, Arizona, told me:
“I think the general feeling among young people who WERE protesting is that older leadership doubled down on policing after both BLM movements, going as far as to use tear gas during a respiratory pandemic. Then when the young student protests against global defense and Gaza came, older leadership again began to use local police against young protests. I think the protests we’re seeing now are older people finally, FINALLY reacting to this authoritarian use of police and executive order, and young people are just a bit disillusioned that protest works at all after the last decade. Especially when all the DEI initiatives after 2020 are what’s being rolled back first.”
And while there’s some evidence that Trump’s support is slipping with young people – I’m still hearing support for his policies, too. Here’s what Tristin, who’s 23 and lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, told me…
On Trump 1.0: “Trump became president when I was about 15-years-old, and that win was very shocking and gratifying for people who leaned right, but his actual time in office was more or less uneventful from my point of view. All I remember distinctly was that he got into a fight with Kim Jong Un on Twitter that led to him visiting North Korea, but by and large he seemed constrained by the conservative political establishment, less bold and more like a guy learning on the job. There was also a general sense the economy was doing well, but I couldn’t actually measure it because I was just a kid then. He was still likable though, very memeable and funny.”
On Trump 2.0: “This second time around, I must admit I’m viewing it now as an adult and not a kid, and it seems great, much more dynamic and with much more boundary pushing. One thing that has always been a bother for me, as a person who is interested in the political process, is the feeling nothing gets done, and even under Trump 1.0 that was a feeling I had. Now, he’s doing everything he can to expand presidential authority and actually implement policy, not unlike Huey Long’s stint as governor of Louisiana when he had to bypass the political elite to make life better for the working class. In addition, the fact that he’s actually imposing his will upon the Republican Party now instead of vice versa is a breath of fresh air. Between immigration reform, balancing the trade deficit, and removing culturally divisive issues from federal programs, it seems like an actual change is being implemented governmentally for once instead of a constant slide into rule by bureaucracy. I’m also much more optimistic for the future once I graduate and begin my career, since I’ll have more money to save up and can hopefully get hired without worrying as much about DEI initiatives and liberal thinking dominating the business and legal world. All in all those are my current thoughts, but I’m happy to share more as things continue throughout the following years of his term.”
On the other hand…
One way young progressives are showing they’re fed up with our current political climate is by saying they want to run for office themselves. Maybe they realized protesting didn’t get them very far in 2017, or 2020, given that Trump is back in office and many of the policies around issues they protested for have been rolled back. Whatever it is, instead of taking to the streets, they’re saying they want to serve.
According to Run For Something’s , 42,558 people have signed up with the organization since Election Day.
“We’ve seen record numbers of people sign up to run for office — more in the last six months than in the entire first two years of Trump’s first term — because young people especially see how broken the system is, and how badly we need new leaders to get in the fight and fix it,” Litman told me this morning.
By the numbers, youth support for Trump & the gender gap
Harvard IOP Youth Poll Spring 2025
Trump approval rating amongst ALL 18-29-year-olds: 31% (essentially the same as it was in spring 2017 and fall 2020)
Trump approval rating amongst 18-24-year-olds: 32%
Trump approval rating amongst 25-29-year-olds: 29%
Trump approval rating amongst young men: 34%
Trump approval rating amongst young women: 28%
+10 from 2017 with young Black Americans: 16% today (it was 6% in 2017)
-5 from 2017 with young white Americans: 39% today (it was 44% in 2017)
Trump favorability rating (strongly/somewhat) young men 18-21: 52%
Trump favorability rating (strongly/somewhat) young men 22-29: 50%
Trump favorability rating (strongly/somewhat) young women 18-21: 50%
Trump favorability rating (strongly/somewhat) young women 22-29: 45%
NBC News Stay Tuned Poll April 2025
Trump approval rating (strongly approve + approve) amongst 18-29-year-olds: 34%
Trump approval rating (strongly approve + approve) amongst 18-29-year-old young men: 45%
Trump approval rating (strongly approve + approve) amongst 18-29-year-old young women: 24%
Noteworthy Reads
25 is the new 21, Emily Stewart for Business Insider
Young independents grapple with frustration over the two-party system, Maya Eaglin for NBC News
Opinion: Why Gen Z cares about the next pope — and what it says about the Church, Benedetta Di Placido for Politico EU
Bubble Skincare, a Gen Z favourite, is growing up with its customers, Nateisha Scott for Vogue Business
Also this week 🎧
I joined on her podcast, Fast Politics, to discuss the split in Gen Z’s politics and the reason(s) that Covid split the generation in two. Thank you, Molly, for having me! You can listen here.
And my latest for POLITICO Magazine
For more exploration of the Gen Z 1.0 vs. Gen Z 2.0 divide, check out my latest piece for POLITICO Magazine about the nuance in our generation’s politics featuring data from the Yale Youth Poll, CIRCLE at Tufts and Blue Rose Research.
Beyond looking at older and younger Gen Z, I dug into the gender gap— which isn’t quite what it seems. Yes, young men boosted Trump. But Gen Z women are moving right too.
Young women 18-21 are split on Trump
In 2020, young white women backed Biden by 15 pts. In 2024, it was 49%-49% Harris/Trump
Women of color still strongly support Dems
A favorable comparison to Huey Long? I feel that we can’t really talk about how Gen Z feels about politics/Trump without also reconciling the last 10-15 years of social studies/civics education being cut back/diminished/deprioritized.