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Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Amid loneliness ‘epidemic' in US, one group maintains strong community, poll finds
As Americans report feeling more and more socially isolated, a new study finds that one group maintains a strong sense of community belonging. But that group has been dwindling, according to researchers. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called the social disconnection an 'epidemic of loneliness' and equated its impact on lifespan to 'smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,' according to a 2023 report. Recently, a Harvard Youth Poll found that 18% of young adults said they 'do not feel a strong sense of belonging anywhere.' Comparatively, 17% of young adults said they felt 'deeply connected to at least one community.' Twenty-six percent said they felt 'somewhat connected,' per the poll. Religious Americans — including evangelical Christians, Protestants and members of non-Abrahamic faiths — reported much higher levels of community contentedness, researchers said. The poll, published April 25 in the Harvard Political Review, found that 62% of young adults who find religion 'very important' felt a sense of community, while 36% of those who are not religious felt the same, according to the poll. The survey of 2,096 Americans between 18 and 29 years old was conducted between March 14-25, researchers said. 'Americans who belong to a church or place of worship generally have more people they can count on for help and support than the religiously unaffiliated have,' researchers from the Survey Center on American Life said in a 2024 study. But according to a 2024 Gallup poll, most faith groups in the U.S. have been seeing a drop in regular religious service attendance. Thirty percent of Americans said they went to religious services every week or almost every week in 2024, down 8 percentage points from a decade ago, according to the poll, which cited the increase in Americans who aren't religious as the reason. This decline has appeared to stabilize in 2025, according to a Pew Research Center survey, but still remains in the low 30s. Other findings The Harvard survey also identified where people live and education levels as indicators of loneliness. About half of people who live in cities and suburbs said they feel connected to a community, according to the poll. Thirty-nine percent of people living in rural areas and 32% of people living in small towns said the same. Twelve percent of people who have not attended college said they felt deeply connected to a community, while 22% of people with college degrees agreed, the poll found. People with college degrees are more likely to live in areas with public spaces, which helps with feeling more connected, researchers said. Those who are college educated are also more likely to participate in a religious organization, per the poll.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Shocking new survey reveals how many young Americans want to get married, have kids in 2025
Don't tell their mothers. Less than half of young Americans think having kids is important, a shocking new survey found. Out of the more than 2,000 18-to-29-year-olds surveyed for this year's Harvard Youth Poll, only 48% said procreating is crucial – and even fewer, 46%, believed children were within reach. Having kids was ranked the lowest among the six life goals respondents were asked about in the March survey, behind financial security, home ownership, long-term romantic partnership, marriage and significant wealth. Marriage was on the outs too. Overall, 57% of respondents said getting married was important, while 53% said they were optimistic they would actually make it to the altar. Instead, more young Americans — 67% — prioritized finding a long-term romantic relationship. While men and women rated romantic goals equally important, 62% of women were confident about finding a long-term partner compared to 52% of men, and were more optimistic about tying the knot, with 56% of women considering it a likely goal and 49% of men feeling the same. The majority of young women, 53%, said political agreement in a romantic relationship was important, while only 42% of men felt the same. Across party lines, 70% of Democrats thought political alignment with a partner was important, versus 48% of Republicans. Political party affiliation also played a role in how young people viewed the questions, according to the survey results published April 23. Conservatives put a premium on having children, with 69% of Republicans calling it important compared to 43% of Democrats. Getting married was ranked as important for 75% of Republicans but just 56% of liberals. When it comes to expectations for women, far more young Republicans than Democrats — 25% vs. 3% — said females feel pressure to prioritize career over family, while liberals were significantly more likely than conservatives — 32% vs. 11% — to believe society pressures women to prioritize family over career. Financial security was the most sought-after milestone among money-hungry young Americans, with 86% saying it was important, followed by home ownership, which was valued by 74% of respondents. Only 56%, however, expressed confidence they would achieve economic stability.
New York Post
10-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Shocking new survey reveals how many young Americans want to get married, have kids in 2025
Don't tell their mothers. Less than half of young Americans think having kids is important, a shocking new survey found. Out of the more than 2,000 18-to-29-year-olds surveyed for this year's Harvard Youth Poll, only 48% said procreating is crucial – and even fewer, 46%, believed children were within reach. Having kids was ranked the lowest among the six life goals respondents were asked about in the March survey, behind financial security, home ownership, long-term romantic partnership, marriage and significant wealth. 3 Less than half of young Americans think that having kids is important in 2025, the Harvard Youth Poll found. insta_photos – Marriage was on the outs too. Overall, 57% of respondents said getting married was important, while 53% said they were optimistic they would actually make it to the altar. Instead, more young Americans — 67% — prioritized finding a long-term romantic relationship. While men and women rated romantic goals equally important, 62% of women were confident about finding a long-term partner compared to 52% of men, and were more optimistic about tying the knot, with 56% of women considering it a likely goal and 49% of men feeling the same. 3 More young Americans — 67% — prioritized finding a long-term romantic partner than getting married, which important to 57% of respondents. Monkey Business – The majority of young women, 53%, said political agreement in a romantic relationship was important, while only 42% of men felt the same. Across party lines, 70% of Democrats thought political alignment with a partner was important, versus 48% of Republicans. Political party affiliation also played a role in how young people viewed the questions, according to the survey results published April 23. Conservatives put a premium on having children, with 69% of Republicans calling it important compared to 43% of Democrats. Getting married was ranked as important for 75% of Republicans but just 56% of liberals. When it comes to expectations for women, far more young Republicans than Democrats — 25% vs. 3% — said females feel pressure to prioritize career over family, while liberals were significantly more likely than conservatives — 32% vs. 11% — to believe society pressures women to prioritize family over career. 3 Home ownership was the second-most valued life goal by young Americans. Davide Angelini – Financial security was the most sought-after milestone among money-hungry young Americans, with 86% saying it was important, followed by home ownership, which was valued by 74% of respondents. Only 56%, however, expressed confidence they would achieve economic stability.
Gulf Today
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
The Generation Z is politically old before its time
David M. Drucker, Tribune News Service Men and women have long behaved differently in the political realm, with the former more inclined to vote for Republicans and the latter more likely to support Democrats. But significantly, these differences did not historically apply to 18-to-29-year-olds. For many years, both younger men and women have leaned decidedly left. No longer. The latest Harvard Youth Poll, the gold standard for studying younger voters, is the most recent poll to make clear there are now distinct political differences separating men and women ages 18–29. The men of Generation Z, rocked by economic and social crises and impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, have moved to the right, backing President Donald Trump over then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 and continuing to favor Republicans. Women ages 18 – 29 reacted differently to the events that shaped their generation — politically, socially, philosophically — resulting in them holding markedly more liberal sensibilities. The consequences of these divergent political paths are a bifurcated younger electorate afflicted with the same gender polarization that typically characterizes older voters. In other words, Gen Z has aged prematurely — politically, at least. 'One of the biggest things we've seen with the gender split, is really how men and women have diverged ideologically,' said Jordan Schwartz, a Harvard sophomore and chair of Harvard Public Opinion Project, during a briefing to unveil the Harvard Institute of Politics' 50th youth survey. Schwartz added that young men veering right, and young women simultaneously staying or moving further left, has produced a 'huge gap' in Harvard's polling, explaining that this gender chasm has 'opened up over the past few years' and 'has not existed in many of our past polls.' As widely reported elsewhere, including by me, today's young men were deeply affected by a cascade of socially destabilizing events during the formative years of their upbringing, from the Great Recession to the COVID pandemic. Those sentiments have made Generation Z men distrustful of government and institutions, making the disruptive Trump and his promises of the coming ' golden age of America' more appealing than his rivals. Notably, Harvard's data suggests younger women voters have not emerged from the same destabilising experiences with the same social insecurities, leaving them less suspicious of Democrats, often the defenders of government and institutions (although young women do share some of the same concerns their male counterparts have about the economy generally.) Consider: the Harvard poll showed that more Generation Z women than men feel socially 'connected;' it showed women were slightly more 'confident' they would eventually own a home; it showed they were significantly more confident they would eventually find 'a long-term romantic partner; and the survey showed women ages 18–29 are more confident than similarly aged men about eventually getting married. 'Young men and young women's experiences through the pandemic have been different. It seems like young women have bounced back a little bit better, they have stronger social networks,' Melissa Deckman, author of The Politics of Gen Z and chief executive officer of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, DC, told me. 'For some young men, the studies show that they're more socially isolated than young women.' Pollsters and analysts downplay Trump's provocative behaviour as a factor in the youth gender divide. However jarring Trump may be to adults old enough to have voted for Republicans Mitt Romney, John McCain or the various Bushes, to voters who were as young as 8 when the president launched his first White House bid a decade ago, he is normal. Trump or no Trump, youth voters care more about policy than personality, I was told, and are likely to render their verdict on the president based on their perception of his performance on the issues they care about. 'It's been almost 10 years since (Trump) came down that escalator, and so for young people, this is the only brand of politics that they know,' said Meredith Shiner, a communications consultant in Chicago and lecturer at the University of Chicago who teaches a graduate course in public policy and communications. 'This isn't just about approach or tone; this is about policy.' Other surveys and analyses also suggest the differences in partisan preference among younger male and female voters are driven by issues. Last September, Gallup published 'Exploring Young Women's Leftward Expansion,' concluding from survey data that 'much higher proportions' of female voters ages 18 – 29 have 'prevailing liberal perspectives' on key issues than women of the same age group did 10 years previously — on abortion rights; gun rights; climate change and race relations. Generation Z women also have become 'more liberal,' although 'modestly' so, on 'the death penalty; healthcare policy; labor unions; taxes; government regulation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.' Meanwhile, Generation Z men have either turned right or moved left less than their female counterparts, per Gallup. Similar findings appeared in a post-election Ipsos poll of 18 to 29-year-olds , fielded mid to late November and developed by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. The widening divide is also driven by the men and women of this age group ranking issues differently. 'Young women were more likely to prioritise health care and climate change, and those are issues on which youth trusted Democrats more,' Alberto Medina, analysis coauthor of the Tufts-directed Ipsos youth survey, told me in a text message exchange. 'Young men were more likely to prioritize jobs and immigration, and those were issues in which youth trusted Republicans more.' If young voters are like previous generations, this split could get even wider as they age, turning today's gender gap into a gender gulf.
Bloomberg
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Gen Z Is Politically Old Before Its Time
Men and women have long behaved differently in the political realm, with the former more inclined to vote for Republicans and the latter more likely to support Democrats. But significantly, these differences did not historically apply to 18-to-29-year-olds. For many years, both younger men and women have leaned decidedly left. No longer. The latest Harvard Youth Poll, the gold standard for studying younger voters, is the most recent poll to make clear there are now distinct political differences separating men and women ages 18–29.
