Panetta Institute survey shows college students are disappointed in state of the country

College students are continuing to lose faith in the government, according to a new survey done by the Panetta Institute for Public Policy.

The 24th Youth Civic Engagement Survey showed college students’ trust in leadership and hope for the future of the country continues to reach historic lows, with 71% of students saying they believe the country is on the wrong track.

“I think (the results) reflect a lot of the frustration of the American people,” said Leon Panetta, chairman of the institute and former secretary of defense. “There’s concern about the dysfunction in Washington, (students) are not attracted to the presidential candidates and they just generally feel that the country is headed on the wrong track.”

Panetta and his wife Sylvia founded the institute in 1997, which serves the entire CSU system and is located on Cal State Monterey Bay’s campus. The institute offers various opportunities for students to study and work in government and public policy.

The institute also hosts an annual Panetta Lecture Series which brings together political leaders and policy experts to discuss current national and international events. This year’s series focused on challenges to democracy.

The institute commissions this survey from Hart Research every year, in order to aid the institute’s curriculum development. This year, Hart Research surveyed 803 students at four-year colleges throughout the country in online interviews from May 3-12.

In the wake of campus protests throughout the country against the Israel-Hamas war, this year’s survey provided unique insights into college students’ stance on international matters.

According to the survey, 33% of students said colleges were not doing enough to protect students who felt threatened by the protests, while 30% believed colleges were not doing enough to protect freedom of speech on campuses.

“The protests reflected a lot of what we’re seeing in the numbers in our poll, in that students obviously are not pleased about the war in the Middle East, but also are not pleased at all with the direction of the government,” said Panetta.

46% of students now believe the problems facing their generation will be international in scope, up 7% from last year’s poll. About half of the students surveyed said the country should be involved in foreign affairs, but not take a “leadership role.”

In terms of this year’s presidential election, Panetta said he is “worried about it because these polls are showing that we’re looking at the lowest turnout we’ve ever seen in an election and, very frankly, the young vote has been very important in electing the right people to office.”

Only 54% of college students say they are likely to vote in this year’s presidential election. Compared with 2020, more students say they are not likely to get involved with a campaign. (Courtesy of The Panetta Institute for Public Policy)

The survey shows students’ approval rating of President Biden has fallen to 40%, compared to 71% in 2021. Biden’s personal ratings are slightly higher than Republican nominee Donald Trump, whose ratings are 28% positive and 61% negative.

Biden’s lead against Trump has also fallen 16 points since 2020, and now shows the president leading by a margin of 51% amongst college students. However, the survey shows that 34% of students believe Trump is better suited at dealing with the national debt, and 41% believe Trump would better handle the economy, an issue that college students are widely concerned with.

The top issues for students were the cost of living (44%) and the economy (43%), according to the survey. Healthcare, college affordability, abortion and climate change were also important to students.

“When you put all of that together, it’s a message to our elected leaders that they’ve got to do more to address these issues,” said Panetta.

According to Panetta, there could still be changes made in the next six months before the election to spur voter turnout.

“The debates could tell us a lot about the candidates. If we are able to achieve a ceasefire in the Middle East, that hopefully brings the hostages home and makes a possibility of concluding that war real, if inflation continues to come down … those things could have an impact on young people realizing they have a responsibility to our democracy to participate,” said Panetta

The survey showed student use of artificial intelligence has gone up 14 points since last year’s survey, with 74% of students now reporting having used a chatbot.

Panetta said this increase tells him “that (students) are way ahead of the general public in trying to determine if AI is helpful. The concern I have is there is still a lot of concern about the accuracy of AI.”

“There’s a part of me that’s hopeful that ultimately (college students) will realize their vote is essential to what happens to our democracy. I’m hoping it’s not a lost generation,” said Panetta.  “My hope is that ultimately everyone, the rest of the country included, wakes up to the fact that our democracy is in trouble. It’s not encouraging but at the same time it’s a message we have to listen to.”