3 in 10 voters under 30 say there is inflation and the living wage is the most important problem currently facing the country — more than three times the share who called “threats to democracy” the most important issue, was the next highest issue among young voters.
In the new NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z survey, this category had 11% Powered by SurveyMonkey.
Abortion is the third most popular issue at 9%, followed by the Israel-Hamas war and “crime and security” – both picked by just 8% of young voters.
MORE: Poll: Half of Gen Z voters support Harris, one-third support Trump
Concerns about costs cut across party lines: Young Democrats, Republicans and independents all ranked inflation and the cost of living as the most important issues to them right now.
Nearly 7 in 10 young voters say debt has caused them to delay at least one important life stage.
Buying a home topped the list, with 38% saying debt delayed home ownership. In fact, 84% said it was harder to own a home than their parents’ generation, including 64% who said it was more difficult.
Other important life milestones delayed by debt: Buying a car (36%), saving for retirement (33%) and getting out of your car (32%). About 1 in 4 young voters said debt delayed having children or getting married.
The numbers provide a backdrop for the political decision facing Gen Z voters, who rank behind Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump, but currently fall short of the level Democrats enjoyed against Trump in 2020.
As a group, they are skeptical of traditional politics: A majority, 53%, agreed at least somewhat with the statement, “What people call ‘compromise’ in politics is really just selling out their principles.”
However, younger voters surveyed were more optimistic about their personal finances than the national economy.
Only 2 in 10 young voters said the national economy had improved in the past year, while 56% said it had gotten worse. Another 22% said that the country’s economy remained approximately the same last year.
Meanwhile, 34% said their personal finances had improved in the past year, while 36% said their personal finances had worsened. Three out of 10 people said that their financial situation remained the same last year.
Four in 10 Republicans and the same share of independents said inflation and the cost of living were the most important topics.
About a quarter of Democrats chose inflation, followed by “threats to democracy” (16%), abortion (12%) and the Israel-Hamas war (11%).
Among Republicans, immigration and crime and security are second at 9% each, abortion and health care at 7%, and “threats to democracy” (6).
Independents chose health care (11%), crime and security (9%), and the Israel-Hamas war (9%) as their top concerns behind inflation.
This was the NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z poll Powered by SurveyMonkeya fast, intuitive feedback management platform where 20 million questions are answered daily. It was conducted online between 23-30 August among 2,617 registered voters aged 18-29. The data are drawn from the total population of 18-29 year olds by sex, race, census tract (all from the American Community Survey), and partisanship (from the Cooperative Election Survey). The estimated margin of error for this poll is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The sampling error associated with subgroup results is higher.