OUR NEW PRIME MINISTER HAS THE CHANCE TO CREATE A NEW CONTRACT WITH BRITAIN’S YOUNG PEOPLE
John Smith Centre August 4, 2026
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2026
This is down from 63% from 2025, one of the starkest developments over the past 12 months. The main factors are financial – financial worries are the top of young people’s list of personal concerns (45%).
And only 16% fee like school has equipped them to make political decisions. Nevertheless, almost three quarters (73%) engaged in at least one political or community action of the past year.
Only 38% would do so under some circumstances. They also believe the UK has some responsibility to intervene overseas, particularly in cases of human rights abuses (average rating 6.7/10).
In just one year, optimism about surpassing their parents’ living standards has fallen from 63% to 36%, while the share expecting to be worse off has more than doubled. Housing, job insecurity and cost of living pressures sit at the heart of this shift.
Even those who feel optimistic about their personal lives often describe their wider future as precarious. Young people consistently compare their prospects with previous generations—single-income mortgages, secure jobs and affordable housing—and find the gap impossible to ignore. These findings point to a deepening generational inequality that cuts across education, income and political identity.
» Read more about our tracker questions in the report, starting page 16.
Agreement with the statement ‘I would prefer to live in a dictatorship’ has fallen sharply from 27% to 17%, while strong support for core democratic rights remains high.
Yet this commitment is paired with frustration: many feel democracy is ‘in trouble’ and that politicians do not listen to young people. Qualitative comments reveal a generation that values democratic freedoms but is increasingly disillusioned with how politics is practised. They want fairness, responsiveness and genuine accountability—not authoritarian alternatives. The challenge for policymakers is clear: rebuild trust in political institutions before disengagement hardens into detachment.
» Read more about our tracker questions in the report, starting page 16.
Given a list of things that might worry them, the top three were ‘Financial worries’, ‘Job insecurity or unemployment’ and ‘Housing instability’. And given a list of things that might make them feel happier or more satisfied, young people ranked ‘Higher wages or financial stability’ first and ‘Affordable housing’ second. ‘Improved job security’ is ranked fifth. These bread-and-butter issues are ranked far higher than options relating to young people’s social life, such as having a larger friend group or a different circle of
friends. For young people earning less than £35,000 a year, more than half say financial worries are one of the things that concern them the most in their lives.
For example, when placing themselves on the political spectrum, women chose ‘Left’ 20% of the time compared to men’s 13%. In contrast, men chose ‘Right’ 26% of the time, compared to women’s 15%. However, the majority of both genders put themselves in the centre: 51% of men and 43% of women.
Asked to rank the most important issues in the UK just now, young people put ‘Inflation and the cost of living’ top. 39% of young people rank it as a top five issue, the largest figure. That compares to just 10% who consider the UK’s relationship with Europe or LGBTQ+ issue as a top five issue, or the 9% who rank defence and security as equally important.
Compared to last year’s polling evidence, young people are getting more – not less – worried about their financial plight and are fast losing faith in the notion that they will ever be better off than their parents’ generation. In focus groups and interviews, these fears spilled over into despair and anger at the state of a political system which is blamed for failing to give young people opportunities.
» Read more about young people’s views on their financial situation in the report, starting page 34.
Asked to rank the biggest threats of artificial intelligence from a list of eight, 26% put ‘Loss of jobs’ first and 55% rank it as a top three concern, higher than all other categories. The biggest benefit young people identify is AI’s potential to support learning. 21% rank it as the number one benefit and a total of 53% of respondents rank it in the top three.
Focus groups and interviews also suggest that young people are deeply concerned about the impact of AI on their working lives and job prospects. Other interviewees said that while there may be benefits to AI, the uncertainty over its impact only adds to their sense of apprehension about the future.
As to how AI should be used, young people come out strongly against permitting AI to generate sexually explicit content of real adults without their consent and ‘undressed’ images of real adults without their consent. They are also opposed to the idea of AI providing romantic companionship (19% agree/64% disgaree). They agree AI should be used for practical tasks like workout plans and meal planning and help with academic work. Young people told us that they use AI for educational purposes and when looking for advice. They believe responsibility for regulating its use should be shared between government, individuals, and companies.
» Read more about young people’s views on generative AI in the report, starting page 42.
61% regularly use sites such as TikTok, Instagram and X as a source of information compared to 16% who buy a newspaper. YouTube is used as a source of information by more young people than TV news.
However, focus groups and interviews showed that young people are conflicted about their reliance on social media with many worrying about the effect it has on their mental state. Some spoke about the impact of living in a state of constant readiness for traumatic and upsetting content. And even though it is followed for hours a day by most young people, many of those we spoke to express a view that social media can’t be trusted, especially in an AI world of fake ‘bots’.
The most trusted news source among young people in the UK is the BBC; 50% say it is trustworthy compared to 26% who disagree. As in last year’s poll, young people back a social media ban for under 16s, with 62% in favour compared to 35% opposed.
» Read more about young people’s views on media & information in the report, starting page 48.
Instead, they generally see a supportive role for the UK in the world, with a majority thinking that it has a responsibility to intervene to help countries facing a range of challenging situations (giving an average answer of six on a 0–10 intervention scale). And two thirds are willing to at least consider the UK’s making reparations to former colonies (28% say should, 38% say maybe). Generally speaking, then, young people are averse to war but outwards looking in their views of the UK’s responsibilities on the global stage.
Among young people, getting older is associated with increasing scepticism about the UK’s responsibility to intervene to support other countries or make reparations. University education is also associated with greater willingness take up arms for Britain (45% of degree holders would be willing to fight under some circumstances, compared to 35% of those with qualifications below degree level) but only minor changes in views on intervention overseas and reparations to former colonies.
Finally, partisan divides on these issues are clear. Supporters of Reform UK are most willing to fight for Britain (50% would under some circumstances) but least likely to see a responsibility to intervene overseas (average of 5.7 on a 0–10 scale) or make reparations (18% oppose doing so). Supporters of the Green Party hold the opposite inclinations on these questions (28% willing to fight for Britain under some circumstances, average of 6.7 on the intervention scale, 37% support reparations), with supporters of the other UK-wide parties sandwiched between the challenger parties on left and right. These differences, however, exist within young people’s overall aversion to taking up arms for Britain, and their prevailing view of a supportive role for the UK on the global stage.
» Read more about young people’s views on geopolitics & defence in the report, starting page 54.
They are most positive about international students and least positive about asylum seekers but, on average, there is no group that they have a negative view of. They are also unified on the importance of civic components of Britishness. For young people, being British is something that can be achieved through respect for institutions and laws (selected by 85%), speaking English (85%), and obtaining citizenship (76%). They are more divided on the ethnic components and reject Christian faith (69% do so) as an important part of Britishness.
Among young people, getting older is associated with declining positivity about the impact of immigration on communities (falling from 58% with a positive view among 16–17-year-olds to 50% among older young people), and about specific groups of immigrants (from an average answer of 7.1 among 16–17-yearolds to 6 among 25–29-year-olds). It is also linked to a growing sense that non-civic components of Britishness matter (e.g., having British ancestry is selected as important by 23% of 16–17-year-olds and by 53% of 25–29-year-olds). Greater education is associated with more positive views of immigration, and education is unrelated to views of Britishness.
Most stark are political divides on these issues. Supporters of Reform UK are least positive about the impact of immigration (30% say it has had a positive impact) and specific groups of immigrants (average feeling of 4.8 on a 0–10 scale), and most likely to rate non-civic components of Britishness as important (e.g., 69% say having British ancestry is important). On the other side, Green Party supporters are inclined in the opposite direction (67% say immigration has had a positive impact; average feeling of 7.5 towards immigrants on 0–10 positivity scale; 27% rate British ancestry as important for Britishness). The supporters of other UK-wide parties fall between these two challenger parties. These divides, however, fall within a general positivity toward immigration and civic conception of Britishness.
» Read more about young people’s views on migration & identity in the report, starting page 62.
They also believe that voting matters: more than half (53%) agree that their vote can help shape the future of the UK. However, many young people say they are deterred from actively getting involved in politics or civic life due to a number of factors: a lack of trust in politicians, a feeling that politicians don’t listen to young people, and the sheer pressure of time being among them.
Nearly alf of young people also say they hold back from talking about their political views for fear of the reaction of other people. Another reason why young people choose not to get involved is a lack of understanding. In focus groups, some young people said they would have liked to have been taught more about the political system in school. In our poll, only a small minority (16%) say that school has given them adequate preparation for making political decisions as an adult.
Cite as follows:
Loose, E. et al. (2026) UK Youth Poll 2026. Documentation. John Smith Centre, University of Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.382492). https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/382492/
