WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump may be the president-elect, but millennials remain skeptical the real estate mogul will follow through on his big-ticket campaign promises.
According to an Economist/YouGov poll released this week, adults under 30 are least likely to believe Trump will deliver on his "big, beautiful" border wall, release his sought after tax returns or appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton's private email server.
It's true millennials voted overwhelmingly for Clinton, so it follows that those same voters might remain skeptical of Trump's more outlandish policy proposals. But Geoffrey Klapisch, a marketing consultant and professor at Emerson College, says millennial skepticism is more a product of Bernie Sanders' Democratic primary loss than Clinton's general election flameout.
"Millennials are wired to be skeptical, that's who they are," Klapisch said. "With Bernie falling by the wayside, they went into the general election already jaded."
Klapisch also credits Trump's "unusual" candidacy and platform with turning off younger voters to the entire political process.
The wall was the Trump campaign's jumping-off point, setting the tone for the entire race and putting immigration issues front and center for the entirety of 2016.
Nearly 75 percent of millennials polled were either unsure or unconvinced Trump will succeed in building a wall Mexico will pay for, but in the days following the election, Trump reiterated his commitment to the project, conceding he would accept a fence only in "certain areas."
Adults across the board expressed their cynicism in similar numbers when asked if they believe Trump will eventually release his tax returns.
Throughout the campaign Trump assured voters he would release his returns when he is through being audited by the IRS, despite the fact that the audit doesn't prohibit public disclosure.
Every major party presidential candidate since Richard Nixon has released their returns prior to the general election.
Young people were more split over Trump's promise to further investigate, and jail, his political opponent. Many Republicans and Trump allies portrayed Clinton as a criminal throughout the campaign, though she was twice cleared by the FBI of any illegal activity.
"Lock her up" was one of the most common chants overheard at Trump events and a kind of rallying cry for the president-elect's most ardent supporters. The slogan could be seen all over buttons and shirts at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, but it seems Americans at large don't know how seriously to take this particular promise.
More than this initial skepticism, Klapisch and others wonder how younger adults will respond to the Trump administration's first year in office.
If millennials go into elections thinking it's a poisoned or rigged process, Klapisch said, what's to keep them engaged in the future?
Other things of note from the poll:
Trump's promise to repeal Obamacare upon entering office was his most believable pledge, followed by his promise to start deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.
Most adults express the greatest uncertainty when asked whether Trump is likely to follow through on his international trade promises like renegotiating NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership.
