Interviews with more than three dozen millennials in Raleigh, a voter-rich battleground within a battleground state, revealed a profound sense of anger and alienation about the 2016 election. This bitter campaign — waged by two candidates who polls say are historically unappealing — has left younger Americans feeling punched in the gut.

“Basically, Trump is everything wrong with America’s culture, and Hillary is everything wrong with our government,” said Janae Petitjean, 19, a Wake Technical Community College student who will be voting for the first time this year.

In 2008, enthusiastic younger people celebrating a moment of social and political change helped usher Barack Obama into the White House and turn North Carolina blue, a feat not seen since Jimmy Carter in 1976. As Obama’s historic presidency draws to a close, the latest crop of young voters here and across the country is in danger of becoming disillusioned just as it comes of political age.

So many of them were drawn to Sanders’ thundering talk of an economy “rigged” for the rich and of the need for a revolution in American politics. Sanders’ loss in the Democratic primary feels to them like a personal defeat that still rankles. In interview after interview, his young followers here expressed the same sentiments: They trusted him. They believed in him. They felt like partners in his mission rather than another demographic to be pandered to.