What Young Voters Really Think About Free Speech, the Economy, and America’s Future

Young America’s Foundation (YAF) and Echelon Insights conducted a survey of younger voters on a host of issues, and what it reveals about their attitudes on free speech, political violence, the economy, and the value of a college degree is worth looking at. Here’s where young voters stand on freedom of speech, political violence, and the Charlie Kirk assassination.

Young voters believe most kinds of speech asked about in the survey should be protected as free speech, including strongly conservative views (79%).
However, they tend to draw the line at negative statements toward racial or ethnic groups or celebrating acts of violence, with fewer than half (42% and 38%, respectively) saying those should be protected. More than 6 in 10 each believing [sic] those types of speech ought to be reportable to employers, and about 3 in 10 even think violence might be justified in some instances to shut those types of speech down.
While most oppose tactics to silence strongly conservative viewpoints, 31% of young voters — and 53% of liberal young voters — believe we are better off when strongly conservative views are kept out of the public square.
When asked about Charlie Kirk's assassination, 70% agree that "there is absolutely no justification for murdering someone over their viewpoints." In comparison, 22% feel that his views mean he brought violence upon himself to an extent.

Young conservatives feel less comfortable sharing their political views than they did in January. Nearly two-thirds said they were comfortable expressing their opinions earlier in the year, yet that number fell to 51% in this latest survey.

While the vast majority of those surveyed said that strongly conservative viewpoints are worth protecting in the public square, it’s worth noting that 53% of young liberals advocate shutting down conservative voices. Specific political views have a mixed bag of results in the poll.

“Twelve percent of young voters think voicing a pro-Israel viewpoint should not be protected, 19 percent believe saying something that offends people should not be protected, and 23 percent say calling a person by their biological sex should not be protected speech,” YAF reports.

When it comes to the value of a college degree, only 38% of college graduates believe that their degree gives them a leg up financially. By contrast, 62% of current college students are optimistic that graduating from college with a degree will help them achieve financial well-being.

Young voters aren’t all that optimistic about their financial future. YAF reports:

Fifty-nine percent of young voters believe that, even while they’re not yet where they want to be financially, they’re confident they’ll be able to get there while 31 percent say they are not confident they’ll reach their goals. Meanwhile, 51 percent of those surveyed believe there is not much opportunity in America today and the average person doesn’t have much chance to really get ahead.
When asked to compare their opportunities to those their parents had, 47 percent believe they have fewer while 28 percent say they have more. Among young white voters, just 21 percent think they have more opportunities than their parents, compared with 41 percent of young black voters and 47 percent of young Hispanic voters.

As America gets ready to celebrate its 250th birthday, young voters tend to think that the nation has fallen short of its founding ideals. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said that the U.S. is falling “somewhat short” or “far short” of those ideals. Additionally, 48% say that America doesn’t value hard work anymore.

Finally, as the 2026 midterm elections draw closer, Democrats hold a 13-point lead among young voters on a generic congressional ballot. This shows how much work we conservatives have cut out for us in reaching young voters.

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