New data on Gen Z indicates that young Americans are relatively rosy on the economy despite the issues facing their generation — but they are deeply divided when it comes to pressing societal issues, according to results from a new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey.
Three in 10 American adults under 30 years old say their personal financial situation has gotten worse compared to a year ago, and a similar 27% say their personal finances are better today. But while this second number may seem low, members of Gen Z were more likely than older generations to say their personal financial situation has gotten better over the last year. In comparison, only 18% of adults over 65 years old said their finances have gotten better over the last year.
Notably, pluralities of Gen Z registered voters surveyed last year in two waves of the 2024 NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z poll reported their personal financial situation was worse than the year before, perhaps signaling their discontent toward the Biden administration and struggles with inflation at the time. That generation makes up a growing portion of the U.S. electorate, and it split more closely in the 2024 election than young voters had in years, with a double-digit shift toward Trump among voters under 30 compared to 2020, according to the NBC News exit poll. Male voters under 30 split practically evenly in 2024, the exit poll showed.
Beyond generational divides, the new poll also found different economic attitudes by gender specifically among Gen Z. Pluralities of men and women under 30 said their finances were about the same compared to a year ago, but a third of young men said their personal financial situation was better, compared to 20% of women who said the same.
A plurality of adults across all generations said inflation and the rising cost of living is the economic issue that is the most important to them and their family right now.
Gen Z is emphatic about how they feel the policies of the Trump administration will affect their finances. While majorities across all generations disapprove of the way President Donald Trump is handling inflation and the cost of living, 7 in 10 members of Gen Z disapprove — 14 percentage points higher than the rate of disapproval among the oldest adults surveyed.
Gen Z opposes Trump’s hard-line immigration tactics on college campuses
Gen Z adults are largely unified in opposing how Trump’s hard-line immigration policies have affected college campuses, though there are important differences by party identification.
A full 92% of Gen Z adults believe it is important that people in the United States who hold student visas, work visas and green cards are given due process protections when facing criminal or civil charges. A majority of nearly every demographic said those due process protections are important — including Republicans and those who identify with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
About a quarter of young adults overall support revoking visas if the government determines a person’s presence in the U.S. would have “adverse foreign policy consequences” — the process the Trump administration has used to initiate deportations of some students over their criticism of and protest against Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Attitudes differ along party lines, though, with a majority (56%) of Gen Z Republicans saying they support the deportations, compared to only 19% of independents and 7% of Democrats.
There were also gender differences: 18% of women said they support the deportations (82% oppose) compared to 30% of men (70% oppose).
Gen Z more liberal across a range of societal issues
The poll finds that Gen Z holds more liberal views than older Americans on a range of social issues. There are key gender and partisan divides among adults under 30, however.
For example, 74% of Gen Z said efforts or programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are helpful to the country, a number that is higher than for any other generation. Within Gen Z, 85% of women think DEI efforts are helpful compared to 63% of men.
Interestingly, these gender numbers barely change when looking at the intersection of gender and education — a variable thought to be the main dividing line in U.S. politics. Roughly 6 in 10 Gen Z men believe these efforts are helpful, regardless of whether they attended college. That compares to roughly 8 in 10 women who think these programs are helpful, also regardless of college attendance.
There is another notable gender divide on the question of traditional gender roles.
A 67% majority of adults under 30 disagree with the statement that America would be stronger if more women held traditional gender roles in society, such as homemaking and raising children. But there’s a 15-point gender gap.
While a majority of young men disagree, 41% agree that women should hold more traditional gender roles, compared to only 26% of young women. Three-quarters of young women disagree, including a 58% majority who said they strongly disagree.
Meanwhile, majorities across all generations agreed that there are only two genders, male and female. Six in 10 Gen Z respondents agreed, the lowest of any generation — again with large gender splits among young adults on this question.
Seven in 10 young men agree with the statement, while around half (51%) of young women agree.
This NBC News Stay Tuned poll was powered by SurveyMonkey, the fast, intuitive feedback management platform where 20 million questions are answered daily. It was conducted online April 11-20 among a national sample of 19,682 adults aged 18 and over, including 2,230 adults ages 18-29. Reported percentages exclude item nonresponse and round to the nearest percentage point. The estimated margin of error for this survey among all adults is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. The estimated margin of error for this survey among 18-29-year-olds, or Gen Z, is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
