Our Pulse Check Text Results (Pt. 2)
NextGen’s digital organizing team contacted over 1 million young people via text to see what’s on their mind
A few months ago, we released Part 1 of our Pulse Check text results. If you’re not sure what that means, in February, NextGen America’s digital organizing team launched this year’s first deep listening campaign, or Pulse Check Texts, to better understand the top issues for young people across the country (both on and off college campuses).
To allow recipients to take the answers where they wanted, our team asked open-ended questions like “What is your top issue right now?” or “ What issue is affecting your life the most right now?” This style of questions resulted in a higher average response rate than other NextGen America texting campaigns, and a much higher response rate than the industry average.
The project is an expansion of our work from 2025, and includes outreach in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Our digital organizing team and volunteers contacted over 1 million young people ages 18-29.
In our Part 1 breakdown, we looked at replies specific to our on-campus outreach, for Part 2, we’ll be diving into the entire campaign and looking at the replies from all the young people we texted. Our breakdown includes issue trends by gender, younger vs older Gen Z, as well as analysis of the top-named issue week to week.
The Pulse Check campaign highlighted that young people are not disengaged from politics, but they are extremely frustrated. They do not feel represented by either major political party, and they are desperate for a government that delivers results and improves their daily lives. To mobilize them in 2026 and beyond, it will require building trust and delivering meaningful results.
Results Overview
Throughout this months-long campaign, economic issues were always the top named issue for the young people we contacted. Overall, the top five issues identified were 1) Economic issues 28% (with Inflation/Groceries the most prevalent), 2) Eroding Democracy/Rise of Fascism 19%, 3) Multiple Issues 13%, 4) Foreign Policy 12%, and 5) Immigration 6%
We received Issue ID responses from over 10,000 individual respondents, and had an overall campaign response rate of 5.8%. This response rate is nearly double NextGen’s traditional GOTV campaigns in the 2024 and 2025 cycle. We believe this was because for the Pulse Check campaign, the ask was open-ended, allowing recipients to name the issue that is most affecting them without any influence. This flexibility allowed people to take the answers where they wanted, and overall, we were surprised by the amount of long, detailed answers we received from folks, and how personal they were.
Across the issues named – there was one throughline: Young people are angry, anxious, and frustrated. They aren’t apathetic or disengaged, but rather knowledgeable and understand how their daily lives are directly affected by the actions of the Trump Administration and politics overall. They see American politics – across both parties - as deeply corrupt, and have a clear understanding of how wealthy elites are influencing our politicians and policy.
This project allowed young people looking for an outlet, a place to share their thoughts and concerns, no strings attached -- something politicians are not giving them. We didn’t follow up with an ask for donations or judge their concerns; we listened and empathized.
The Top Issues
Economy
As in our Part 1 breakdown, to better understand what exact elements of the economy were top of mind for young people, we included four separate responses -- Economy overall, Inflation/Groceries, Jobs/Wages, and the Housing Market. Taken together, these sub-sets (sorted under Economy) ranked as the highest issue for young people at 28%
Breaking it down: 9% of respondents named the Economy overall, while 12% chose Inflation/Groceries, 4% Jobs/Wages, and 3% Rent/Housing Market.
Some direct quotes from respondents who ID’d economy as their top concern are below.
Across respondents who ID’d economic issues as their top concern, there is a feeling of desperation, helplessness, and betrayal from politicians who promised to improve their day-to-day lives and have not delivered.
Eroding Democracy/Rise of Fascism
The second most named issue after the economy was concern for rising fascism and the erosion of democracy at 19%. The young people we spoke to characterize the erosion of democracy specifically in relation to corruption.
They see the Trump Administration’s policies and actions in the past year and half as an abuse of power, and are frustrated by both parties’ inaction as they sense democratic norms sliding, especially in regards to protecting those in power.
Multiple Issues
As explored in our Part 1 results, for IDs tagged with “Everything/Multiple Issues,” respondents listed 3+ issues right in succession, or, when pressed, could not identify just one single top priority, instead saying things like “is everything a valid answer?” or “I’m tired of all of it honestly.”
While this tag is hard to quantify, it is important to contextualize in order to better understand this population. Rather than experiencing politics and everyday problems as separate, young people are feeling the compounding effects of multiple issues at once. Young people understand how issues are interconnected. “Everything/Multiple Issues” being so high represents young people’s general feelings of overwhelm – they don’t even know where to begin.
Again, as with many of the replies, respondents in this category framed most of their top issues in relationship to corruption. They see issues as interconnected with one primary villain – wealthy elites manipulating our government and lives (with Trump as facilitator) to benefit themselves at their expense.
Foreign Policy
When this campaign began at the start of February, Trump’s war in Iran had not started, so foreign policy ranked lower in young people’s top issue. However, after the war started at the end of February and has continued, foreign policy ranked fourth in young people’s top named issue at 12%.
It is not that foreign policy was ever ranked much lower, but week to week, the prevalence grew. Young people are concerned about the human loss and ethical implications of the war, as well as the war’s impact on gas prices and the economy overall.
The young people we talked to were also overwhelmingly upset that their tax dollars are being used to fund wars in Gaza and Iran, while people at home are struggling to afford basic necessities like education, food, and healthcare.
Additionally, foreign policy conversations regarding Israel indicated a potential impact on future voting behaviors, as several respondents voiced that they would never vote for an AIPAC-backed candidate. This specific foreign policy concern is also closely connected to corruption and young people’s perspective of their diminishing voting power when compared to PAC influence.
Immigration
The fifth top issue ID’d by young people was immigration at 6%, specifically concerns about ICE’s overreach, and the fear and chaos inflicted by the Trump Administration on the immigrant community.
The young people we contacted view immigration and ICE overreach and cruelty as the same issue. They consistently named concerns with the Trump Administration utilizing ICE as his own personal militia to enforce his agenda with no due process or accountability.
Additional Breakdowns
Timeline
The issues mentioned and their frequency fluctuated from week to week and state by state. One of the reasons for this was the news cycle.
Several major current events occurred close to the start or during the course of our Pulse Check outreach, including the release of the Epstein Files (Jan 30), the start of the war in Iran (Feb 28), controversies over redistricting (ongoing), No King rallies (March 28), the gutting of the Voting Rights Act (April 29), and protests centered around immigration (ongoing). A visualization of week-to-week fluctuation can be viewed below:
Age
There were nearly 1,000 more individual responses from 25-29 year olds than 18-24 year olds, and 500 more male than female respondents. We found no significant difference in top issues between younger and older Gen Z respondents.
Gender
Breaking down the ‘Economy’ ID by gender, Jobs/Wages ranked higher for men, and Rent/Housing Market ranked higher for women.
Foreign Policy appeared 1.6x more for Male respondents than Female respondents. When reviewing the stories shared with us, some male respondents were concerned about the possibility of getting drafted.
Education appeared at 2x the rate for Female respondents, and Abortion at 2.5x, and Party Inaction appeared at almost twice the rate for male respondents. During the focus groups conducted by NextGen and Tulchin this year, a few of the female respondents mentioned that voting for Democrats was the only way to protect rights for women and other marginalized groups, while men were more critical, which is one possible explanation for this disparity.
What This Means and What’s Ahead
This campaign underscored what we know about young people – they have grown up and live in a world marked by instability. This generation was in school during a global pandemic, and are now experiencing a growing economic divide. In the past two years alone, they’ve been involved in anti-ICE, Pro-Palestine, free speech, and No Kings demonstrations. They’ve witnessed expulsions, arrests, and even death as the outcome for speaking out for some of their peers.
These experiences have culminated in a population that is frustrated and upset with the current political system. Young people have never seen government work for them, and they are craving competency, results, and a lifestyle they can count on. They are tired of platitudes and want to see actionable change, fight, and progress beyond just words. Authenticity is important, but young people only see leaders as authentic if they can deliver on the promises they made.
To win young people this year and beyond, it will require sincere listening and then meaningful action. They are seeking leaders (outside of politicians, too) that will tackle corruption and build a future that serves everyday people - not just the wealthy few. Providing a place for young people to express these concerns, and then giving them the resources to turn it into meaningful community organizing and engagement, is where we are focusing our work in the months ahead.
Thanks for following along for this Pulse Check Text campaign and if you have any questions or want to learn more, reach out here!
On Our Minds and On Our Feeds
Associated Press: Fewer Americans say democracy is central to country’s identity, AP-NORC poll finds
CIRCLE: Where Young Voters Can Decide Elections in 2026
The Daily Blast: Fox in Meltdown over Booing of Trump as Polls Take Truly Brutal Turn
Interesting pulse check. Democracy/rise of fascism and economy almost take up half. The youth seems to be worried most about their security of livelihood. It's the same with me, I'm 51.