Featured March 17, 2026 Partnership for Public Service surveys offer insights into how young adults see the federal government, federal cuts and civil servants Back to Blog Women and young adults are more concerned about the direction of the federal government than their counterparts Date April 2, 2026 Authors Paul Hitlin Tags Government Effectiveness Through several surveys conducted during the past year, the Partnership for Public Service has consistently found that the majority of Americans are opposed to the changes being made to the federal government by the Trump administration. As might be expected, the political identity of Americans plays a role in how people view the direction. Republicans are consistently more favorable than Democrats and independents. In October, 59% of Republicans said the federal government was headed in the “right direction” compared with just 5% of Democrats and 9% of independents. These types of results—especially during an era of tremendous partisanship—make it easy to draw a simplified conclusion that Republicans are going to support the Trump administration’s changes while Democrats will be opposed. However, the truth is more complex. By looking deeper into the results, other demographic patterns beyond partisan affiliations become clear. Specifically, women are more concerned about the path of the federal government than men, and young adults are more concerned than older adults. While no group is homogenous, this breakdown of opinions—especially among Republicans and independents—suggest that there are other considerations influencing people’s views of government beyond their political affiliation. Differences by gender About one-third of men (31%) said the management of the federal government was headed in the “right direction” compared with just 19% of women. Women were slightly more likely than men to say the government was going in the “wrong direction” (64% to 58%). They were also more likely to respond they were unsure or skip the question (16% to 11%). Even though more men are Republicans than women, that fact alone does not fully explain the differences by gender. When examining how men and women compare within each political affiliation, there is important variation among self-described Republicans and independents. Of Republicans, more men (64%) said the management of the government is moving positively than women (52%). Roughly one-fifth of each group said the management is moving in the wrong direction. But Republican women were more likely to say they “don’t know” which direction the government is going or skip the question (28%) than Republican men (13%). A similar pattern can be found among self-described independents. While only a small percentage of independent men (15%) said the government was headed in the right direction, an even a smaller portion of independent women (1%) said the same thing. The same percentage of independent women and men said the government was moving in the wrong direction (68%). However, more independent women indicated they were unsure or did not give an answer (31%) than independent men (17%). Gender differences among self-described Democrats were not as significant. Differences by age The differences by specific age groups were even more dramatic. Young adults—those ages 18 to 29—were less positive about the direction of the government than all older age groups. This finding aligns with other Partnership research showing overall dissatisfaction of the government by young adults. Only 12% of people ages 18 to 29 said the government was going in the “right direction” with 70% saying it was headed in the “wrong direction.” By contrast, those ages 60 and over were almost three times as likely to be positive as 34% said the government was moving in a positive direction. Republicans were especially divided by age groups. Just 33% of young Republicans favored the direction of the government compared with 58% of those ages 30 to 44, 57% of those ages 45 to 59, and 71% of those ages 60 and over. Although there were small differences among age groups for Democrats and independents, they were not nearly as stark as those among Republicans. The fact that women and young adults are less supportive of the government’s direction than other groups suggests that people in those groups are prioritizing (or at least considering) factors beyond political loyalties. It may be that some groups are impacted more by the ongoing cuts to programs and services, or that various groups have different perspectives on the role of government, the current political climate or the effectiveness of reforms. In the coming months, the Partnership will continue to study public opinion to see if these differences persist. We will also work to better understand what Americans want from their government and their views of the current administration’s efforts to reshape many of its priorities. Paul Hitlin manages research for the Partnership's Center for Presidential Transition and also helps lead the Partnership's research on public trust of the federal government.
