By The FirstFormer President and 2024 front-runner Donald Trump penned an op-ed in Newsweek Wednesday, promising to ‘Make America Great Again for Young People.’
From Donald Trump, published by Newsweek:
With less than one year to go until Election Day, the polls show that we are beating Joe Biden by wide margins both nationally and in the battleground states—and young people are a major part of the reason why. A recent NBC News poll found that we are leading Biden 46 percent to 42 percent nationally among voters ages 18 to 34—a clear sign that young Americans are rejecting Joe Biden’s reign of failure, incompetence, and corruption.
During the first Trump administration, we created the strongest and most prosperous economy in the history of the world. Under my leadership, annual incomes went up by more than $6,000, inflation was under 2 percent, and we had gasoline down to $1.87 per gallon. Household net worth reached an all-time high, with the bottom 50 percent of American households seeing a 40 percent increase in their net worth.
The U.S. economy had never been better for young Americans, but for the past three years, young people have borne the heavy costs of the failed Biden agenda: crippling inflation, soaring prices, skyrocketing interest rates, unaffordable housing, and escalating crime. Over the course of the Biden administration, real incomes have gone down by $7,400 per family. Gas prices reached as high as $7 a gallon in some places. Cumulative inflation is 18 percent. And mortgage rates are pushing a brutal seven percent—making home ownership out of reach for countless young Americans.
When I was in office, the 30-year mortgage rate reached a record low of 2.65 percent—and the median-income American family could afford a mortgage. Yet thanks to Biden’s disastrous economy, interest rates have skyrocketed, making home-ownership out of reach for too many Americans, especially young Americans who in previous generations would be looking to start a family. As a result, historically high numbers of young people are delaying marriage and children. According to a recent study, three quarters of Gen Z and Millennial couples believe it’s too expensive to get married today. A 2022 study found that financial concerns are the number one reason why Americans are dropping out of school.
American voters have it within their power to quickly return our country to peace, prosperity, and strength—and no one will benefit from bringing that change to our nation’s capital more than young people. That’s why next November, tens of millions of young Americans will be casting their vote to end Joe Biden’s failed presidency, and to finish the job of making America great again.
Read his full op-ed here.
