How do young adults (18–26) in the United States understand and experience self-agency in contexts they perceive as politically hopeless?
Head Researcher: Yoanna Nencheva
Researchers: Jonathan Nazzaro, Josefina Gurevich, Finian Ayliffe, Naila Romero-Alston
Editors: Mihika Kulkarni and Sakura Mogami
Editor-in-Chief: Edwin Brattselius Thunfors
Executive Summary
Over the past decade, trust in American political institutions has steadily declined, particularly among young people. Survey data from the 2024 presidential election shows youth turnout dropping to 47%, alongside widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership and a growing sense of disconnection from formal political processes. Despite this, young Americans continue to express strong political opinions and remain engaged in discourse, raising a central question: how do young adults understand their own ability to act politically in an environment they perceive as increasingly unresponsive?
This study investigates how individuals aged 18–26 in the United States experience and interpret self-agency under conditions of perceived political hopelessness. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, including a survey of 105 respondents and 28 semi-structured interviews, the research examines both the prevalence of political disillusionment and the ways in which young people navigate it in practice.
The findings reveal a paradox at the core of contemporary youth political behavior. While participants reported high levels of distrust toward federal institutions—alongside feelings of frustration, fear, and pessimism—they did not disengage from political life. Instead, political hopelessness emerged not as apathy, but as a reconfiguration of agency. Young adults continue to vote, engage in political discussions, and remain informed, even when they doubt the effectiveness of these actions.
At the same time, participants consistently shifted their sense of agency away from national institutions and toward more immediate, controllable domains. Local politics, personal relationships, and everyday decision-making were perceived as more meaningful sites of influence. Many also adopted alternative strategies to sustain engagement, including limiting media consumption, reframing participation as self-maintenance, and locating agency in personal well-being or “quiet” forms of resistance.
These findings challenge conventional understandings of political hopelessness as a precursor to disengagement. Instead, they suggest that young Americans remain politically active, but in ways that are more individualized, adaptive, and less visible within traditional frameworks of participation. In this context, agency persists not through confidence in institutional change, but through the ongoing effort to maintain political identity and meaning in an environment where systemic impact feels increasingly out of reach.
Keywords: Political hopelessness, Self-agency, Youth political engagement, Institutional distrust, Collective action, Political participation, United States, Mixed-methods research