Only one question: why are they unwilling? Is it that hard? They won't be killed or tortured, like in Belarus or Russia, then why not?
Whenever I talk to my young friends about Social Security's trust running dry in a decade they just handwave it away with stuff like: the government will just print more money or blame jeff bezos
Young people have no power because we largely are in the renter and working classes; while the home and business owners fight against every mention of renter protections, increased housing, worker protections, etc.
Not to mention we see the world we are growing up into is quickly becoming more and more inhabitable while living with the truth that the fossil fuel industry has been lying about climate change for 50 years.
Who are the populists you’re talking about? I can only think of Bernie and Yang. Trump isn’t a populist.
We aren’t ignorant either. We are a product of the social media machine and a decreasing faith in educational institutions. I think a lot of people are too scared of the future so they don’t think about it. Blaming an abstract for political problems has been a thing for long as politics as been around.
It seems like a strange thing to have powerless concerns about as voting only selects a representative. In my experience, the most likely candidates are all reasonably suited to the job, leaving it to matter little who ultimately wins. Even if you are powerless it is not that big of a deal, being the most inconsequential part of the process.
The real work happens after the vote has taken place when you have to start engaging with the selected representative on the regular to make your perspective known. It is guaranteed that you didn't elect a mind reader. It is not clear if the younger generations are aware of that. This may be why they feel powerless.
It my youth the message was always "contact your local representative", but in recent times that message has changed to "how could <insert political figurehead> do this to us?" There is some apparent degree of learned helplessness at play; perhaps because greater media exposure gives us insights into places with strong dictatorships and we project their conditions upon ours.
Invariably, those with enough land ownership ties will ultimately run into municipal issues that will require approaching council, at very least forcing a deeper understanding of government upon them. This may also help explain why those who own things are apparently more engaged politically.