Rising costs, broken promises sway young US voters in upcoming midterm

With the November 3 midterm elections approaching, many young Americans are disengaging from the political process, citing soaring rents, persistent economic strain and campaign promises they say have gone unfulfilled.

Few embody that disillusionment more sharply than Ariel Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Miami resident and the son of Guatemalan immigrants. Gonzalez studied advertising and marketing, yet the career he trained for never materialized, and he now makes his living as a full-time artist after years of rejection on the job market.

"Everything I've learned about this country for the last 33 years of my life has been kind of a lie. I'm gonna have to apply for Trader Joe's, I'm gonna have to apply for Publix, I'm gonna have to apply for Target. And me with all my credentials, having these degrees and all these things, was not getting hired," Gonzalez said.

His political outlook, he says, was forged long before this election cycle, in the wreckage of the 2008 financial crisis that upended his family's life.

"They ended up buying their first home, and then 2008 came, the housing crisis came. They lost everything. Our house was foreclosed, our cars were repossessed, everything. We lost everything. We were homeless for a little bit," Gonzalez said.

The numbers suggest his frustration is far from isolated. Young Americans have historically shunned the midterms, with fewer than one in four voters under 30 casting a ballot in 2022, and this spring just 12 percent told Harvard pollsters they felt motivated to take part in November's vote.

For Gonzalez, the malaise now stretches across the political spectrum.

"In fact, what I'm seeing more of is people fed up with wanting to vote. I see people fed up with the current politics, and this is anyone in the right or anyone in the left-leaning sphere. They're fed up," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez's frustration mirrors a broader disenchantment among young Floridians, for whom pocketbook pressures increasingly outweigh party loyalty.

Jean Hestres, a 25-year-old of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent who sells cars while studying for his real estate license, counts himself among them.

"Hard to live, man. It's expensive. It's the economy for the most part. It's getting more expensive to live," said Hestres, a conservative voter.

Many young voters, particularly men, swung toward Donald Trump in 2024, swayed in part by his promises to bring down prices. Political scientist Eduardo Gamarra says discontent over the cost of living now surfaces in virtually every survey he conducts, and points to pledges that were never kept as the driving force behind the disaffection.

"But also the unkept promises, right? In particular, the promise that they would deal with the high cost of living, I think, is probably the number one reason. We see it in our surveys," Gamarra said.

The stakes in November are considerable, with all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and roughly a third of the Senate up for grabs, alongside thousands of state and local offices. Control of Congress will shape the remaining two years of Trump's term, and strategists in both parties concede that mobilizing disaffected young voters could prove decisive.

Rising costs, broken promises sway young US voters in upcoming midterm

Violence involving Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank is drawing growing scrutiny. For Palestinians facing attacks on their homes, families and livelihoods, there's little hope that the election will bring change.

Merzouk Abu Naim, a local resident, said Israeli settlers have taken everything from him, first his livestock, then his olive trees.

Five months ago, Merzouk Abu Naim's son was shot dead by a settler while trying to rescue students from a school under attack. A 14-year-old student was also killed, and others were injured. Still grieving his son, Abu Naim is struggling to survive.

"We used to have 43,000 dunams of land. Today, we have only 1,000 dunams left. That's all. The settlers have taken control of the rest with the help of the Israeli army. The settlers aren't acting alone. This is a settlement policy designed to drive people from their land by killing and stealing our livestock and destroying the trees. We can't even harvest our olives anymore. Look at this olive tree -- we can't even pick its olives. Every day, settlers attack vulnerable people who are simply trying to harvest their olives," said Merzouk Abu Naim, father of a Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers.

Hundreds of front lines in West Bank are dividing residential Palestinian villages from the Israeli settlements. There have been many unprovoked attacks by settlers towards Palestinians who are trying to reach their olive trees.

In recent years, especially in the past year alone, at least seven people have died and more than 400 locals have been injured, most of them by live bullets.

Al-Mughayyir village council head Amin Mohammed Abu Aliya has been a vocal critic of settler violence and what he calls a culture of impunity.

He says Israeli soldiers detained him without charge and tortured him -- beating him for hours until he lost several teeth and consciousness.

"Talking about the Israeli government, if someone tries to complain against the settlers, they would arrest the one who complains. For example, a group of settlers would attack a house, break things around, even try to burn it down, and if the house owner tries to bring the kids out or defend his family and himself, the army would immediately arrive and surround the house, then arrest the house owner as if he is the criminal," he said.

Settler violence has become an election issue in Israel, with opposition leaders accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to confront what they call "settler terrorism."

But for Palestinians here, hopes for change remain slim.

"From our experience with Israeli governments and political parties, they don't differ when it comes to controlling, killing and oppressing the Palestinian people. The only thing they disagree on is the means used to kill us -- whether carried out by an Israeli soldier or a settler. We don't expect anything from a change in leadership, whether it is the same one or a new elected one," Amin Mohammed Abu Aliya said.

Until then, Palestinians across the West Bank will remain at the mercy of armed settlers, determined to drive them from their homes and lands by making their lives unbearable.

Violence involving Israeli settlers in West Bank draws growing scrutiny