Maybe, observers have speculated, the problem is broken promises. People expected action on the climate, on policing, on voting rights. So far, they haven’t gotten it, and the planet creeps ever closer to burning up. Young folks are society’s most capable at dreaming big — but they’re less proficient in anticipating that these dreams might not come true.

Yet the groups most likely to show declines in their approval of a president, pollsters say, are the groups paying the least attention. Those whose inboxes teem with newsletters on Capitol Hill happenings usually are committed enough to a team that they won’t change their minds. And as it turns out, young people feel decreasingly loyal to political parties.

So maybe young people feel bad about the president because they just feel bad. Back during the thick of the pandemic, stimulus checks padded early professionals’ wallets, and prices stayed steady while wages rose. This spring, inflation has started to soar, free money is no more and, somehow, covid still hasn’t totally split town. Plus, there’s word students might soon have to start paying off their debt again.