Young Voters Are Consumed by Desperation—and Nihilism. Here's How Biden Can Reach Them | Opinion

President Biden is touting the strength of America's post-pandemic economic recovery, and he's right: Wages are up, unemployment is down, and inflation is finally coming under control. But as pollsters perpetually point out, the president is not getting credit in the polls. Working-class voters—particularly young people in middle American communities like those I represented in northeast Ohio—are particularly despondent. The anger isn't new—its roots run to before even the Great Recession. But the $10,000 question is why President's Biden's success hasn't yet won over middle America's minds and hearts?

The problem stems primarily from the way we understand voter attitudes. The old question—"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"—simply doesn't apply anymore. That's because working class voters are more focused on the reality that they're so much worse off than their parents and grandparents were at the same age. Many young people have come to embrace "financial nihilism": The prospect of upward mobility is so remote and the chance of achieving the American Dream so far-fetched that the tools previous generations used to lever up their prospects appear nothing less than preposterous. To young people, it feels like it's better to invest in crypto or make parlay bets on FanDuel than try to take advantage of Pell Grants and 401ks that aren't sufficient to their financial challenges.

These aren't problems any president would be able to solve in a single term—because the underlying challenges have developed over decades. Through the last quarter century, housing supply has been so severely constricted that starter homes are now out of reach for young people wanting to put down roots. When the Boomers turned 25, their generation had garnered 20 percent of the nation's household wealth—the Millennials, by contrast, boast only 5 percent. For that reason, the nation's young working class simply can't maintain their place on the socio-economic ladder, let alone climb it. And they're reacting, understandably, with a combination of rage and disaffection.

To be fair, the Biden administration has already made crucial down payments on a brighter working-class future. The bipartisan infrastructure plan, massive investments in clean energy, and elements of a new industrial policy designed to re-shore manufacturing will eventually boost incomes and lower costs for those who feel left behind. But there's much more Washington can do. And while the effects won't flower before November, putting them at the heart of the Democrats' agenda would signal to voters that the president deserves their support.

What does that mean specifically? First, Washington should embrace a policy of parity in national investment for college and non-college youth. Many among tomorrow's working class will undoubtedly need education beyond what's offered in highs school—but they would be better served by apprentice and job training programs than traditional four-year programs. Welders, teachers, and computer programmers alike should not feel compelled to assume the increasingly onerous debt that comes with a liberal arts degree.

Second, in contravention of its recent decision to limit the export of liquified natural gas, the White House should pivot to an all-hands-on-deck approach to powering our economy, ensuring that the wildly successful transition to clean energy—an under-discussed Democratic accomplishment—is not entirely reliant on wind and solar technology. The industries of tomorrow will grow most expeditiously if energy policy plots a deliberate and steady march across the bridge to a carbon-free future. Failing to push persistently forward risks a climate catastrophe—but chaos and uncertainty will not only undermine the transition, they will alienate the working-class voters.

Third, Washington should tackle housing costs at its root, namely the lack of sufficient supply. Today, reformers focused on high rents and onerous mortgages too often focus on ways to extend and expand various subsidies. But, as the emergence of financial nihilism suggests, marginal improvements simply won't suffice. What America needs is to build more homes, and those new houses and apartments will only be built if Washington, at long last, takes aim at the exclusionary zoning rules that too often prevent builders from bringing new, affordable homes online.

There's more. The Biden administration should fight hospital consolidation that drive up insurance premiums, get control of the illegal immigration driving down wages in some sectors, and eliminate the junk fees the president highlighted in the State of the Union.

But to combat financial nihilism, Democrats need to connect all these ideas to a simple and accessible narrative. Working-class voters who believe that Washington is both uncaring and incapable need to be convinced that Democrats are passionate about and actually have a realistic plan for assisting them in their climb up the socio-economic ladder.

At root, the President's political challenge today isn't to convince voters that the economy has improved since his inauguration, but that ordinary people can fundamentally succeed by working hard and following the rules—more so now than before he became president. That's a tall order—but for Democrats wanting to win back the working class, there's simply no other way.

Tim Ryan is President of We The People Action Fund" and "Senior Advisor, Progressive Policy Institute's Campaign for Working Americans.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.