By Steve Contorno, Jeff Simon, CNN
Phoenix (CNN) — At 23, Caleb Gasca has checked off several traditional markers of adulthood. He graduated college, found a job in a construction office and got married.
But living with his wife’s parents in San Bernardino County, California, he still feels as though his life has yet to fully begin.
“It’s really irritating that in the area I grew up in, that my family lives, that I can’t afford to live there,” he said in between speakers at AmericaFest, Turning Point USA’s annual gathering of young conservatives.
As a candidate, President Donald Trump harnessed the angst of millions of young Americans like Gasca to win a surprising share of Millennial and Gen Z voters. Their role in his victory was celebrated last December at AmericaFest after Turning Point USA proved instrumental in Trump’s courtship of young people
“The golden age of America is upon us,” Trump declared from the stage.
But this year, the mood inside AmericaFest is far more unsettled. The loss of Charlie Kirk, the charismatic activist who founded Turning Point USA and was killed in September by a gunman, has cast a grim pall over the event and left an unmistakable void in the movement. Meanwhile, many of the promises Trump made to the group last year — including “lower prices,” an end to foreign wars and “generational change” — have yet to materialize. Prices remain high, foreign entanglements are expanding and young people are deeply pessimistic about their future.
In a dozen conversations with CNN, AmericaFest attendees expressed mixed views of Trump’s return to Washington and the world they are just entering. Some remain optimistic that Trump will find a way to improve their lives — that his immigration crackdown will create jobs and lower housing costs, his energy policies will lower gas prices and electric bills and his dismantling of the Department of Education will end the cycle of college debt.
“We’re only one year into this administration,” said Chloe Szot, a 27-year-old California teacher.
Others are less willing to wait.
Gasca told CNN, “Unless something changes, I plan not to vote, at least for president, in 2028.”
A tougher road to adulthood
For many of AmericaFest’s young attendees, the new realities of American life are settling in.
While Szot believes homeownership remains within reach for her generation, it’s with a caveat that previous middle-class generations didn’t always have to consider.
“I think 100% I will be able to buy a house, but it also depends on where you live,” she said.
Luke Phelps is starting a family soon in the Phoenix area, and the 25-year-old said he and his wife expect to continue working. It’s a reality that couples are increasingly confronting — both spouses now work in about half of households in a country where two-thirds of $100,000 earners told The Harris Poll they’re just getting by.
“Nothing’s going to be the same as it always has,” Phelps said. “One income was great. Now you need two, right? Obviously you count it as sad, but every generation deals with something.”
The road to adulthood once followed a familiar path: move out of the parental home, find a spouse, get a job and have kids. Today, fewer than a quarter of Americans had reached all four milestones by age 34, according to the US Census Bureau. Homeownership remains elusive as well. Earlier this year, the National Association of Realtors reported that the median age of a first-time homebuyer had reached 40, the highest on record.
The generation entering adulthood also faces new pressures their parents did not. More teenagers acknowledge they spend too much time on social