What Gives Gen Z Hope?

Understanding what motivates Gen Z to keep showing up for their communities and our democracy.

August 12, 2026

If you’ve read our Gen Z research report, or even just followed the headlines about young people lately, you might come away thinking Gen Z is struggling. And in many ways, they are. Our research found that respondents are deeply concerned about the direction of the country, face real economic uncertainty, encounter barriers to voting, and care deeply about the issues shaping their future. Those challenges are real, and they deserve our attention – but they don’t tell the full story. We knew our research would uncover frustrations, uncertainty, and challenges. After all, this is a generation that has come of age through one “unprecedented” moment after another. So alongside questions about the issues weighing on young people’s minds, we asked one that looked toward the future: “What gives you hope about our country?”

HOPELESSNESS

This generation has seen its share of national and global turmoil, and we found that around a quarter of respondents found it difficult to name even a single example of anything that brought them hope for our country. But it’s worth taking a closer look at the respondents we identified as “lacking hope,” because their answers showed that hopelessness doesn’t look the same for everyone.

The “hopeless” responses we saw can more accurately be divided into three categories: true despair, uncertainty, and conditional hopelessness. The first group, those who showed true despair with the state of the country, responded with sentiments like, “Nothing at all, we are doomed.” They rejected the possibility of hope making it into their calculation for the future. These are the most concerning responses, though they were relatively few in number. Others simply responded with, “I don’t know,” which we broadly interpreted as lacking anything that gives them hope. However, it may not be accurate to see these Gen Zers as fully hopeless just because they had nothing hopeful to reach for in that moment.

Perhaps the most intriguing subgroup is those who qualified their hopeless sentiments. One respondent told us, “Too many people in charge have zero actual interest in changing anything.” Another responded, “Not very sure at the moment, nothing is good so far.” Others mentioned the current administration or other frustrations with the world and left the door open to hope if circumstances changed, aligning with other findings from the field. We should be careful not to oversimplify this group. While many said they lacked hope when they took the survey, they also shared what it would take for that hope to be restored.

Traditional journalism hasn’t been replaced. What’s changed is the way Gen Z consumes it. The nightly broadcast and the morning paper have largely given way to digital formats. And rather than relying on a single news organization to both alert and inform them, many young Americans first hear about stories on social media and then turn to established outlets to verify information, add context, compare reporting, and learn more. As one respondent put it, “Typically [I] first hear about it on social media [then] go to confirmed sources.” And when it comes to events closer to home, local news continues to serve as an important source for verifying information. Traditional journalism is still an essential part of how Gen Zers make sense of what they’re seeing online — especially because their feeds are more fragmented than ever.

HOPE

Our research revealed that 62% of respondents believed our country is on the wrong track. We also found that 59% of respondents said they often or sometimes struggle financially to meet their basic needs. Yet, despite these struggles and doubts, more than 70% of respondents were able to offer something that brought them hope about our country. Gen Z identified a broad range of things that brought them hope, including:

1. Other members of their generation (responses like “my generation” and “young people”)
2. Community activism (responses like “resistance,” “mutual aid,” “civic action,” and events like protests that occurred in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles)
3. Specific political leaders and movements (responses like President Trump, the MAGA movement, and New York City Mayor Mamdani)
4. Institutional robustness and safeguards (responses like “the Constitution,” “impeachment,” “upcoming elections,” “term limits,” and “checks and balances”)
5. God, faith, and religion

At first glance, these categories may seem unrelated, but together they tell a clear story — Gen Z’s greatest source of hope is other people. Whether it’s someone in their community, a leader they admire, or a creator they follow online, young people are inspired by those they see making a positive difference in the world.

These hopeful perspectives align with one of the report’s clearest findings: Gen Z wants to take action. An overwhelming majority of respondents said they are willing to vote, talk about important issues with friends and family, and sign petitions — showing that they’re ready to turn their hopes into meaningful action. This finding also aligns with a growing body of research on Gen Z.

While this generation faces significant challenges — including concerns about the country’s direction and their own future — they haven’t lost their capacity for hope. Through our national survey and listening tour, we’re working to better understand what inspires young people — and how we can help turn their hopes for the future into sustained action.

As we continue listening to Gen Z voices across the country, we’ll keep sharing what we learn about the experiences, priorities, and perspectives shaping the next generation of civic engagement.