Exactly six months away from the 2024 election, CNBC and Generation Lab’s “Youth & Money in the USA” survey examines young Americans’ views on the job market, investing, housing, politics as well as their thoughts on EVs, TikTok, state abortion rights and relations with China
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., May 7, 2024 — Despite a strong labor market, most young adults in the U.S. (44%) view the current job market as “pretty bad” while 11% of those surveyed rate it as “extremely bad,” according to the recent CNBC|Generation Lab “Youth & Money in the USA” survey.
The survey, which polled over 1,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 34, highlights that most young Americans (42%) are not saving or investing right now, and an overwhelming majority (68%) say housing is available but not affordable. Taxes also continue to be a concern for young adults with 30% of them saying taxes should be raised for Americans with high incomes and 25% of young adults believe taxes should be lower for lower income Americans. Similar to the previous survey, more than half of young adults (54%) notice inflation is still affecting food prices the most, which is much higher than the other categories including rent, discretionary items and utilities.
With the 2024 election drawing closer, the CNBC|Generation Lab survey finds this age group is split between voting for President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, closer than the previous survey, with most young adults saying they would vote for Biden (36%), 35% would vote for Trump and 29% would vote for Robert Kennedy Jr. if the election were held today. However, most young adults (40%) say Trump would better support the economy while 34% said Biden would.
Additional findings from the CNBC|Generation Lab “Youth & Money in the USA” survey include:
Impact of states banning abortions on young adults:
- 62% of young Americans say they would “probably not” or would “definitely not” move to a state with strict laws regarding abortion.
- The numbers became less clear however when asked if they would reject a job offer in a state banning abortion. 45% said they would either “definitely reject” or “probably reject” the offer while 55% said they’d be likely to take the job.
Views on TikTok and its data collection practices:
- A vast majority of young adults (70%) say the U.S. government should allow TikTok to continue operating as usual while only 30% say they should ban it.
- Most young Americans (46%) say they are a bit concerned about data collection by TikTok versus only 18% that are very concerned and 36% who are not concerned at all.
Young Americans opinions on transportation & electric vehicles:
- Most young adults (33%) say they like electric vehicles but worry about their battery life and replacement costs while 29% of them said they are concerned about the availability and convenience of the charging stations.
- 31% of young adults are not considering buying an electric vehicle but out of those that are, 17% of them said they would buy a Tesla followed by 13% who said a Toyota. This greatly outweighs all other brands including Ford, Subaru, Chevy, Rivian, etc.
- A majority of young Americans (59%) say that they always drive versus 19% who usually drive or take public transportation and 11% who always take public transportation.
Policies toward China and how the U.S. should move forward:
- 28% of young Americans believe the U.S. should reduce economic dependence on China for national security reasons.
- 23% call for the U.S. to improve relations with China.
- 13% believe the U.S. should be tougher on China over human rights and democracy.
The results of the CNBC|Generation Lab “Youth & Money in the USA” survey will be revealed today, Tuesday, May 7 throughout the network’s Business Day programming. For more information on the survey, go to CNBC.com: cnbc.com/2024/05/07/abortion-bans-drive-away-up-to-half-of-young-talent-new-cnbc/generation-lab-youth-survey-finds.html. For the full results and methodology, go to: generationlab.org/cnbc-may.
Methodology:
CNBC|Generation Lab’s “Youth & Money in the USA” study was conducted in April 26th – May 2, 2024 from a representative sample of 1,033 people aged 18-34 nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points. The Generation Lab conducts polling using a demographically representative sample frame of young people aged 18-34 nationwide. Generation Lab uses different kinds of electronic communications, computer and mobile devices, to reach their sample and measure the attitudes and behaviors of the American youth.
