“We’re So Back”

Daniel A. Cox January 9, 2025

There are moments during an interview when you know you have just heard something important. This happened during a recent interview with a student at the University of Texas. My colleague, Kelsey, asked Brad* how he was feeling about the 2024 election results: “Among my peer group, there’s a saying, and the saying is, we’re Continue Reading →

Our Most Intriguing and Startling Survey Findings of 2024

Daniel A. Cox December 26, 2024

Every year, I dedicate the last newsletter to showcasing some of the most intriguing charts and figures from our surveys. It’s a great opportunity to review all the work that was done over the past 12 months, and in some cases, revisit research that I’ve completely forgotten about. A year is a long time! The Continue Reading →

The Democratic Party’s Identity Crisis

Daniel A. Cox December 12, 2024

In any presidential election, one candidate receives too much personal credit for their victory and the other far too much blame for their defeat. This year, Kamala Harris has largely been spared the recriminations that often follow losing candidates. Biden—whose late exit and dismal job approval rating certainly handicapped Harris—has faced considerable and largely deserved Continue Reading →

Newsletter:Newsletter

Why Fear Governs So Many of the Choices Single Young Women Make

Daniel A. Cox November 27, 2024

Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election decisively. He improved among most voting groups. But there is one group of voters who still roundly rejected him—single young women—even as their male peers moved decidedly in his direction. Even as the country shifted toward Trump—including a 10-point shift among single young men—single young women remained firmly Continue Reading →

What Trump’s Victory Means for America

Daniel A. Cox November 14, 2024

In the 2024 election, Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris by sweeping all seven swing states. He won the popular vote as well, but by a relatively slim margin. When all the votes are counted (get it together California!) his margin is predicted to be only 1.5 points. For months the polls told us we were in Continue Reading →

2024 Election Edition: Young Men Swing Toward Trump

Daniel A. Cox November 7, 2024

Trump received unparalleled support from young men in this election. Declining social capital may be to blame. Continue Reading →

What Trump Has Done to Our Politics

Daniel A. Cox October 31, 2024

Watching the clips from Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, what struck me more than anything else is how utterly unrecognizable the Republican Party has become under Trump. A party that once stressed the importance of honesty and integrity is gone. The rally speakers engaged in unrestrained vitriol and bigotry.  It’s not all happening on stage Continue Reading →

“We Don’t Feel Safe, Heard, or Understood.”

Daniel A. Cox October 17, 2024

A few weeks ago, I went to Philadelphia, PA to conduct a series of focus groups with young men and women. We discussed a variety of subjects including dating, relationships, infidelity, pornography and the 2024 U.S. election. As part of this research, we teamed up with The Washington Post to give participants the opportunity to Continue Reading →

The Pornography Problem

Daniel A. Cox October 3, 2024

Americans are being inundated with explicit content. AI promises to worsen the issue. Continue Reading →

What Taylor Swift’s Endorsement Tells Us About the Youth Gender Gap

Daniel A. Cox, Kelsey Eyre Hammond September 19, 2024

Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris was hardly unexpected. After all, Swift endorsed Biden over Trump just four years earlier. Yet, her latest announcement set off a cascade of commentary. It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to express his displeasure in a Truth Social post declaring: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” As often happens, Trump Continue Reading →

Generation Uncoupled

Generation Uncoupled book

Generation Uncoupled: America's New Gender Divide and the Crisis of Human Connection

Buy Now

Survey Reports

Daniel A. Cox
July 23, 2026

A Digital Divide in American Adolescence: Gender, Class, and the New Teenage Experience

If teenage years once represented a time of rebellion, teenagers’ lives today are marked less by pushing boundaries and more by building their own. Many teenage experiences are less common than they once were—dating, working a part-time job, and experimenting with drugs and alcohol are less common experiences. The 2026 American Teenagers Survey from the

Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields
April 27, 2026

Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging

Acknowledgment The American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life is grateful to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for its generous support of this research. As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before. Since