According to a 2024 study of 1,500 adolescents and young adults by the UCLA Center for Scholars and Storytellers, titled “The American Dream Study,” out in January 2025 before President Trump entered the White House, the biggest influence in how they view the “American Dream” comes from social media (50.4%), movies (8.1%), TV shows (14%), news (8.1%), books (3.7%), and podcasts (3.5%). And when asked whose lifestyle inspires them and who they most want to be like, President Trump was one of the top two; the other was Elon Musk.
“Young people have been softening in their commitment to the Democrats, but they’ve been softening in their commitment to the Republicans as well,” said sociologist Dr. Neil Gross of Colby College. “In place of these loyalties a growing number say they are independents.” In essence, their views are not as determined by the influence of conventional political parties as was the case in the past.
Over the years, Trump’s public approval has had its ups and downs. In April 2025, a poll from Economist/YouGov found his approval rating going from +5 to -29 points among voters under 30 since his inauguration. These numbers largely reflect negative reactions to Administration policies, but also perhaps dissatisfaction with his words and actions in public.
While his approval rating may have dropped from time to time, it has not diminished his star quality in virtually all forms of media or his impact on how youth perceive what may be acceptable behavior.
In fact, a study made some time ago, based on observations made during Trump’s first presidential term (it was published in 2020), the respected Society of Research on Adolescence found that adolescents’ attitudes were “informed by knowledge of the president’s leadership attributes, political views and policies, and their own experiences.”
For most young people, parents typically set the moral table and delineate proper behavior, which is complemented by what is learned in school, from family members, and in places of worship. This has been lessened as a result of extensive and easy access to the media. It serves a master communicator like Donald J. Trump well, who exerts enormous influence as a larger-than-life figure.
President Trump’s Public Persona: A good role model?
In fairness, President Trump sets a good example by not drinking alcohol, smoking, or taking drugs. He has also shown himself to be a loyal and supportive family man — for the most part.
However, both before and after getting elected for the second time, he has consciously eroded implicit boundaries between propriety and profanity.
Trump has always been more prone than any of his predecessors in the White House to publicly use what heretofore were called “dirty words,” ones not to be used either in front of or by a young person. And there are those who would describe Trump by the three Bs, “Boasting, Belittling, and Bullying.”
Prior to Trump’s second term, he disparaged many federal programs and policies addressing racial equity, ethnicity, race, and gender — the so-called “diversity, equity ,and inclusion” or D.E.I. policies that are currently politically dividing America.
From the first day he stepped into the White House, he has issued a flurry of Executive Orders or instructions that roll back federal support for such efforts, saying his goal is for the government to defend women against “gender ideology extremism” by reversing “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex.” He has also called for the systematic termination of D.E.I. programs and “of all discriminatory programs in the government, including in federal employment practices.”
For instance, Trump has instructed Vice President J.D. Vance to seek to remove “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.
His instruction criticizes the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 near the White House, the Women’s History Museum, which is in development, and the American Art Museum. We need these museums for our collective memory, to preserve our cultural heritage, and provide unique public spaces to educate young and old, citizens and visitors.
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Other education venues have been the target of “my way or the highway.” He is forcing American universities, first Columbia, then Cornell, and Northwestern, to accept his terms of losing federal grants, and while the same was tried with Harvard, it has refused to buckle under. He is now requesting the Internal Revenue Service to revoke its non-profit status to ratchet up the pressure, a lawsuit in the making.
Another example is that of the U.S. Department of Education beginning administrative proceedings to strip the State of Maine’s federal K-12 education funding because its governor is not willing to adopt the administration’s approach to dealing with gender-affirming polices. These are two instances designed to control higher education and state government academic content through federal fiat. If allowed, there will be consequences for how future generations understand and view what they learn, and what constitutes educational freedom.
These are examples of concrete actions taken to alter the view of widely accepted inclusive policies, underlying the attitudes young people should embrace as part of an equality agenda.
No doubt, some will argue that focusing on these aspects is distorted, does not reflect Trump’s strengths and steadfastness in his “America First” agenda, and is not “fair and balanced.” Maybe. But, as described above, his public record over an extended period of time makes it clear who he is.
Finally, it is worth remembering that for over a century, American presidents, while far from perfect in their standing on high moral ground, generally did not publicly undermine principles of desirable personal behavior or core values for our young people or for ourselves.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: President Donald Trump greets members of the Navy Midshipmen football team from the U.S. Naval Academy, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in the State Dining Room of the White House. Cover Photo Credit: White House / Daniel Torok.
