A year after Charlie Kirk’s death, are young voters turning on Trump?

One year after the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, the organisation he co-founded, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), has expanded its presence in schools throughout the United States, even as young voters show growing dissatisfaction with the Republican Party.

Key points

• As of Thursday, Turning Point has more than 3, 500 high school chapters, up 180 percent since Kirk's death, according to the organisation.
• Kirk was a prominent conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump at the time of his death on September 10, 2025.
• It additionally boasts more than 1, 500 college chapters, a more than 60 percent rise.
• But the expansion of Turning Point's political infrastructure comes as Republicans face growing dissatisfaction among young voters over the economy and the US-Israeli war against Iran.
• A memorial will be held by Turning Point USA at Utah Valley University on Thursday, one year after Kirk was fatally shot during a debate on campus.

Kirk was a prominent conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump at the time of his death on September 10, 2025. He was assassinated while speaking to students at Utah Valley University, in an incident captured on video.

His assassination would inspire the Trump administration to pursue a crackdown on what it called "domestic terrorist organisations", including the loose-knit antifascist movement known as Antifa.

Kirk built Turning Point USA into a major youth organising force within the Republican Party, helping to mobilise young conservative voters.

Only 32 percent of men ages 18 to 29 approved of Trump's performance in August, down from 43 percent in February 2025, according to polling from the news agency Reuters and the research firm Ipsos.

That slippage comes after gains during the last general election. Trump won 46 percent of young men's votes in the 2024 election, a seven-point growth from 2020, according to Pew Research Center data.

Cost-of-living pressures are among young voters' biggest reservations. While 45 percent noted they were struggling to produce ends meet or had little financial security, a Harvard Youth Poll conducted in March and April discovered that half of Americans ages 18 to 29 stated inflation affected them "a lot".

Those economic pressures have been compounded by the war in Iran. It has continued an average of $750 in household expenses, according to Moody's Analytics, an economic research firm.

Within TPUSA itself, debates over US backing for Israel have grown. A recent poll from the firm YouGov and the publication The Economist discovered that only 16 percent of young residents thought US military action in Iran was the right decision.

Yet the group's expanding network gives Republicans significant traction to rally younger voters ahead of the November 3 congressional midterm elections.

Meanwhile, a memorial will be held by Turning Point USA at Utah Valley University on Thursday, one year after Kirk was fatally shot during a debate on campus. The group will additionally memorialise Kirk at the Republican Party's first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas.

For now, a year after Charlie Kirk's death, are young voters turning on Trump? Remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.