By Manzanita Miller
According to the newly released World Happiness Report which compiles data from Gallup and the United Nations, happiness rankings in the U.S. have plummeted, particularly among younger Americans.
The U.S. has fallen to No. 23 on the list of nations and is no longer in the top 20 happiest countries for the first time in history, and younger Americans are driving that decline. Among Americans under age 30, the U.S. falls to a bleak No. 62 in worldwide happiness rankings.
The opposite can be said for older Americans, as when voters over 60 are analyzed alone they raise the U.S. ranking to tenth place. This is a massive disparity and may be part of the reason younger voters are shifting away from Democrats who have been in charge of the executive branch for four years and whose ideology permeates most mainstream media and institutions.
The pandemic, stay at home orders, constant threats to free speech, shuttered schools and businesses, the fentanyl crisis, rising crime, an unchecked assault to our southern border, stagnant wages, crushing inflation and a tepid economic recovery all play a role in plummeting happiness ratings.
Young people are particularly sensitive to the massive cultural, economic, and political shifts that have deteriorated happiness in the past few years, and evidence suggests many of them plan to take out their frustration at the ballot box this fall.
A recent Florida Atlantic University poll revealed just one third of voters under age 35 plan to support President Joe Biden, the lowest level of support for Biden among any age bracket. This is harrowing news for Biden, who banked heavily on the support of younger voters in 2020 and ended up winning their vote by twenty-four points. The poll revealed many Gen Z and younger Millennial voters are on the brink of switching their votes this November, with a full half of voters under 35 planning to support former President Donald Trump this fall.
This finding is supported in other polls as well. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll from January showed Trump leading Biden with voters under thirty-five 37% to 33%, a massive shift from 2020. What’s more, a poll of battleground states conducted by the New York Times showed Biden could lose double digits with younger voters compared to four years ago. That poll shows Biden leading Trump by a single percentage-point among voters under 30, 47% to 46%. Four years ago, Biden won voters under thirty 60% to 36%, a startling contrast to where he is polling now.
A Morning Consult poll also reveals that Gen Z voters trust Trump over Biden by huge margins on issues like immigration, crime, and the economy. Young people trust Trump over Biden to handle the immigration crisis by seven points, crime by ten points, and the economy by nearly 20 points. Unsurprisingly, Gen Z voters say the economy is the most important issue to them when choosing who to vote for this November.
While an argument could be made that younger Americans are simply frustrated with those in charge and hungry for a change in leadership, this should not be taken lightly. The leftwing agenda that permeates most major universities, media outlets, and world organizations is being called into question as the ramifications of that agenda reverberate through the population. For decades, the left has marketed itself as the outsider, fighting for the little guy, but Democrats have amassed vast centralized power and used that power to erode freedom and prosperity. Many young people are waking up to this reality and demanding change.
Manzanita Miller is an associate analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
