One Year After Charlie Kirk's Assassination, Turning Point USA Expands While Young Voter Support for Trump Dips

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

As of Thursday, Turning Point has more than 3,500 high school chapters, marking a 180 percent increase since Kirk’s death, according to the organisation. It also boasts more than 1,500 college chapters, representing a more than 60 percent increase. Charlie 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 inspired the Trump administration to pursue a crackdown on what it called "domestic terrorist organisations," including the loose-knit antifascist movement known as Antifa. Charlie Kirk built Turning Point USA into a major youth organising force within the Republican Party, helping to mobilise young conservative voters.

However, the growth of Turning Point’s political infrastructure comes as Republicans face mounting dissatisfaction among young voters over the economy and the US-Israeli war against Iran. According to polling from the news agency Reuters and the research firm Ipsos, only 32 percent of men ages 18 to 29 approved of Trump’s performance in August, down from 43 percent in February 2025. This slippage follows gains during the last general election, where Trump won 46 percent of young men’s votes in the 2024 election, a seven-point increase from 2020, according to Pew Research Center data.

Cost-of-living pressures remain among young voters’ biggest concerns. A Harvard Youth Poll conducted in March and April found that half of Americans ages 18 to 29 said inflation affected them "a lot," while 45 percent reported struggling to make ends meet or having little financial security. Moody’s Analytics reported that these economic pressures were compounded by the war in Iran, which added an average of $750 in household expenses.

Within TPUSA itself, debates over US support for Israel have grown. A recent poll from YouGov and The Economist found that only 16 percent of young people thought US military action in Iran was the right decision. Nevertheless, the group’s expanding network gives Republicans significant traction to rally younger voters ahead of the November 3 congressional midterm elections.

Turning Point USA will hold a memorial at Utah Valley University on Thursday, exactly one year after Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during a debate on campus. The group will also memorialise him at the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas.