Struggling and Discouraged, Many Young Voters Turn Radical

Believing that the economy is unfair to them, a majority of voters under 40 favor legislation to confiscate “excess wealth.”

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and StoppingSocialism.com finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters ages 18 to 39 think the economy is unfair to young people. Only 27% disagree, while 11% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Fifty-five percent (55%) of under-40 voters say they’d support a law that would confiscate Americans’ excess wealth – including things like second homes, luxury cars, and private boats – in order to help young people buy a home for the first time. That includes 25% who would Strongly Support such legislation. Just 38% oppose confiscating “excess wealth.”

While 24% of voters under 40 describe their current financial situation as “doing well,” 38% say they’re just “getting by.” Twenty-nine percent (29%) are “struggling,” and seven percent (7%) describe their current financial situation as “in crisis.”

“These results paint a sobering picture,” said Donald Kendal, director of the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center at the Heartland Institute and editor-in-chief of StoppingSocialism.com. “Young Americans are facing real financial pressures and housing insecurity, but what’s most concerning is that many are turning toward dangerous collectivist ideas as supposed solutions. The fact that more than half support wealth confiscation to buy homes shows just how far radical policies have penetrated mainstream thinking among voters under 40.”

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The survey of 1,201 U.S. Likely Voters ages 18 to 39 was conducted on August 26-27, 2025 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. 

In describing their current personal life situation, 19% of under-40 voters say they’re “thriving,” while 46% say they are “doing well overall with a few ups and downs.” However, 20% are “feeling stuck” or uncertain about their personal life, eight percent (8%) are “feeling lonely,” disconnected, or emotionally drained, and five percent (5%) describe themselves as “in crisis” and feel mostly negative about their personal life.

Fewer than a third (29%) of voters under 40 are homeowners, while 25% are Very Confident that they will own a home at some point in the next 10 years. Twenty-one percent (21%) say they’re “discouraged but hopeful” that they will own a home within a decade, 12% are “not confident” and 10% say they’re convinced they will never own a home.

Among other findings of the Rasmussen Reports/StoppingSocialism.com survey of under-40 Likely Voters:

– Fifty-nine percent (59%) believe the United States should be the most powerful in the world, but 11% think the United Nations should be most powerful. Five percent (5%) think Canada should be the most powerful, while four percent (4%) say a European country, and countries on other continents – South or Central America, Africa and Asia – each get a two percent (2%) vote as most powerful. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

– Voters under 25 are most likely to say the U.S. economy is unfair to young people. Forty-five percent (45%) of those ages 35-39 are homeowners, compared to just 14% of those ages 18-24.

– Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 58% of under-40 voters not affiliated with either major party at least somewhat support confiscating “excess wealth” to help young people buy a home for the first time. Under-40 voters who own their own homes are significantly more likely to identify as Republicans and conservatives.

– Men are more likely than women voters under 40 to describe themselves as “doing well” in their financial situation and “thriving” in their personal lives. Thirty-six percent (36%) of women voters ages 18-39 describe their personal lives as either “stuck,” “lonely” or “in crisis.”

– Fifty-three percent (53%) of whites, 61% of black and Hispanic voters, and 48% of other minority voters under 40 at least somewhat support confiscating “excess wealth” to help young people buy a home for the first time.

– Among those who voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election. 26% of under-40 voters describe their personal lives as “thriving,” but only 15% of Kamala Harris voters say the same. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Harris voters describe their personal lives as either “stuck,” “lonely” or “in crisis.”

StoppingSocialism.com was founded in 2018 as a project of the Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1984 and headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. 

Support for socialist policies and socialist candidates is now a majority position among younger voters in America. 

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Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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