Generation Z is the Most Conservative Generation in Decades: Poll
Since the election of President Donald Trump in 2024, Generation Z (Gen Z) is on track to becoming the most conservative generation in the US over the past several decades, according to the analysis of pollsters.
One poll conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics found that 18-24 year olds — especially men — are largely moderate, but, notably, more conservative than liberal.
For instance, of those polled, 26% identify with a conservative ideology while 22% identify with a liberal one. The remaining 52% consider themselves moderate.
Notably, according to Newsweek, young men under 30 were more likely to support President Trump than women of the same age range were.
Ezra Klein, a New York Times columnist, discussed this “shocking” phenomenon with young American voters and how it affected the 2024 Presidential election with pollster David Shor:
“I sometimes talk about narrative violations, and if we knew anything about Donald Trump eight years ago, it was that young people didn’t like him,” Shor commented. “But if you look at this chart, 75-year-old White men supported Kamala Harris at a significantly higher rate than 20-year-old White men.”
Shor continued, with a notable remark:
”This is the thing I am the most shocked by in the last four years—that young people have gone from being the most progressive generation since the Baby Boomers… to becoming potentially the most conservative generation that we’ve experienced maybe in 50 to 60 years.”
A Yale study found 22-29 year olds prefer Democrats by 6.4 points. However, those in the range of 18-21 prefer the GOP more.
Pollsters and political commentators are surprised by the trends revealed by these polls and the direction they indicate for US elections. Columnist Ezra Klein expressed criticism of the Democratic Party’s current approach to attracting Gen Z voters:
“Democrats are getting destroyed now among young voters… They thought that this was a last gasp of something and that if Donald Trump couldn’t run up his numbers among seniors and you had Millennials and Gen Z really coming into voting power, that would be the end of this Republican Party. That is just completely false.”
It is noteworthy that Gen Z, once the most progressive generation since the Baby Boomers, has modulated to being perhaps the most conservative generation.
