It is not surprising that Americans are dissatisfied with Trump’s chaotic presidency after 100 days, according to new polls. Much of the attention has been focused on his rapidly declining numbers among young voters (“Is Gen Z abandoning Trump?” Newsweek asked last week), but we are seeing signs — in the data and on the streets — of something even more serious for the MAGA movement. This guy is becoming increasingly unpopular among older Americans.
Numbers first: According to the internals of, say, the most recent Marist poll, he performs worst among members of the oldest age cohort: Only 37% of the greatest/silent generation, those in their 80s and 90s, approve of the president’s performance. Baby boomers — those like us in our 60s and 70s — are not far behind, with only 41% supporting him, compared to nearly half of Gen X.
Meanwhile, anyone who has participated in anti-administration protests across the country can attest to the prevalence of gray hair in the crowd. We have marched in New York, New England, and California in recent weeks, and a large portion of the crowd is definitely eligible for senior discounts at the movies.
Mark Engler, co-author of “This Is an Uprising,” about the rise of modern protest movements, wrote to us last week: “Here in Philly, the crowd made me feel like I was on the younger side, an increasingly rare experience now that I am about to turn 50.”
All of this contradicts common wisdom: you are supposed to become more conservative as you age, and is not Trump supposed to bring people our age back to their happy youth by making America great again? However, we are not surprised: we have spent the last three years organizing liberal and progressive Americans over the age of 60. They make it clear what is happening.
Several issues are obvious: People of a certain age are experiencing a rare combination of fear and anger as Elon Musk and his minions wreak havoc on the Social Security Administration and the White House plans massive Medicaid cuts.
Two-thirds of older Americans rely on Social Security for more than half of their income; we have spent our entire working lives paying into it, with the explicit promise that it will be there when we retire. Even those with savings and investments are seeing them plummet due to Trump’s tariff chaos: If your 401k drops by 10% when you reach 30, you may be able to make it back. What if you are 75?
And it goes deeper than money. Older voters who have witnessed Musk and Trump’s Cabinet dismantle the federal government understand why those agencies were established in the first place. If you are 40, the Clean Air Act may seem a little abstract, but that is because it is been so effective.
If you are 70 or 80, you remember smog-choked cities and rivers on fire, and you do not understand why anyone would want them back.
That sentiment applies to many different things. Lani Ritter-Hall, a board member of our organization, recently wrote about her experiences as a “Polio pioneer” in 1954, lining up for shots that changed her childhood for the better. “I have that special memory of participating in a grand scientific experiment to benefit humanity.”
How does she feel about RFK Jr. blathering on about vaccines? (We are old enough to remember Kennedy’s father and mourn how far the apple fell from the tree).
We understand why the country had DEI programs because we recall Jim Crow and its remnants in segregated schools and neighborhoods.
When the government removes Tuskegee Airmen lessons from air force training or removes Jackie Robinson from a Department of Defense website, these are not figures from the distant past for us; the visceral anger of those whose lives paralleled these people is why the government had to back down.
Even the smallest things can be particularly irritating. President Trump’s celebration of the idea that kids will now only have two dolls under the Christmas tree instead of 30 may be ridiculous (did anyone ever get 30 dolls for Christmas?) — but you know who really enjoys spending their remaining money on toys? Grandparents.
One way to put it is that the older you are, the longer your past, and so Trump’s assault on normalcy is especially egregious to us — we know he is behaving in ways no former president could have imagined.
Fortunately, we vote in greater numbers than any other age group, and we have a longer future as activists than the president and his allies may realize. If you turn 60 this year, you will probably live another quarter century. Oh, and women, who dislike the president in greater numbers than men, will live longer.
So, with all of the skills and connections we have developed over the course of our lives, we can expect to cause good trouble for another couple of decades. Trump is becoming our nightmare, and we are willing to be his.
