The very youngest voters — 18-to-24-year-olds — say they’re more conservative than the cohort that’s just older, according to the latest Harvard Youth Poll.
The younger generation of men is more likely to identify as conservative than as liberal.
Between the lines: They were hardest hit by COVID-19 and felt ignored by the establishment, John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, told Axios this month.
The youngest members of that group were just 10 years old when Trump was elected president and see this chaotic political era as normal.
“They think of Trump as an anti-hero and not a villain. … I think it’s less about policy and much more about personality,” Della Volpe said.
Welcome to the TikTok, podcast and Discord era. It’s not just disillusioned older folks that turned to Trump, but younger folks who are completely immersed in algorithms, influencers, and echo chambers, and understandably feel the system has failed them.
I just recently saw a video shared of an extremist in Maine who attacked his wife, and then recorded himself during a prolonged shootout with the police.
Given that he finds it possible he may die in the next few hours, there’s a sort of honesty to his voice; and it’s scary to regard the sort of world he believes in, where vaccines are obviously “lethal”, etc. The one bit that stood out to me, and maybe not to himself, was his mentioning that he had been out of work for over a year. It’s quite possible any employers saw his violent habits and turned him away, but even if that’s a suitable explanation, it’s a heavy feeling of abandonment.
I suspect the rise of mental illness has much to do with economy. The more uncertain you are about the future, the easier it becomes to be steeped in resentment.
It is the other end of the wealth horseshoe: The wealthy are free of consequence, and consequence no longer holds meaning among the poor. After all, you don’t have friends, a job, or a future. The only way anyone will remember you is if you leave a mark upon them. You may die, but the living are left with the suffering you have left behind.
No doubt many people have been affected, young men included. I think part of the reason the pushback on DEI & feminism exists is because we have new marginalized groups that are difficult to understand just yet.
Zoomers have an incredibly hard time breaking into professional careers. When one group sees themselves as a group; and another “group” is getting favoritism in the system (women, minorities); the natural response is “Why not me?”
This isn’t to discredit systemic racism or misogyny. I think those are real problems. I’m trying to think of how these folks might see the world, see how it lacks love and prospect for them. Putting others down isn’t how people feel loved.
I put more blame on older folks because of the imbalance of wealth, which unfortunately amounts to influence. Zoomer men may be disenfranchised, but they are likely poorer in terms of equity. They help drive engagement and the algos.
It all gets more complicated with geography and so on. I appreciate you adding more context to the situation.
Beautiful.
But…
This is an iffy assumption: https://www.axios.com/2024/09/28/gen-z-men-conservative-poll
Welcome to the TikTok, podcast and Discord era. It’s not just disillusioned older folks that turned to Trump, but younger folks who are completely immersed in algorithms, influencers, and echo chambers, and understandably feel the system has failed them.
I just recently saw a video shared of an extremist in Maine who attacked his wife, and then recorded himself during a prolonged shootout with the police.
Given that he finds it possible he may die in the next few hours, there’s a sort of honesty to his voice; and it’s scary to regard the sort of world he believes in, where vaccines are obviously “lethal”, etc. The one bit that stood out to me, and maybe not to himself, was his mentioning that he had been out of work for over a year. It’s quite possible any employers saw his violent habits and turned him away, but even if that’s a suitable explanation, it’s a heavy feeling of abandonment.
I suspect the rise of mental illness has much to do with economy. The more uncertain you are about the future, the easier it becomes to be steeped in resentment.
It is the other end of the wealth horseshoe: The wealthy are free of consequence, and consequence no longer holds meaning among the poor. After all, you don’t have friends, a job, or a future. The only way anyone will remember you is if you leave a mark upon them. You may die, but the living are left with the suffering you have left behind.
…that is my guess about the mindset. :(
No doubt many people have been affected, young men included. I think part of the reason the pushback on DEI & feminism exists is because we have new marginalized groups that are difficult to understand just yet.
Zoomers have an incredibly hard time breaking into professional careers. When one group sees themselves as a group; and another “group” is getting favoritism in the system (women, minorities); the natural response is “Why not me?”
This isn’t to discredit systemic racism or misogyny. I think those are real problems. I’m trying to think of how these folks might see the world, see how it lacks love and prospect for them. Putting others down isn’t how people feel loved.
I put more blame on older folks because of the imbalance of wealth, which unfortunately amounts to influence. Zoomer men may be disenfranchised, but they are likely poorer in terms of equity. They help drive engagement and the algos.
It all gets more complicated with geography and so on. I appreciate you adding more context to the situation.