Two-thirds of Africa's youth support Trump – survey

More than half of Africa’s youth worry that the Trump administration will disregard international laws and norms to access the natural resources in their countries. However, according to a report in The Citizen, two-thirds are optimistic that President Donald Trump’s second term will give them a better future. These are just two of the findings in the 2026 Africa Youth Survey released yesterday by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation (IFF). Now in its fourth edition, the survey conducted nearly 19 000 face-to-face interviews across 28 African countries with youths aged between 18 and 24. This year, the interviews were conducted in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, SA, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The findings about the US represent a significant swing in sentiment since the previous survey in 2024. America’s perceived power in Africa has now overtaken China, although China remains more trusted than the US. In 2024, before the US presidential election, the prospect of Trump’s return to the White House was viewed with trepidation by African youth, with only 23% of them viewing it favourably. Trump was disparaging about African countries in his first term and dismantled the US Agency for International Development at the start of his second term. But African youth are shifting from aid politics to bargain politics: jobs, infrastructure, technology, securing and economic sovereignty matter more than diplomatic platitudes or western approval, said IFF chair Ivor Ichikowitz. ‘For them, his transactional style is not a problem. It is the point. They know every serious country fights for its own advantage. This generation is not asking to be rescued. It is asking to be taken seriously,’ he said.

Survey

Full report in The Citizen