What’s Making Young Americans Become More Conservative?

The young people have spoken, and it turns out, their voice is more conservative than we once believed.

The 2024 presidential election will result in Donald Trump returning to office. This outcome may not surprise some people, but many polls and analysts anticipated Kamala Harris would be victorious. Clearly, some factors that were overlooked.

Young voters — people under the age of 30 — are skewing more conservative than they have been in prior elections. This group is largely made up of Gen Z, a demographic that was once defined by its progressive views and diversity a few years ago. Fast forward to 2024, and this group is now considered a “moderate” bunch.

This doesn’t seem to be another case of people lying to the polls. Rather, young adults have faced several factors that shifted and realigned their priorities to the point that they‘ve redefined their generational values.

The moderate difference

If we look at data from Donald Trump’s first presidency, it indicates that Gen Z largely disapproved of the 45th president. Their views tended to align with Millennials, but as Gen Z overtakes the 18–29 demographic, we’re starting to see how different the younger generation is.

Overall, the 18–29 demographic remains liberal, but the gap is shrinking. In the 2024 election, the divide between the parties is narrower than the two prior elections. In 2024, the Democratic candidate…