During the 2024 United States presidential election over 150 million people cast their vote to decide the country’s next leader. Generation Z – adults aged 18-29 – represented by far the lowest turnout, with only around 20 million voting despite more than double that number being eligible. That is even less than the 2020 and 2016 elections. The numbers reflect a trend that pollsters have identified for years: young people consistently do not turn out to vote (United States Census Bureau).

So, where are they and why are they not voting?

The question, of course, is not as simple as that. There are many obvious barriers that prevent people from voting, including inaccessible transportation, geographical distance, and work conflicts to name just a few. But that does not account for the overwhelming number of Gen Z Americans who simply do not show up to vote. 

It is not a matter of indifference. It is not apathy. Young people care. They are highly engaged through social media and online. They do not vote because they do not think it will make any difference. 

They are right. The system, as it stands, is incapable of working in their interests or the interests of any American. Decades of inefficiency and fragmented policymaking have neutralized what its actual purpose should be. The government is no longer a vehicle through which we can build a better tomorrow for everyone. It is an obstacle to progress; it stands in the way. 

All too often, Generation Z’s perception of the system is justified. But not always. The response to COVID is one example: the expansion of family-supporting programs such as the child tax credit and food stamps lifted more children out of poverty than at any other time in our nation’s history. And while progress like this deserves recognition, the absence of consistency across interconnected policies on our biggest challenges makes it difficult to give unqualified praise when so much remains undone.

More empty promises and inspired talking points will not convince them otherwise. Generation Z is disillusioned with political pandering.  It will take a new approach to bring them to the ballot box. It will take real, legitimate change. 

The system can actually work in all of our interests, but not as it exists in its current form. Right now it is not sustainable, it is in decline. 

To reverse that decline, we need to replace it with a system that is viable and not fatally reliant on outdated, inefficient models to address complex problems. Rather than catering to isolated, fluctuating agendas that only benefit a few, we need a system that recognizes the interconnectedness of the challenges facing us and provides a linked framework for solving them. We need cohesive policy-making rather than polarized legislating. We need a framework where the conditions that foster legislative silos are eliminated and the aspirations of the American people can be realized not just through specific policy reforms but through holistic change. 

We need a system that is truly capable of creating a better future for everyone, one not to be theorized or fantasized about but one that is ready for immediate implementation. 

We need a national Grand Bargain. 

The Generation of Disillusionment  

Generation Z is frequently criticized for being excessively online and detached from the outside world. Their lack of political engagement is interpreted as laziness, distraction or youthful ignorance. But silence is not equivalent to disengagement, it can also be a statement. For Generation Z it is a reflection of their disillusionment. 

In a 2023 poll, fewer than 1 in 6 members of Gen Z said they had a “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in crucial institutions like Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court (Gallup & Walton Family Foundation). Only 32% believe that the government “acts in the best interest of people their age” (Partnership for Public Service). Various reporting indicates that the distrust is mostly nonpartisan, with 65% of Gen Z respondents saying neither political party represented their actual interests (Harvard Youth Poll 2024) and 45% reporting dissatisfaction with both sides of the political aisle (Civics & Community Survey by CIRCLE).

Growing up watching their parents argue over bills, their grandparents struggle to retire, and being unable to see a future for themselves in which they will thrive, is it any wonder they lack trust in our current political system? If the past is full of empty promises, then the future is guaranteed to be full of them, too.

The continuation of the existing system will only continue to inspire distrust and disillusionment from Generation Z. It has been broken their whole lives. More and more will realize that politicians are not interested in what they have to say. More and more will withdraw from the political process. Those whose futures we are determining now will have no say in how it is shaped. 

A Not So Bright Future 

They may just be starting out in the world, but already Generation Z is envisioning what their lives will look like in five to ten years and beyond. Many of them are deeply worried about their prospects long term. 

According to a McKinsey & Company study, 60% of Gen Z Americans expressed anxiety about the stability of their futures, citing job automation, lack of opportunities, and rapidly changing skill requirements. A separate WorkingNation / Goodwill Industries report conducted this year found that 31% doubt they will ever retire comfortably and 70% believe they will never own a home. Almost half believe that the American education system has failed to effectively prepare them for a job, as reported in a Schulz Family Foundation survey.

Financial wellbeing is second only to physical wellbeing. Surviving into the future requires being healthy now. By all accounts Generation Z is being failed by the current healthcare system, mainly due to high costs and reactive rather than preventative care. 

Around two-thirds of young adults reported skipping medical appointments in the past year because they couldn’t afford them (Business Insider), 81% admit to postponing routine health checkups or screenings (Forbes) and 18% have had to borrow money to pay for healthcare (Newsweek). Many do not understand what preventative care means or when to seek it, leading to 70% of Gen Z reporting they rely on urgent care or ER visits for treatment (AFLAC Wellness Matters Survey). 

Justified insecurity about their financial futures and the lack of affordable, preventative healthcare has eroded Generation Z’s trust in the system. Many Americans share these sentiments, but for the generation just beginning their adult lives the future seems all but promising.

A Prescription for the Problem 

The “tried and true” system now in place is not working for millions of Americans, most especially those whose futures literally depend on it. And whilst a Grand Bargain approach doesn’t promise instant fixes, it does offer something far more powerful: a way to make real progress again whilst allowing people to feel tangible improvements along the way.

The proposals for economic mobility and growth would strengthen the job market and offer Gen Z Americans a pathway for financial independence and prosperity as they begin the early stages of their professional lives.

Building on that, the framework also addresses housing, pairing income supports like earned income tax credits with reforms to ease restrictive zoning laws and expand access to affordable homes. For Gen Z Americans working in low-wage, entry-level roles, that combination could help make both independence and stability feel within reach again at a time when the average cost of housing has increased 40% in the last decade (In 2013 Dollars), while the nation’s minimum wage has stagnated at $7.25 per hour, set in 2007.

Statistics show that the healthcare crisis for Generation Z is not just theoretical. Its consequences are evident now. Over 56% of Gen Z Americans are classified as overweight or obese (NextWaveGenZ) and nearly one-third of U.S. adolescents have prediabetes (AP News). 

Healthcare under the Grand Bargain framework would work to promote holistic health and prevent illness rather than just treating it. Young people would be taught the benefits of eating nutritiously early in their education and encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle, thereby limiting the risks of health problems down the road. Prevention would allow the healthcare system to become more affordable and accessible, geared towards treating people as human beings rather than just the sum of their ailments. More than that, though, a Grand Bargain approach would make the healthcare system responsive to the people it is supposed to provide for: all Americans, young and old. 

Lessons to Learn 

Politicians and Congress can learn a lesson from Generation Z in how they have reshaped the modern workplace to suit their needs. Studies show that when it comes to work, Gen Z Americans are renegotiating preexisting career models in favor of nontraditional working hours, value-driven employment and hybrid positions that incorporate freelancing and side hustles. Just look at their embrace of the gig economy, which it is estimated more than half of Gen Z Americans earn a living from (Upwork).

Previous generations may not think so, but when it boils down to what matters, Generation Z is not so different from them. They want to succeed in the world, they have personal and professional aspirations, and they want to live in a system that enables them to achieve those aspirations. Most Americans share these goals. Almost all are being deprived of them by the way the Congress is run.

The 21st Century has ushered in a workplace that constantly reshapes itself to meet shifting needs. But while everything else adapts – from markets to technology to culture – Congress remains static. In a world defined by rapid change and systemic instability, clinging to outdated structures isn’t resilience. It is collapse in slow motion. 

Organisms adapt and evolve to survive. Congress must do the same if it is to endure. They must listen to the majority of the American people who agree that the only way forward is to adopt a national Grand Bargain. 

Under a Grand Bargain, Congress will again invest in effecting tangible, lasting progress that promotes the health of the nation and the system as a whole, not just sporadic, temporary solutions that only continue to fester the political winds guiding the moment. 

Not only is this the only way to bring Generation Z back to the ballot box, it is the only way to prevent the system from imploding on itself, from suffocating within the legislative silos of its own creation. 

A Grand Bargain would give every American a reason to vote because voting would have meaning again, realigning Congress’s interests with those of the nation, particularly those whose futures will be shaped by what is done in this moment.

It may be their future, but it should be one that we all want to live in.