Disillusioned and desperate: Why young voters turned to Trump in 2024

Say, remember all that happy talk about how younger voters were going to save us in the most important elections of our lives?

Good times …

Turns out that didn't happen, because according to this grim AP story published Friday:

“Americans ages 18 to 29 swung toward President-elect Trump in this year’s election, but they came to his coalition with sharply different views and interests than older conservatives or most top Republican leaders.”

More from this jarring eye-opener:

“Trump won nearly half of voters in the age group, compared with about one-third in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. That means that although the youngest voters made up a relatively small share, about 15%, of his coalition, he was nearly as strong among this group as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.”

Unfortunately, this is one of the only things I got right leading up to this absolute catastrophe. I was banging around on a few political podcasts as we descended toward our latest November crash, and when this subject came up, I made it clear I had my doubts about what younger voters planned to do with their vote.

I’d been hearing about a lot of confused, angry kids, who were living in a steady state of disillusionment. I heard from many of my readers, who warned that the young-adults — mostly men — in their families were threatening to pull the lever for Trump.

Turns out that helluva lot of ‘em followed through on those threats …

And look, I am not bagging our kids here. They are still relatively new to this ridiculously wonderful and dangerous world, and have only a small sample size of life to reflect on. They are coming off an orbit-altering killer pandemic, and live in a steady state of uncertainty and bewilderment, featuring bright colors and plenty of darkness. Just for good measure, they lug their phones around with them everywhere they go, just to be reminded of every damn thing, every damn second.

The doom and gloom is lurking in every corner, and if you get on the wrong end of some vicious algorithm, or grow up in the wrong household, using your vote to lash out starts to make some bizarre sense.

So a quick story:

It was 1980, and I was a young, confused man fresh out of the Navy, who couldn’t find a job. I mean, there were no damn jobs back then.

I resisted collecting the unemployment that was due to me as an honorably discharged veteran, because there was a stigma attached to it. I didn’t serve my country just to turn around and go on the dole.

Well, I’ll tell you what, miss a few meals, and it’s amazing how quickly you are able to check your pride.

I grudgingly collected an unemployment check from the government for a few weeks, before finding a job at a delicatessen. When that place was on the verge of closing, I went back to collecting a government check until that was inches from drying up, too.

I was broke, and on the brink of homelessness, and feeling terrible about myself. I considered reenlisting in the Navy, but I won’t lie to you, I hated taking orders from too many dummies. Starving to death was a better alternative.

I will never forget standing in a long line waiting to fill out an application to work at a service station pumping gas. I hitchhiked to the place, because my beat-up VW Bug was suffering from my affliction. By the time I got my shot to make my case, the manager told me more than 200 people had already applied for the position.

I said, "Should I even bother filling this f------ thing out?'"

He said, "Probably not, but thank you for your service ..."

I had seven bucks in my pocket and rent was overdue. I got through it somehow, but I never wanted to be that desperate again. In 1980, America had energy problems, inflation problems, job problems, Russia problems, and hostages in Iran.

We had so many problems, the show "Nightline" was born just to talk about all of 'em at the end of every day.

It was a far cry from the 24/7 supersonic crap screaming at us nowadays from all these alleged "news" outlets, but it was significant back then.

And even with all that pain and heartache … Even literally starving … I never had a single doubt in my mind that Jimmy Carter was a very, very good man. Thing is, he was the guy who was easiest to blame for all my troubles.

So I voted for Ronald Reagan.

I literally felt like I had nothing to lose, because I literally didn’t.

And if yer thinking right now I was a stupid idiot, I suppose that’s fair, but at least I can tell why I did what I did. I can also tell you why a lot of younger folks did what they did on November 5.

At least I think I can.

Like these kids today, I didn’t vote with those Republicans because they were necessarily good people, I voted for them because my young life was in a shambles, and I needed help but quick.

I believe too many of these kids today are desperate, and need something to change in their lives. The terrible irony, of course, is they are most likely desperate because of so many of the heinous things the Republican Party believes in, and has laid on them.

This AP story says as much:.

“VoteCast found that Trump’s younger voters were more motivated by the economy than by immigration, were broadly concerned about climate change, and wanted more government involvement in health care and canceling student loan debt.”

I know. I just pulled a neck muscle from shaking my head, too.

Thing is, when you get your news from God knows where on your phone, there’s a damn good chance it passes through some Russian filter. Disinformation is everywhere. Lowlifes like Elon Musk market in it. It’s clever, and it’s aimed at the destruction of our democracy.

And let’s not underestimate the terrible effect of being raised in a household full of complete, heartless a--holes, who call domestic terrorists “tourists,” and believe there are people of color who are out there lurking in their yards trying to eats their pets.

We are in a very, very bad way in America right now, and it’s probably prudent to ask ourselves just why in the hell it is we thought younger people were coming to save us, when the real question is, why in the hell it is after all these years we are still incapable of saving ourselves.

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D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.