Politics

Republicans’ youth voter problem

Published

2 months ago

May 4, 2026

Two years after young voters swung to the right in 2024, helping return Republicans to unified control of Washington, economic concerns are pushing 18- to 34-year-olds back to the left for the midterms, according to a new national survey of more than 1,000 young Americans.

The poll from nonpartisan outfit Generation Lab, shared exclusively with POLITICO, amounts to a flashing warning sign for Republicans. It shows young Americans planning to vote Democratic in November by a margin of 52 percent to 19 percent. Broken down by party, the data indicates that the GOP has a significant base problem: Just 58 percent of young Republicans say they’ll vote GOP — with nearly a third selecting “neither” or “won’t vote.” By contrast, 85 percent of young Democrats intend to show up for their party at the ballot box.

Just as in 2024, deep discontent with the state of the economy is driving anger at the party in power. Now, 81 percent of young Americans rate U.S. economic conditions as bad or terrible — including 68 percent of Republicans. The younger the age bracket, the more optimism diminishes.

President Donald Trump shoulders most of the blame among respondents, with 41 percent who rate the economy negatively naming him as the top culprit, plus 9 percent who select congressional Republicans. But it’s not just the GOP: Another 31 percent finger corporate greed/large companies. Just 6 percent blame Joe Biden or congressional Democrats.

In many ways, the polling looks like an inverse of Democrats’ struggles in the 2024 cycle, when surveys showed that voters didn’t personally experience the positive economic image projected by the Biden administration.

“We tie this really closely to what people can see and feel and touch in terms of their own personal economic situation,” Cyrus Beschloss, Generation Lab’s founder and CEO, told Blue Light News. “Saying that affordability is a ‘line of bullshit’ is definitely not helping — to the extent that young people are clued into that.”

But a caveat remains. “Young people are voting at just obscenely low rates,” Beschloss said. Insofar as this demographic might swing to or from Republicans, “their power’s a lot more concentrated in social force” — as cultural barometers and pace-setters — “than it is electoral force.”

Young people’s social force on GOP politics looks highly negative right now, and not just over concerns about inflation, housing, jobs and gas prices. The survey also finds mass blowback to the U.S.-Israel war with Iran: Seventy-seven percent of young Americans say the U.S. made the wrong decision in striking Iran, and 75 percent say they disapprove or strongly disapprove of Trump’s handling of the military action.

Republicans are keenly aware of voters’ cost-of-living and economic concerns — but they argue that they’re positioned to sway Americans here with a message focused on lower government spending, new tax breaks and blaming Democrats.

The GOP is also addressing bad economic feelings head on by telling voters that they’re cleaning up messes created by Democrats. And following on Trump’s 2024 strategy, Republicans have doubled down on TikTok and other social-media content/branding that reaches young people where they are. Candidates speaking to voters directly works well, the party has found, as does pro-America content that can go viral organically — think Artemis II or the semiquincentennial.

“After years of skyrocketing costs and economic uncertainty under Joe Biden and Democrats, combined with the left’s alienating, out-of-touch rhetoric, young Americans are fed up with empty promises,” said RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels. “They want real results, and Republicans are speaking directly to them in a way that resonates.”

The strong GOP push could yet pay dividends. “I really … would not discount how much the Republican world has been focused on running a really tight operation in terms of not only getting more young men into their camp but keeping them there,” Beschloss said.

But Democrats have built out their own infrastructure to compete, including creator networks for candidates to work with and new resources devoted to communicating via YouTube, podcasts, social media, influencers and Substacks.

And the economic concerns are a lay-up for Democrats’ midterms messaging writ large, they say, which puts affordability front and center — the kind of laser-focused approach that scored the party big wins in 2025. “Young voters’ top concern is affordability, and we’ve been beating the drum on that issue all cycle,” said DCCC spokesperson Aidan Johnson. “Many don’t think they will ever be able to buy a home, or are graduating out of high school and college with not nearly the same kind of opportunities that their parents had.”

Looking beyond the midterms: The Generation Lab also asked young Americans about the 2028 presidential race — and at this early stage, name recognition seems to be paramount.

Democrats like Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) best, at 31 and 23 percent respectively. Republicans pick Vice President JD Vance (25 percent) and then HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (13 percent). And tied for seventh overall, at 4 percent each among all young Americans: Jon Stewart, Mark Cuban and Tucker Carlson.

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Politics

Collins dominates Platner on World Cup ad spending

Published

2 hours ago

July 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The political race for eyeballs during the World Cup continued this week, with a total of at least $2.1 million spent on ads by campaigns, committees and causes so far through all matches as of Friday, according to an analysis by AdImpact for Blue Light News.

Stronger America, an issue advocacy 501(c)(4) organization aligned with Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, emerged as the biggest spender of the World Cup so far, dropping $287,500 through matches so far. Pine Tree Results PAC, also aligned with Collins, has spent $123,000 through matches. Collins’ campaign itself spent $25,000 on ads, while Graham Platner’s campaign, meanwhile, spent $3,500.

Those are some of the latest signs that Maine’s marquee Senate race between Collins and Democrat oysterman Graham Platner is as ubiquitous in the Maine media markets as hydration breaks during this tournament. It’s a race that Senate Republicans’ campaign arm has called “the linchpin” in “this year’s fight for control of the Senate.” One recent poll revealed a narrow lead for Platner and another a slight edge for Collins.

The battle for control of the Senate has been a defining feature of the World Cup ad wars so far: One Nation, the Senate GOP leadership-aligned group, spent $122,150 through the round of 32. (AdImpact cautioned totals could change as spending still trickles in.)

House Majority Forward, the nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, has dumped $76,155 into ads during matches.

And United Democracy Project, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee super PAC at the center of Democratic primary battles across the map this year, has spent $117,200.

Politics

Canada’s World Cup run ends in heartache — but politicos embrace soccer

Published

3 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

CALGARY, Alberta — In a room packed full of international dignitaries within earshot of Calgary’s iconic Stampede rodeo, Canada’s historic run at the 2026 World Cup ended with an anticlimactic whimper.

Irish Ambassador to Canada John Concannon marked his country’s assumption of the EU Council presidency with a Stampede reception attended by a delegation of European envoys. “This must rank as the friendliest European invasion in history,” he quipped.

As the seconds ticked away in Canada’s knockout-round showdown with Morocco, few minglers at the Irish reception noticed the TV at the back of the room — set on mute — broadcasting the Moroccan victory. They were busy pressing the flesh, making small talk and planning their Stampede itineraries.

Back in Ottawa, in the park that hosted recent Canada Day festivities, fans gathered hoping to see Canada move deeper into the tournament. Instead, they cheered the Canadians at the end of an upstart run that will be remembered for years.

In a nation known for hockey, everyone seemed to be a soccer fan — for 22 days, at least.

After Canada’s first-ever men’s World Cup victory on June 18 against Qatar, Prime Minister Mark Carney paid a visit to the locker room. “You showed a level of character that some people never achieve in their life. And you showed it when the entire country and a good part of the world is watching,” he told the players. “I couldn’t be prouder as a Canadian,”

Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden brought the team an offering when he visited them at practice in Vancouver on June 24 — the Maple Leaf flag that had flown atop the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill on the day of Canada’s opening match.

“They are inspiring a generation and have brought an entire nation together,” he said.

On Canada Day, Governor General Louise Arbour used her first July 1 remarks as the king’s representative to connect the World Cup moment to the national celebration and beyond.

“Whether in FIFA soccer stadiums or at the Olympics, one thing is clear: We know who we’re cheering for,” she said. “And when we play ferociously … we don’t hate the other team, we just like them better when they lose!”

To that, she added: “This is us. We like to play. And we play by the rules.” Even the king’s representative can subtweet a trade war.

Politics

Beating the heat is now part of hosting

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Even as they dueled today in Houston, Canada and Morocco have something in common: They’re both World Cup hosts in an era of rising temperatures.

That shared status — Canada co-hosting this year with the U.S. and Mexico, and Morocco in 2030 with Portugal and Spain — has led the World Health Organization, to work with both countries on a Beat the Heat initiative that the United Nations’ global health body developed with FIFA to address the risks of extreme weather at sporting and mass gathering events.

While this week’s urgent concerns revolve around North American humidity, which makes heat worse because it limits the body’s ability to cool itself through sweating, four years from now public health officials will be worrying about high, dry heat and strong sun exposure. That the 2030 emphasis there will be on cooling areas, hydration and sun protection, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.

“The consistent message is that every host city should conduct its own heat risk assessment and build a tailored heat health action plan, rather than apply a single fixed rule,” Jašarević said.

The United States has not been a member of the WHO since January, after President Donald Trump withdrew from the global health body over his complaints about funding and the WHO’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, said Jašarević, the U.S., Canada and Mexico have been working since 2023 on World Cup preparedness through a health security working group coordinated by the WHO and its regional arm, the Pan American Health Organization.