Young voters of color focused on cost of living and taxing the rich, new poll shows

California’s affordability crisis is coming to a head, as Gen Z and millennials consistently cite a high cost of living as one of the issues most negatively impacting their lives, a new survey shows.

Besides cost of living, housing costs/affordability and homelessness were also top of mind for voters, a pattern that has remained consistent over the past five years, according to the survey conducted by political research firm Latino Decisions.  

Across the board, there was a clear racial and gender divide when it came to key political attitudes.

When asked if California is on the wrong track, 55% of Latinos said “yes,” followed by 54% of Black voters and 47% of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI). On the other hand, only 41% of young white voters agreed with the statement.

The survey showed widespread support among young voters for increased taxes on the richest individuals and corporations in the state.

When asked about a tax on big corporations, 85% of respondents said they would support it. Every racial and ethnic group also overwhelmingly said they would support taxing the wealthiest individuals in the state.

“Young people are not asking for tax cuts for everyone in California, they want to see corporations and billionaires paying their fair share … they're motivated to turn out in order to make that a reality,” Latino Decisions senior analyst Andrew Proctor said during a Tuesday press briefing.

Voters were also asked if they feel they will be better or worse off by President Donald Trump’s policies. Latino voters once again overwhelmingly said they would be worse off, with only 22% saying they would be better off as a result.

Half of the Black and AAPI voters responded they would be worse off. Young White Californians were the only group where the majority, 46%, said they feel they will be better off with the administration’s policies.

Young women of color (24% AAPI, 22% Black and 26% Latina) showed up as the group most motivated to vote in order to curb the Trump administration’s agenda. On the opposite end, only 8% of white female voters cited stopping the Trump administration as motivation to vote in the upcoming election.

According to Proctor, political parties should increasingly be engaging with young voters of color as these groups are showing up as the most willing to be mobilized.

What it means for the midterm election

The survey furthermore showed 42% of voters from Los Angeles do not trust politicians. There was also a general belief among all voters that despite high political engagement, not much changes.

“Politicians, campaigns and organizations need to get creative and come up with solutions… there is a perception that that's just not happening in California and other parts of the country,” Proctor said. “Political imagination feels really absent for a lot of young people.”

Despite typically being seen as a politically unmotivated group, the survey’s responses show quite the opposite.

“The story isn't that young voters don’t care, it’s that too often politics really hasn't been listening to this set of voters,” said Saa’un Bell, executive vice president of Power California, a statewide organization aimed at engaging young people of color in systems of government. “The big question facing young Californians isn’t whether they love the state, it’s where they can afford to live in it.”

The survey polled roughly 1,500 young Californians between the ages of 18 and 30 and across various racial and ethnic groups. The majority of respondents resided in some of the regions with the highest cost of living, including Los Angeles, the Central Valley and the Bay Area.

Paying attention to the needs of young voters now will prove essential to political campaigns since by 2028, Gen Z and millennials will make up over half of the country’s voting population.

“These communities also represent a growing untapped potential,” Bell said, adding that ignoring young voters is “a losing strategy” in 2026.