In our time
Young Minnesotans deserve more than broken dreams.
This issue’s Thinking Minnesota Poll is sobering. It documents an overwhelming pessimism among young people (covering an age range from 18 to 34) in Minnesota. A remarkable 90 percent think that their generation is worse off than their parents’ generation, and 68 percent believe the next generation will be even worse off than theirs. And 81 percent of young Minnesotans tell us they are dissatisfied with the direction of our country.
These pessimistic attitudes represent a fundamental reversal of hundreds of years of American culture. Americans have always believed that the future is bright, that progress will continue, and that each generation will be better off than the last one.
So what is driving the dispirited mood among young Minnesotans today? Our poll shows that their concerns are both practical and realistic. Eighty-four percent worry about their ability to buy a house. Sixty-three percent worry about their ability to buy a car. And 65 percent are concerned about public safety: Most young people don’t live in gated communities or safe suburbs.
We found that young Minnesotans are eagerly looking forward to voting in November. We asked our poll respondents what issues will drive their votes. The results mirrored the concerns young people express about their own lives. It isn’t climate change or abortion that will motivate young people to vote in 2024. Rather, 54 percent said that inflation will be the biggest issue determining their vote, while another 22 percent cited the economy and jobs.
Most of our poll respondents said they think Minnesota is a good place to develop a career. Of course, we need to remember that the young people we polled are the ones who haven’t left. Every year, Minnesota suffers a net exodus of young people who move to other states, usually because they have better job opportunities elsewhere.
The key point that needs to be made is that our young people are right. Their perception of reality is accurate. Inflation has badly damaged their standard of living. Rites of middle-class passage, like buying a house and a car, are increasingly out of reach for many. And while violent crime in Minnesota has stopped rising, it represents a much greater risk than was faced by earlier generations.
Some of these problems, like inflation, are national in scope. But young Minnesotans suffer not only from adverse national trends, but also from bad policy at the state level that has compounded their problems. Thus, excessive regulation in Minnesota makes housing and childcare more expensive. “Green” mandates make it more expensive to buy a car. And high taxes and a crushing regulatory burden make it harder and harder to find good-paying jobs.
Another problem contributing to malaise among young Minnesotans is our poor public schools. Fewer than half of our K-12 public school students can either read or do math at grade level, and fully 64 percent of 11th graders can’t do math at grade level. Young Minnesotans have good reasons to wonder how well equipped they are to pursue successful careers.
These issues — the problems faced by young people in Minnesota, and the extent to which those problems can be fixed by better policies at the state level — are the subject of American Experiment’s 2024 Summer Tour, “False Promises: How ‘progressive’ policies betray Minnesota’s youth.” We have 16 scheduled tour stops, and we expect that, ultimately, we will present the program in 20 cities and towns across the state of Minnesota.
Go to AmericanExperiment.org to learn how we can give Minnesota’s young people a better start in life.