Economic insecurity is central: Many young adults worry about making ends meet, affording housing, and finding stable, meaningful work. Layered onto that economic fragility is a fear that the future of work itself is slipping away.
Large numbers of young respondents view artificial intelligence less as a tool and more as a looming threat to their job prospects and long-term careers. In the poll, concerns about AI’s impact on employment outrank worries about immigration and rival more traditional anxieties about trade or regulation.
The survey shows that this economic and technological uncertainty is feeding a broader collapse of faith in public life. Confidence in government, political parties, and the mainstream media is low, with many young Americans seeing these institutions as threats to their well-being rather than as sources of stability. Even institutions that fare relatively better, such as colleges, do so against a backdrop of skepticism that leaders of any kind will act in young people’s interests.
Trust in major institutions continues to erode, with colleges and immigrants seen relatively more positively while entities such as mainstream media, political parties, and other core institutions are often viewed as risks rather than assets. President Trump and both major political parties receive poor ratings from young Americans, and although Democrats hold an advantage for the 2026 elections, that edge reflects reluctance about alternatives more than genuine enthusiasm.
Harvard’s researchers warn that this distrust extends beyond institutions to the social fabric itself. Many young Americans report avoiding political conversations for fear of backlash and doubt that people who disagree with them still want what is best for the country. Social connection is thin: Earlier surveys in the same series found only a small minority feel deeply connected to their communities, and the new data suggest those patterns are hardening rather than easing.
Most young Americans reject political violence, but a nontrivial minority expresses conditional openness to it, linked more to financial strain, institutional distrust, and social alienation than to clear ideological extremism. This significant minority says it could be acceptable if the government violates individual rights—a view the report links less to ideology than to financial strain and alienation. Polling director John Della Volpe has described instability as the thread running through nearly every response, warning that a generation raised through crisis after crisis is now openly questioning whether American democracy and the economy can deliver for them at all.
For this story, Fortune journalists used generative AI as a research tool. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
