A new Gallup survey released Thursday shows a record-high share of young American women now say they want to leave the U.S. permanently.
According to the poll, 40% of women ages 15 to 44 say they would move to another country if given the opportunity — more than double the 19% of men in the same age group, marking the largest gender gap Gallup has ever recorded.
Gallup’s data shows this trend has been growing for more than a decade. In 2014, when the question was first asked, only 17% of young women reported wanting to leave the country. Interest surged in 2016, during the final year of President Obama’s second term, and continued to rise throughout the Trump and Biden administrations.
Marital status and parenthood have become less reliable predictors. From 2024 to 2025, 41% of married women and 45% of unmarried women said they wanted to move abroad — up from 22% and 38% the year before. Older women remain far less likely than younger women to consider leaving permanently, but they now surpass men in their age group. In 2025, 14% of women over 45 said they would leave the U.S., compared with 8% of men — a sharp reversal from 2024, when only 6% of women and 14% of men expressed that view.
This gender divide also showed up in the Nov. 4 elections. According to NBC News exit polls, young women overwhelmingly backed Democratic candidates — 81% for Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, 81% for Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, and 84% for Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Young men were far less supportive, with only 58%, 57%, and 67% backing those same candidates. Gallup also finds that nearly 60% of young women identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with just 39% of young men.
Driving these trends is a steep collapse in trust in America’s core institutions, especially among women. Since 2015, younger women have experienced the largest decline in confidence among all demographics in the government, judiciary, military, and elections — a 17-point drop, according to Gallup. Trust in the courts fell especially sharply after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, plunging from 55% to 32%.
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