This Crucial Demographic Is Turning on Trump, Brutal New Poll Shows

Younger Republicans are turning against Donald Trump, according to a survey by Pew Research Center.

A recent Pew survey found that the largest drop in Trump’s support by far was among his youngest voters in 2024, between the ages of 18 and 39. Only 69 percent of Trump’s youngest voters said that they approved of his job performance, down from 92 percent when he entered office, according to the survey. In the last two months alone, Trump’s job performance approval dropped 11 points among this demographic.

It’s not entirely clear why this happened, but there is one theory.

The same survey found that 53 percent of Republicans said that they disapproved of the administration’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, with the disapproval rating being higher among younger Republicans. It seems that the president’s ties to the alleged sex trafficker, and his administration’s refusal to publish a long-awaited client list, has resonated more with the party’s newer members. Apparently, not everyone is buying Trump’s knee-jerk reaction to dismiss the Epstein matter as a Democratic hoax.

And it doesn’t look like the president—who privately referred to survivors of Epstein’s abuse as “Democrats”—intends to course-correct anytime soon.

Of course, one must imagine that there may be something wonky at play here—what young Republican would actually respond to a poll?

Trump’s approval rating has slipped nine points since he entered office. Another group that saw a massive loss of enthusiasm for the commander in chief was adults who did not vote in 2024. Trump’s approval rating among this group sank from 45 percent to 32 percent since the beginning of his term.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement conducted a raid right outside of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s rally on Thursday at the Japanese American National Museum in Downtown Los Angeles.

Newsom held an event to announce his own redistricting efforts in California, a direct response to the Trump administration and the Texas GOP gerrymandering their House map to favor Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

“BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!” Newsom’s press team posted, purposely mocking Trump’s social media syntax as they have been for days now. The post also included a video showing mostly masked Border Patrol agents milling about in full tactical gear.

Newsom also acknowledged the raid during his speech.

“Right outside, at this exact moment, are dozens of dozens of ICE agents,” Newsom said, the crowd booing in response. “Donald Trump … you think it’s coincidental?”

“No!” the crowd fired back.

“We know what Donald Trump knows: He’s going to lose the midterms. He knows, de facto, his presidency ends in seventeen months, when Speaker [Hakeem] Jeffries is back in the House,” Newsom continued. “He’s a failed president. Who else sends ICE at the same time we’re having a conversation like this? Someone who’s weak. Someone who’s broken. Someone whose weakness is masquerading as strength. The most unpopular president in modern history.”

Newson is right—ICE at his event was no coincidence. Trump and the governor have traded barbs for years now, and it only looks to be ratcheting up even further now.

As the Trump administration keeps the Epstein files tight to its chest (the documents reportedly contain numerous redacted mentions of Trump), media appearances by victims of the notorious late pedophile have hampered the president’s hopes of redirecting the public eye anywhere but on his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.

A vexed Trump, Rolling Stone reports, has privately taken to calling some survivors of Epstein’s abuse “Democrats,” suggesting they may be trying to sully his reputation for political purposes.

Citing two sources familiar with the president’s private remarks, Rolling Stone reported Thursday that Trump has, behind closed doors, repeatedly taken issue with such media appearances, claiming that some of the victims “are just trying to make him look bad, or implying that he did something wrong during his time as one of Epstein’s friends and party companions.”

The president has reportedly claimed that some speaking out are “clearly of a ‘Democrat’ political affiliation,” even floating the idea that some could be in cahoots with “prominent liberal attorneys or groups.”

The magazine did not name specific people about whom the president has reportedly complained. However, several of Epstein’s accusers, named and anonymous, as well as victims’ relatives, have vocally criticized the administration’s bungling of the Epstein case as of late.

This has, per CNN, posed “a growing political threat to Trump,” whose approach to the scandal has reflected a concern for “ending a political problem” over “alleviating any further agony” for those affected by Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell (whom Trump conspicuously hasn’t ruled out pardoning, raising concerns that he may corruptly grant her clemency in exchange for clearing his name of Epstein-related wrongdoing).

Trump’s White House vehemently denied Rolling Stone’s story, with a spokesperson insisting that “none of [it] is true.”

The reported remarks, however, would be consistent with the president’s tendency to try positing conspiracies in order to remove political thorns from his side—as seen at the outset of the scandal, when Trump’s knee-jerk reaction was to dismiss the Epstein issue, once a MAGA cause célèbre, as a Democratic hoax.

California has its own plan to combat the Trump administration’s national redistricting efforts.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the Election Rigging Response Act Thursday, a Democratic gerrymandering plan intended to offset efforts to strip liberal areas around the country of their electoral votes.

“We’ve got to meet fire with fire,” Newsom said. “We cannot stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district.”

California will invite residents to vote on whether or not to pursue redistricting in their own state, in reaction to Donald Trump’s heavy hand in Texas politics. The vote will take place on November 4.

Last month, the president demanded that Texas Republicans create five more House seats by redrawing its congressional map, eliminating a handful of blue districts. The move elicited shock and contempt from two of the country’s most populous regions—California and New York—both of which threatened to draw their own new maps should Texas comply. If they do, the two states will give a significant edge to Democrats.

Trump issued similar demands of five other states, claiming that there were nationwide opportunities for redistricting efforts to help the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Those states include Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida.

“This is a serious moment, America. Wake up to what is going on,” Newsom said. “These are sober times.”

Newsom pointed to an aggressive rise in ICE raids, censorship at the Smithsonian, federal kowtowing to Russia, voter intimidation, and infringements on civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, and more as evidence that Trump was “putting America in reverse.”

“It’s about power,” Newsom said. “And we are about to give power back to the people.”

Mayor Eric Adams’s campaign has chosen to lean fully into his reputation for unseriousness and folly.

On Thursday, the mayor’s social media team posted a video of Adams appearing at various events across the city with the audio from the children’s movie The Boss Baby, following a popular TikTok and Instagram Reels trend.

“Every night, at dinner, I’ll be there. Every birthday party, I’ll be there. Every Christmas, I’ll be there,” the audio plays as clips of Adams at festivals and press conferences roll.

“I’m an on-the-ground mayor,” the post’s caption reads. “I’ll be there every step of the way as we make this a safer and more affordable city for all.”

Absurd posts like these—and that Trump pardon—are the only things keeping Adams from fading into relative obscurity. From multiple smoothie-making videos to poorly edited montages, to corny pop music–based skits, the Adams campaign is posting its way through it.