With 9 Million Young Voters Casting Ballots For The First Time In November, Will Either Candidate Suffer a Catastrophic Loss Due to Gen Z?
Article Written by Jett James Pruitt
Generation Z is about to make history.
Defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, Generation Z (also known as Gen Z or Zoomers) succeeds Millennials and precedes Generation Alpha. While still emerging as adults and forming unique identities, Generation Z may be the most polarized, siloed, and isolated peer group in recent memory — and the one most likely to change the United States as we know it today.
In short, Gen Z is the most divided cohort due to various societal actors focusing on external characteristics such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and most importantly, political identity. As a member of Generation Z, I can attest we see the world differently than the Gen X and Millennial parents who raised us.
For example, Generation Z does not have a widely-accepted unifying force, as both the Republican and Democratic Parties are failing to offer teens and new voters hope for a better future.
Unlike the Silent Generation who were comforted by an archetypal savior such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, or Baby Boomers who were enamored by a political rockstar such as John F. Kennedy, or Gen Xers who were enthralled with a charismatic leader such as Ronald Reagan, liberal Zoomers have been raised in a political culture without a centripetal public figure to reassure younger voters of a compelling future, whereas conservative Zoomers have a polarizing figure in Donald J. Trump.
As a result, Zoomers have solely associated themselves with predisposed characteristics and cultural attributes, and have become more willing than previous generations to shun anyone who does not subscribe to the same belief system.
In other words, my generation has become tribalistic in every sense of the word.
If we do not change course, Gen Z will ultimately tear down the core infrastructure of American government and radically remodel our country into an extremist society.
With this in mind, America’s political parties must channel the raw determination of Gen Z in a manner that allows for the implementation of certain policies — especially those relating to climate change, healthcare, gun control, and reproductive rights — while not altering the fundamental framework of the United States. Otherwise, America as we know it will fail.
Every generation is shaped by a life-defining global event. For the Greatest Generation, it was the Great Depression and World War II. For Silents, it was Korea and Rock n’ Roll. For Baby Boomers, it was Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement. For Gen Xers, it was long gas lines and the rise of Reagan. For Millennials, it was the birth of the Internet and the 2008 Recession. And for Gen Z, it is the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, Cancel Culture, and the rise of political extremism not seen in American history since the Civil War.
Based on both qualitative and quantitative research, Gen Z has the greatest potential, more than any other cohort, to fundamentally alter our way of life. While we can change this, the time to act is now.
Before elaborating, it is important to explain how Generation Z was socialized into political culture and why older generations never saw us coming.
Unlike Millennials who can recall a time before Google, Zoomers are a true product of the Digital Age.
We were raised with the ability to post opinions, pictures, videos, stories, and comments to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and X (formerly known as Twitter) within seconds.
We used FaceTime to see cousins living in another country. We attended school on Zoom. We completed exams on Google Chromebook computers. We based all of our communication on digital platforms. We even made phone calls awkward.
Simply put, technology is our second nature. And perhaps more than any other generation, technology has significantly molded our political views.
According to a 2024 Morning Consult poll, 63 percent of Zoomers turn to Social Media at least once a week for news.
That percentage will certainly increase over time as Gen Z grows older and votes in future elections. As a result, Zoomers have been exposed to more diverse opinions and conspiracy theories than prior generations.
Virtually all political actors use social media to reach young voters. Grassroots movements such as Fridays For Future, Turning Point USA, and March For Our Lives organize massive rallies, fundraisers, and conferences via digital platforms. Hashtags are created by millions of users around the world to raise awareness about various causes.
While all of this may seem frivolous prima facie, social media’s influence on Gen Z voters is extraordinary. Borrowing a term from Elon Musk, social media has become Gen Z’s town square. This is reflected by the fact that campaigns spend hundreds of millions of dollars on social media advertisements every election cycle.
In short, this has produced a pluralistic environment where nearly all views — including those deemed mainstream, conspiratorial, or extremist — are presented.
We witnessed the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders — leaders of the most iconoclastic political movements in recent American history (MAGA and the Progressive/Democratic Socialism movements, respectively).
We saw direct video footage of police brutality, natural disasters, insurrections, and the consequences of war in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. Above all, we learned how our peers felt on global issues, making us more interconnected than previous generations.
This has allowed countless Gen Z activists such as Greta Thunberg, David Hogg, and Malala Yousafzai to have their voice heard globally, leading entire grassroots organizations before they turned twenty years-old.
As discovered by the research firm Edelman, 70 percent of Zoomers around the world say they are involved in a social or political cause. With this in mind, Gen Z is considered by several sociologists and journalists to be The Activist Generation.
Furthermore, Generation Z is the most racially diverse cohort to date. The Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of Zoomers identify as non-Hispanic White, 25 percent as Hispanic, 14 percent as Black, and 6 percent Asian. The remaining are Indigenous American, Pacific Islander, or two or more races.
Overall, this data coincides with a general decrease in the population of American Caucasians. According to the Census, the non-Hispanic White share of the U.S. population was 57 percent in 2020, down from 63 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, people of color comprised 43 percent of the total U.S. population, up from 34 percent in 2010.
These trends indicate Gen Z will be the last American generation to be predominantly white.
In addition, Zoomers are not as religious as their predecessors. Today in America, regular church attendance is low, with only 21 percent of church members of all ages reporting they attend a religious service at least once or twice a month. The percentage of teenagers who identify as Atheist is more than double of the adult population (13 percent compared to 6 percent).
Even those who are formally affiliated with organized religions tend to question the policies and belief systems within their own religion more rigorously than older generations.
In short, many attribute this to Gen X and Millennial parents doing less to encourage their children to participate in worship services, pray at mealtime, and read religious texts.
Since Generation Z is largely expected to perpetuate the trend of making religion optional, political parties need to keep this in mind when reaching out to younger voters.
Consequentially, Gen Z is often portrayed in American media as a group of tempestuous, “tree-hugging” liberals.
To a certain extent, this is true. Most Zoomers are more socially liberal than previous generations, especially pertaining to laws regarding sexual orientation, same-sex marriage, gender roles, transgender rights, abortion access, and socioeconomic equity. Zoomers are also more open and tolerant of socialist — and even communist — ideology than older Americans.
According to a Gallup Poll, fewer than half of Americans aged 18 to 29 view capitalism positively. Meanwhile, 51 percent of respondents held a positive view of socialism.
In a YouGov Poll, 64 percent of Gen Z respondents said they would consider voting for a socialist candidate. That number was 44 percent, 36 percent, and 33 percent for Gen Xers, Boomers, and Silents, respectively.
However, while it is clear many Zoomers lean left, these numbers do not tell the full story.
Surprisingly, a large percentage of Zoomers hold political views that do not fit neatly into Democratic or Republican boxes.
In a 2021 article, Alex Samuels of FiveThirtyEight writes: “What I learned [from speaking with Gen Z voters] is that most of them [Gen Z Republicans] break with the mainstream of the Republican Party on many social and cultural issues, but solidly agree with the GOP’s stance on the economy . . . despite being more liberal on social issues than older Republicans, most of the young Republicans I spoke with admitted to me that they don’t see themselves ever leaving the GOP.”
Unfortunately, Generation Z is experiencing a crisis of confidence in American values.
A Morning Consult poll found that only 16 percent of Gen Z respondents (aged 18 – 25) are proud to live in the United States. This is abysmal considering that 36 percent of Millennial, 54 percent of Gen X, and 73 percent of Baby Boomer respondents in the same survey said they were proud to be American.
As evidenced by these numbers, Gen Z is by far the least patriotic generation in U.S. History. It would be an understatement to say this has major consequences for the future of our country.
To further compound the problem, Gen Z is experiencing a mental health crisis unparalleled to any other generation.
Gallup reports that only 41 percent of Zoomers are thriving, which is the lowest across all generations. Furthermore, only 15 percent of Gen Z Americans aged 18 to 26 said their mental health was in an excellent state. This means that 85 percent of Zoomers are either ‘struggling’ or ‘suffering’ mentally. To compare, 55 percent of Millennials at the same age said they had excellent mental health in 2004.
Older generations may not recognize the impact of the post-George Floyd era of renaming schools, buildings, football teams, businesses, celebrities, foods, and vocabulary terms on a young person's life.
It is not a stretch to imagine a 15-year-old boy watch his Thomas Jefferson high school be renamed, his favorite Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians teams change mascots, his daily Aunt Jemima pancake syrup be taken off the shelf, his mother's small business close due to mask mandates, and his father get fired for refusing a vaccination — all within the same year.
It is this amount of change within a very short period of time that has affected our world view as a cohort. Why is Generation Z not able to bounce back quickly from societal changes, experiencing so much psychological pain that will most certainly have lasting implications far into adulthood?
While this topic has become normalized within contemporary society, with few political leaders willing to openly admit it, the primary reason is Cancel Culture.
As explained by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott in their 2023 book The Canceling of the American Mind, Cancel Culture has absolutely eviscerated many Zoomer's sense of certainty, as one indecorous or disreputable action, word, or decision can completely derail a person’s life.
In the authors' words, “Gone are the days when dumb, insensitive, or offensive teenage mishaps were forgotten or simply disappeared. Their extensive digital record makes Gen Z the most cancelable cohort, and that makes modern adolescence kind of nightmarish. The ever-present threat of being canceled harms friendships, undermines trust, and fosters paranoia.”
There are various explanations as to why Generation Z has become the 'Cancel Culture Cohort.' In another book entitled The Coddling of the American Mind, Lukianoff postulates that Gen X and Millennial parents have instilled a series of false, self-defeating beliefs that have made Zoomers more sensitive than previous generations.
He refers to these beliefs as the Three Great Untruths.
According to Lukianoff, the First Untruth is that danger is everywhere and all strangers pose a risk to one’s physical and emotional safety. In effect, parents have subliminally taught Zoomers that life is inherently a war between good and evil people, thereby removing any contextualization of an unpleasant situation. He calls this the ‘Untruth of Us Versus Them.’
Lukianoff further explains that parents instill the Second Untruth that one should always trust their feelings. In his words, parents of Zoomers have psychologically conditioned their children to validate their immediate feelings, rather than thrust themselves into situations they initially find uncomfortable. As a result, many Zoomers have embraced a self-deflating mindset that impairs their self-esteem. This is referred to as ‘The Untruth of Emotional Reasoning.’
Finally, Lukianoff’s Third Untruth is that what does not kill you makes you weaker. He argues that Gen X parents have inadvertently removed their children’s internal locus of control, or the feeling they have control over their life circumstances, by constantly shielding them from challenging situations. He coined this as the ‘Untruth of Fragility.’
Overall, Lukianoff contends that the Three Great Untruths fuel modern-day Cancel Culture because it has led many Zoomers to believe they are delivering moral justice by removing ‘evil people’ from society.
In addition, the ‘Untruth of Fragility’ convinces a Zoomer to sabotage someone who said something offensive or insensitive because it made them feel uncomfortable, and rather challenging their views, they simply decide to cancel them. Finally, the ‘Untruth of Emotional Reasoning’ causes young people to believe they are right to take down another individual, merely because that is what they feel like doing.
Unfortunately, Cancel Culture has become so ingrained within American culture that expressing support for certain public figures, organizations, or social movements can cause someone to lose their college acceptance letter, employment, or even career.
One prime example is Samantha Pfefferle, an incoming freshman at Marquette University who almost had her acceptance rescinded after she posted a pro-Trump video on TikTok.
Uploaded in the prelude of the 2020 Presidential Election, the video featured a visual sequence with the following caption: “When people see that I support Trump, then try to hate on me, and think I’ll change my views.” She proceeded to dance in front of a Marquette University poster with a rap song playing in the background.
Shortly after Pfefferle posted the video, Marquette University administrators reached out and said her place was no longer certain while asking a series of questions to evaluate her moral character. To be clear, this was after she submitted her enrollment deposit and paid for student housing. As if the situation wasn’t grave enough, Pfefferle received numerous death threats from fellow students, with one person writing in the comments section ‘I hope you get shot.’
Pfefferle’s college acceptance was ultimately not rescinded. However, this is just one of countless instances in which people’s lives are placed in jeopardy or completely derailed just because they expressed a political stance. Regardless of party affiliation or personal views of Donald Trump, this incident should send a chill down every American’s spine, because it reveals how toxic and unsafe our political culture has become.
How can the United States continue to serve as the beacon of global democracy if we cannot even allow an 18-year-old to endorse a (then) incumbent President of the United States without life-altering ramifications?
Have we as a country even thought about the long-term consequences of harassing, silencing, and canceling the 74 million Americans who voted for Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election?
How will Conservatives treat those on the Left if the circumstances are reversed in future elections?
Liberals — as well as Republicans and Independents who simply do not support Trump — are not immune to Cancel Culture either.
American political commentator, David French, is a self-described ‘theological and political Conservative.’
After authoring a series of pieces critical of Trump during the early stages of the 2016 Election Cycle in the National Review, French was immediately canceled by both strangers on the Internet and members of his local church, who deemed his opposition to Trump as part of an existential threat to the United States.
Not only was he harshly rebuked for his criticism, but French also experienced overt racism towards his adopted black daughter, who was born in Ethiopia.
This devastated French and his family, as the Presbyterian Church of America served as “the center of our lives.” In fact, French shares that “On Sunday we attended services, and Monday through Friday our kids attended the school our church founded and supported. We loved the people in that church, and they loved us.”
This changed suddenly, with French recounting: “When I wrote pieces critical of Trump, members of the alt-right pounded, and they attacked us through our daughter. They pulled pictures of her from social media and photoshopped her into gas chambers and lynchings. Trolls found my wife’s blog on a religious website called Patheos and filled the comments section with gruesome pictures of dead and dying Black victims of crime and war. We also received direct threats.”
Unfortunately, members of French's local church fueled these attacks and further pushed the family out of their social circles. Today, French is no longer a part of his once beloved church, and his family continues to face explicit threats — all because he did not like a prospective candidate for the office of President of the United States.
Sadly, Generation Z will perpetuate this destructive trend for decades to come, if we do not find a compelling reason to change course.
In 2023, North Dakota State University conducted a poll comprised of more than 2,000 undergraduate students from 131 colleges across the country. The survey found that a total of 74 percent of students believe that if a professor says something they find insensitive or offensive, they should be reported to the university and possibly face consequences.
Along ideological lines, 81 percent of liberal-leaning students agreed with this proposition, while an astounding 53 percent of conservative-leaning students concurred.
Simply put, this survey reveals that many Gen Z conservatives have also embraced Cancel Culture as a means of social regulation.
Aside from this, many Zoomers have attached their emotional well-being and mental health to global issues. A 2023 survey from Blue Shield of California and Harris Poll shows that 84 percent of Gen Z respondents experienced negative mental health impacts as a result of gun violence.
Meanwhile, 68 percent said that learning about or experiencing the adverse effects of climate change also caused mental health issues. Finally, 54 percent of respondents claimed that racism and social injustice within American society has impacted their mental health to some degree.
Moreover, the complicated and hyper-competitive U.S. college admissions system is another dimension of society that is destroying American youth. Chiefly, it is deflating many young individual’s sense of self-worth and amplifying chronic feelings of competition, anxiety, and uncertainty.
It is causing the youth of our nation to take the hardest classes available regardless of skills or interest, sleep three to four hours per night to finish homework, start vacuous non-profits no one asked for, volunteer thousands of hours instead of learning life skills, lean into victimhood in dozens of essays, and be cutthroat against their peers in order to attend the most prestigious university. It is molding Zoomers to appease others (especially adults) rather than behaving as their authentic selves. This has absolutely impaired Gen Z's overall quality of life.
Unfortunately, Gen Z’s mental health crisis drives some teenagers and young adults to physical harm. It is with great sadness to write that the suicide rate for Americans between the ages of 10 to 24 rose 62 percent from 2007 to 2021.23 In 2022, the CDC reported that almost 45 percent of high school students experienced chronic feelings of hopelessness during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and 20 percent seriously considered suicide.
In parallel, Generation Z does not respect our country’s traditions or sense of national pride to the same degree as older generations. A 2022 American National Election Study (ANES) found a 55-point difference between Liberals and Conservatives under the age of 30 on the question of how important ‘being American’ is to their personal identity. Shockingly, only 18 percent of liberal respondents within this age group (encompassing both Millennials and Zoomers) said that ‘being American’ was important to them.
Even 27 percent of conservative Zoomers said living in the United States was not important to them. A separate poll conducted by Harvard University in Spring 2024 found that only 55 percent of Democrats between ages 18 to 29 would “rather live in America than any other place,” whereas 74 percent of Republicans said the same.
This means one out of two Gen Z Democrats and one out of four Gen Z Republicans would rather live outside the United States.
Racial equity is another issue that will determine how Generation Z votes in future elections. A survey conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that 60 percent of Zoomers believe eliminating structural barriers to racial justice should be a top priority of the federal government.
Moreover, a resounding 67 percent of Generation Z view systemic racism as a public health crisis, with 69 percent believing inherent bias makes it more difficult for people of color (i.e., those of African-American, Native American, Asian, and Latino ancestry) to access the healthcare they need.
In short, all of America’s political parties must be willing to answer Gen Z's demand for both state and federal laws to address disparities caused by hundreds of years of systemic racism.
By extension, LGBTQ+ rights will serve as another focal point for Generation Z. Polling from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in 2023 finds that 28 percent of Gen Z adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, or intersex (among other sexual orientations and gender identities). In comparison, the PRRI finds that 16 percent of Millennials, 7 percent of Gen X, 4 percent of Baby Boomers, and 4 percent of the Silent Generation identify as LGBTQ+.
In addition, Zoomers have fully adopted the once esoteric language surrounding this issue, by widely using terms such as cisgender, non-binary, heteronormative, transfeminine, transmasculine, genderqueer, genderfluid, bigender, agender, omnisexual, pansexual, demigirl, demiboy, and neutrois. This indicates that LGBTQ+ voters will have immense influence on the outcome of future elections, and will be more assertive in holding lawmakers accountable to both maintain and expand upon legal protections for people of all sexual identities.
Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign, declares “Whether it’s at the polls, in marches and rallies, or online, LGBTQ+ visibility matters and Gen Z is a force for change. Thousands of LGBTQ+ young people turn 18 each day—and lawmakers should understand there will be repercussions in November for anti-LGBTQ+ political attacks. While LGBTQ+ people have always existed, it’s not always been, and still often is not, easy to live freely and openly. We will continue to work towards a future where everyone in every generation can be free and comfortable to be their authentic selves.”
Under this framework, racial equity and LGBTQ+ rights of adults must be acknowledged, reconciled, and valued by each one of America’s political parties, to the extent that any party which ignores these issues will face eventual extinction.
In the same vein, LGBTQ+ community leaders must also find a way to respect the Right's concerns about policies that directly affect children under the age of 18. With that said, social issues should be addressed fully, swiftly, and effortlessly so that America can pivot away from these never-ending circular arguments and focus resources to address potentially catastrophic issues that affect everyone equally, and could end our economy, country, or planet within a decade.
Despite the solidification of the MAGA movement immediately after the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Gen Z Republicans will eventually modify the party’s hard stance on immigration and embrace multi-culturalism to a greater degree than their older counterparts.
According to a 2024 Axios poll, 58 percent of Gen Z Republicans agree with the statement “People are only concerned about immigration because they come from ethnic backgrounds they don’t like.” In comparison, only 26 percent of Gen X and Baby Boomer Conservatives concurred. Meanwhile, 43 percent of Republican Zoomers support increasing the number of ‘sanctuary cities’, 61 percent believe the U.S. should make it easier for immigrants to enter legally, and 63 percent hold the view the media unfairly portrays immigration.
Older MAGA Republicans would be shocked to learn these statistics, believing that Gen Z does not fully understand the implications of unchecked illegal immigration. For this reason, those who do understand it recognize open borders must be rectified within the next five years before Gen Z takes on more political power.
Perhaps most alarmingly, Gen Z fully recognizes the complexities and difficulties of securing the bi-partisan agreement needed to pass legislation to create meaningful, positive change in America.
For example, Gen Z has witnessed firsthand the lack of progress both parties have made in the area of gun control legislation despite the increased number of mass shootings over the past decade. The implications of this are incredibly dangerous, nudging Zoomers to question the democratic process of lawmaking all together.
In 2024, Newsweek reported that 40 percent of Gen Z Americans agree with the view that "rule by a strong leader, where a strong leader can make decisions without interference from the legislature or from the courts" would be a good system of government for the United States, whereas only 27 percent thought a dictatorship would be bad.
This statistic highlights just how ripe we are as a country to allow an autocratic leader or dictatorship bypass our constitutional democracy for the sole purpose of removing the bottleneck of stalled bills championed by either side. But shockingly, this is not the most alarming revelation.
The short-sighted fiscal, environmental, and social policy failures of previous generations have snowballed towards Generation Z. We are the first generation to completely lose faith in the American Dream. We are the first generation to believe America is an inherently racist, unfair, and unequitable country.
We are the first generation to support abolishing the Second Amendment.
We are the first generation who will use Cancel Culture as a form of civil war.
We are the first generation to associate the word 'Capitalism' with money hoarding and institutional poverty.
We are the first generation who will collectively refuse to serve in the military if the draft is reinstated.
We are the first generation to question the benefits of marriage and parenthood.
We are the first generation to lose abortion as a right, and not even understand why anyone would consider it a moral or religious issue.
And most of all, we are the first generation to denigrate the reputations of our Founding Fathers, question the purpose of the Supreme Court, and disparage the intent behind the drafting of our Constitution given its initial exclusion of women and people of color.
Moreover, as older generations advance in age and pass away over the next two decades, Generation Z will drive our country to the left of what the Democratic Party looks like today. For some, this is excellent news. For others, this is the end of the American experiment.
A sharp turn in ideology could force our country into creating a one-party state that will either address the needs of Gen Z or encompass the ideals of those who vehemently oppose it — either way excluding ideological dissent and party competition from the other side.
Just how this force of change is harnessed and executed will make all the difference as to whether or not the final results will be positive or catastrophic.
For this reason, VP Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump need to be very concerned with how they address Gen Z Voters. The alarming truth is that no matter who wins this November, America's political parties must be prepared for the severe reckoning of Generation Z in 2026, 2028 and beyond — or watch our country evolve into something we never imagined.
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Jett James Pruitt is a Native American, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of the bestselling book THROUGH THE EYES OF A YOUNG AMERICAN. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of TheGenZPost.com, and a political strategist specializing in Generation Z voter trends. His next book, THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE: What America's Political Parties Must Do To Win Over Generation Z, will be released in major bookstores worldwide in early 2025.
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