This Saturday marks President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, but it doesn’t seem like many young Americans are looking forward to that momentous mark.
The president has an overall approval rating of 32 percent among 18-to-29-year-olds, according to a new poll by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.
Barack Obama had an approval rating of about 75 percent among Americans aged 18 to 29 as he approached his 100th day in office, according to a 2009 Gallup poll.
The poll surveyed more than 2,600 young adults nationwide. Another recent study found that Trump’s presidency is spurring anxiety in a majority of Americans.
When it comes to how young adults view Trump’s job performance in certain sectors, the approval ratings vary slightly.
Young adults liked Trump’s trade policy plans the best, with 60 percent saying that “‘cracking down on countries’ illegal and unfair trade practices that hurt American workers would make America better,” according to the poll.
Thirty seven percent like how Trump is handling the economy and 33 percent approve of how he’s dealing with ISIS. When it comes to health care, 30 percent of young adults like Trump’s moves. The president’s approval rating takes a further dip concerning climate change (28 percent) and race relations (27 percent).
But America’s young adults are not discouraged. Even though the majority of 18-to-29-year-olds don’t approve of the man in charge, more than half (59 percent) say that they want to help unite the country, not further divide it along political lines.
“While we spend a lot of time talking about what divides us, younger millennials are seeking leaders who will unite us,” said John Della Volpe, polling director at the institute, in a statement. “This is both good government and good politics, and it is the overarching message from our last year of polling, town meetings and conversations with millennials from across the country.”
That may be because more young adults today say that politics is relevant to their lives compared to five years ago, the poll found.
Overall, 41 percent of young adults gave the president an “F” for his performance, with only 10 percent granting him an “A.”
But Trump isn’t the only one struggling to get a passing grade: When asked to rate mainstream media’s coverage of Trump the same way, the media got mostly “F’s” and “C’s” (both 26 percent) with only 10 percent of young adults giving the news coverage an “A” grade.
