Editor’s note: Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Stay informed with OPB on the presidential race, key congressional battles and other local contests and ballot measures in Oregon and Southwest Washington at opb.org/elections.

Young Oregonians are deeply concerned about the direction the state is heading.

And with a pivotal election looming, Oregonians 40 and under are most worried about housing and homelessness, crime and disorder, and — when it comes to what will be top of mind when voting — inflation and job creation.

Those are some of the findings of a poll OPB commissioned in August to take the pulse of what young Oregon adults are thinking about headed into the fall election.

Related: Why OPB polled Gen Z and Millennial voters

The poll of 600 people between the ages of 18 and 40 was conducted from Aug. 6-12, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. Researchers used both phone interviews and online questionnaires to reach respondents, who were selected randomly and with an effort to ensure the survey was representative of Oregon’s demographics.

The results show a segment of the population that, to put it mildly, is not happy with the state of affairs in Oregon. Half of young people surveyed said the state is on the wrong track, with just 29% saying things were headed in the right direction.

The picture looks a little different depending on who you ask. In a state known as a progressive bastion, respondents who identified as liberal had a relatively sunny view of things with 54% signaling Oregon is headed on the right track.

The youngest respondents — those between the ages of 18 and 23 — were also more likely than others to have a positive outlook. So were residents of the Portland metro area and college graduates.

Related: Issues important to Oregon voters

“I truly believe in [Gov.] Tina Kotek,” said Emma Dixon, a 20-year-old Democratic voter from Beaverton who was one of those to signal optimism in the state. “I think her politics are great. And I see a lot of growth in the downtown Beaverton area where I live.”

But relatively few respondents were so inclined to be chipper — particularly where the issues of housing and homelessness are concerned.

“Housing continues to get more expensive and I really don’t feel like we’re tackling climate change as well as we need to be,” said Rob Hemphill, a 35-year-old Portland resident who told pollsters Oregon is on the wrong track.

Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'

Hemphill is a Democrat, and said he appreciates Kotek’s emphasis on bolstering housing production statewide. But watching his rent increase by another 5% recently, and eyeballing a housing market that continues to put owning a home out of reach, has left him feeling dissatisfied.

“I actually think Governor Kotek has done a really nice job with some housing policy, but it just doesn’t feel like it’s enough or it’s really making the difference for me,” he said.

Meanwhile, those who identified as conservative signaled an abysmal view of Oregon, with 85% saying the state is off course, and just 6% answering it is on the right track.

“I see the craziness of California — the extreme liberal [district attorneys] and their lax approach to everything — just creeping up the West Coast,” said survey respondent Kyle O., a 39-year-old Republican who lives in the Willamette Valley and, like some other respondents, asked that his full name not be used.

A private security guard, Kyle O., said he interacts extensively with houseless people taking shelter on private properties he patrols. He says too often he is powerless to move people along, and that police rarely take action.

Kyle O. believes Oregon’s now-defunct drug decriminalization law has made the state’s struggles far worse. He blamed the state’s dominant political party.

“This was all created by Oregon Democrats,” he said. “None of the Republicans supported this stuff.”

Top concerns similar to older adults

In all, the poll found that younger Oregonians’ views are roughly on par with Oregon adults as a whole. A separate survey of 500 Oregon adults from June showed that 51% of people believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, and 31% believe it’s on the right track — nearly identical to OPB’s poll.

And while young people are often singled out for their disaffection over issues like climate change and the war in Gaza, the concerns of those 40 and under broadly track with the rest of the state’s adults, with some subtle differences in degree.

For instance, 38% of respondents in OPB’s poll listed homelessness as the most important issue facing Oregon. That was well under the 49% of all Oregon adults who gave that answer in June, but still far and away the most popular response.

Housing affordability, addiction and mental health, cost of living and crime rounded out the top five problems younger Oregonians are most worried about in the state, the same as polling of the Oregon adults more broadly.

The takeaway for John Horvick, senior vice president at the polling firm DHM Research, is that young people aren’t as different as they’re sometimes made out to be.

“When people talk about younger people — whether it’s younger Oregonians, younger voters or younger Americans or whatever — they sometimes talk about them as if they’re a foreign country,” Horvick said. But when it comes to the top issues of concern, he said, “they’re not different.”

The picture of young Oregonians’ top concerns shifted when respondents were asked which issues were driving them to vote in November.

There, housing and homelessness once again dominated. But with a presidential election looming, younger Oregonians also signaled economic issues like inflation and job opportunities might be more pressing than mental health, crime and abortion.

Issues like the war in Gaza, climate change, and student loan forgiveness trailed behind.

Where immigration, abortion stand

Concerns about unfettered border crossings and the flow of life-threatening fentanyl have been a focus of Republicans this year, and the issue has been brought up by many GOP candidates in Oregon.

But OPB’s poll suggests that younger Oregonians aren’t as focused on the border as the country as a whole — at least in terms of how immigration is impacting the state. While monthly surveys by Gallup show that immigration has been one of the top concerns for Americans all year, it did not rank when OPB asked what issues are most pressing for Oregon.

The poll suggests half of younger Oregonians believe that immigration should be increased or kept at its present level. But 36% of respondents said that immigration should be decreased.

Democrats are hoping to turn out voters this year over concerns that the right to an abortion is under increased threat following the demise of Roe vs. Wade. Oregon has some of the most permissive abortion laws in the nation, and younger residents overwhelmingly believe it should be allowed.

Nearly 76% of respondents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Just 20% believe it should be illegal in all or most cases.

On criminal justice, OPB’s poll found that 30% of young Oregonians believe their community should have more police officers, and 38% want to maintain the current number of officers. Fewer than 20% said they want fewer police officers.

And on climate change, 40% of young Oregonians said that the state’s election officials are doing too little on climate change, far more than the 18% who believe they are doing too much, and 19% who feel officials are doing enough.

Most plan to vote

Young adults — particularly those aged 29 and under — are well-known for turning in ballots at lower rates than older people. But OPB’s survey indicated younger Oregonians say they are planning to turn out in large amounts this year.

Nearly 80% of respondents said they were certain to or probably would fill out their ballots — though turnout among this age group in past presidential elections suggests the number will be closer to 70%.

Related: What you need to know about voting in Oregon and Southwest Washington

Many young Oregonians who said they would not vote signaled that their vote wouldn’t matter (26%) or that they simply don’t want to or never vote (27%). Some explained that they were felons, though Oregon allows people with felonies on their record to vote as long as they’re not in prison.

Maybe most concerningly, 23% of those polled said doubts that their ballot would be counted accurately contributed to whether they would vote. That number was driven largely by respondents who identified as Republican, nearly half of whom said voting accuracy was a concern.

Kyle O., the Republican security guard, said he will vote this year for Trump — even though he expressed doubts about the state’s process.

“Ever since Oregon implemented mail-in ballots, Democrats have won every single time,” he said.

While Oregon moved to all-mail ballots in 2000, Republicans last won a statewide race in 2016, when Dennis Richardson was elected secretary of state. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or inaccuracies in election results in Oregon.

Some respondents were far more excited about casting their ballot this year.

“Once [President Joe] Biden dropped out and [Vice President Kamala] Harris became the Democratic nominee, I felt more patriotic and more hope than I have in my whole life,” said Dixon, the 20-year-old Democrat from Beaverton. “It is very exciting for me that the first time I get to vote, I get to vote for a woman.”