Nationwide, Gen Z concerned about inflation, Supreme Court

Generation Z, and adults on the whole, remain concerned about inflation, disapprove of the U.S. Supreme Court as well as President Joe Biden, and feel the outcome of the war between Israel and Hamas is important.

Fifty-three percent of those sampled ages 18-29, those defined as Gen Z, said inflation has impacted major spending decisions in the past year. The nationwide analysis was provided by the High Point University Poll, getting response May 22-29 with sampling error of +/- 3.6% for the 800 in Generation Z and +/- 3.1% for all 1,000 total adults responding.

Results were released Friday; the poll was conducted before two significant Supreme Court decisions on mifepristone and bump stocks for guns.

In a release, Dr. Dave Tofanelli, associate dean of the university’s Earl N. Phillips School of Business said, “HPU’s poll supports recent studies that suggest Generation Z are more sensitive to changes in the economy.

“Children of the digital age, Generation Z has honed the skill of sifting through vast amounts of data, which along with their awareness of inflationary changes has impacted their buying decisions,” he said.

In addition to 53% saying spending decisions have been impacted “a lot” by inflation, 36% of Generation Z said “some” with only 8% saying “not much at all” and 3% unsure. For important issues, inflation grabbed 87% (67% very important, 20% somewhat important) and was second only to 88% each for school safety (70% very important, 18% somewhat important) and health care in general (67% very important, 21% somewhat important).

For the full field of respondents, 91% said the important issues are inflation (71% very important, 20% somewhat important) and national security (68% very important, 23% somewhat important).

The Supreme Court's opinion was negative, with disapproval ratings of 50% among Gen Z and 48% among all adults. The approval ratings were 31% among Gen Z and 36% among all adults.

The question about Biden's approval generated 561 responses for Gen Z (52% disapprove, 35% approve) and 850 for all adults (50% disapprove, 42% disapprove).

For all adults and Gen Z, the war between Israel and Hamas registered low on total importance for Washington policymakers to deal with, 17 topics – though not by great percentages – ahead of it for Gen Z and 18 ahead of it for all adults.

Specifically, when asked how important the outcome is to U.S. interests, major and minor importance was 68% for Gen Z (42% major, 26% minor) and 71% for all adults (48% major, 23% minor).

Given multiple choice descriptions that “best reflect the relationship” between the United States and Israel, 28% of Gen Z and 25% of all adults were unsure. For Gen Z, 25% said an ally, 21% said necessary partner, 12% said rival, and 14% said adversary. For all respondents, 34% said an ally, 25% said a necessary partner, 6% said rival, and 9% said adversary.