Democrats are scrambling to understand their monumental loss in the General Election – Republicans easily swept the presidency, regained control of the US Senate, and maintained the majority in the US House of Representatives. Every state except Washington became more red. Nearly every demographic, including historic Democrat strongholds, shifted right. That includes the younger generation, with the exception of white college-age women, who moved slightly left.
“While Democrats traditionally rely on young voters, the 2020 election saw a surprising shift, with President-elect Donald Trump making significant gains among 18-29-year-olds,” PBS reported. “This trend isn’t isolated to this election; Gen Z voters have been moving rightward in the past three election cycles. Notably, Trump’s success with young men was particularly pronounced, but the trend toward the Republican Party was noticeable across gender lines. This shift signals a new challenge for candidates seeking to engage Gen Z voters.” (emphasis added)
What’s driving this rightward shift among the younger generation? Analysts have pointed to alternative news sources as one of the key reasons. Younger voters typically source their news online through podcasts, social media, forums, and independent news sources. The 65+ voter group is the only demographic aside from white college women that moved to the left, which is likely due to their tendency towards traditional news sources like mainstream media, which was heavily biased toward Vice President Kamala Harris.
Other analysts have pointed out that younger voters are “not as tied to a political party as older voters—they are often drawn to certain issues that in turn affect their vote choice.” Young voters in this election cared about the economy, jobs, immigration, and freedom, among other issues. Trump delivered specific promises about the future of the nation under his next administration that Harris was unable to provide in any meaningful way. College-age white women primarily sided with Harris on the abortion issue and other social factors, like support for the LGBT movement. However, Harris’s emphasis on radical abortion rights ultimately backfired as many voters found her position too extreme.
Republicans in charge of Trump’s social media presence credit his success to “discussing actual issues instead of focusing on vibes,” which many young voters found unserious and disingenuous to a presidential campaign. Chair of the Republican National Committee’s youth advisory council Brilyn Hollyhand said the economy was the top issue for young voters.
“That is [why] people voted for President Trump,” Hollyhand noted. “That’s why youth voters turned out in droves. They’re frustrated. We understood that, and we hope that this can be something where their vote wasn’t a one-time thing because Trump spoke to them, but that it’s [a] generational change for the party.”
Trump joined Instagram and TikTok as a way to reach young voters and, later in the campaign, was featured on prominent podcasts like Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Theo Von, Aiden Ross, and the NELK boys. These podcasts gave voters a glimpse of the real Trump and won over many on-the-fence voters who realized mainstream media had been lying about Trump’s character and viewpoints.
“[Harris] was just running a vibes campaign,” Hollyhand continued. “With our posts, we would back that up with explaining detailed policies, because that’s something that her side wasn’t doing. Clearly, youth voters paid attention to policies and decided to not go with vibes but with the guy that actually has policies.”
Young voters are often written off as a helplessly left-leaning demographic, but the Trump campaign proved this election that Gen Z cares about the state of this nation and wants to see real change. The push for alternative news sources like podcasts and independent journalism has opened the eyes of the younger demographic. They were able to see a side of the election that is not portrayed on mainstream networks. Voters should always proceed with caution when accepting information from any news source – mainstream or independent – but this new wave of young, reasonable voters gives us hope for the future.
