Young people have long leaned to the left. But some Gen Zers — including those who grew up in progressive homes — are questioning the status quo and realizing they’re not actually Democrats.
Although more than half of Gen Zers do not identify with any political party, more than a fifth (21%) identify as Republican.
The Post spoke to four young voters who left the left about their political journey:
Becky Oliveira: “I was exhausted by the constant anger” on the left
If you had met Becky Oliveira when she was a teenager, she would have told you she was left-wing and a radical feminist.
“I was a very emotional, hormonal, angry little girl, and it was an ideology that really appealed to her because it was somewhere to direct that anger towards fighting against power structures,” the youngster said. 23-year-old woman from Queens at the Post.
Although his parents were not particularly political, Oliveira said his upbringing was dominated by left-wing messages – coming from his school, his peers and especially the internet.
“I was a typical Tumblr leftist and was raised on gender theory through social media,” she said.
When Donald Trump won in 2016, the 15-year-old was devastated.
“I spent the whole day crying because I was so scared. I thought hordes of KKK members were going to come and shoot me and my friends because I’m Hispanic,” she recalls.
But now, in 2024, she plans to support Trump: “This whole ‘evil orange man’ thing is very tired and very played out, and I think more and more young people are realizing that.
Oliveira’s political transformation was propelled by the Covid-19 lockdown, when “something inexplicable happened” while she was a student at St. Francis College.
Vaccination mandates and Black Lives Matter protests that escalated into riots in the summer of 2020 suddenly made her question everything, Oliveira said.
“I started to get very exhausted from this constant anger,” she said. “I guess I just started to mature as a person and started to realize that a lot of my reactions were based more on emotion than facts.”
Since the pandemic, Oliveira has made a complete political shift, joining the New York Young Republicans Club and getting involved in local politics. She currently works in communications for Inna Vernikov, a Republican member of the New York City Council.
“I just woke up to the groupthink that was on the left, and I decided that I could no longer subscribe to this posh mentality of following what’s happening now.”
Logan Dubil: “Generation Z men are rather conservative”
Growing up, Logan Dubil opted for the left-wing politics of his friends and family.
“I definitely aligned myself with liberal ideology,” the 23-year-old said. “These values were introduced to me by my friends and online, and it seemed to be the most popular thing, so I just decided to accept them. »
Dubil – who grew up in Pennsylvania, where his father supported Bernie Sanders – began to question the left-wing views he inherited after the 2016 election.
“After Trump won, I started doing more research because I saw that a lot of people were either really upset or really excited, and I wanted to understand why,” said Dubil, who is studying marketing at Point Park University.
“I started doing my own research and realized that I was actually on the right,” he recalls.
After examining the pro-life position, Dubil realized that he was not actually pro-choice. He also says he’s awakened to the gender ideology that turned him off the left: “It’s basically being shoved down your throat, and a lot of people are sick of it.” »
In the years since, he has become a vocal Republican and often shares his views on social media – leading to a rift within his family.
“My father always lectures me about not agreeing with my position,” Dubil said. “Some members of my extended family even blocked me on social media. I’m very family oriented, so it’s sad to see that people who disagree with me are willing to cut me out of their lives simply because of a political disagreement.
Nevertheless, Dubil holds on.
Although he supported Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary, he is now throwing his support behind Trump — and he expects many of his peers to do the same.
“I have a lot of friends who have had the same experience,” he said. “Gen Z men lean conservative, and I think that will continue, especially since many right-wing political commentators are doing a really good job of reaching them on social media. »
Maxwell: ‘DEI in my workplace was a wake-up call’
In Maxwell’s mind, Democrats were always the “good guys” — until they weren’t.
The 27-year-old Manhattan resident grew up in Colorado and was inspired by his father’s progressive politics.
“I definitely identified with my father’s political leanings and fully believed that Democrats were the good guys fighting for very sensible causes,” said Maxwell, who asked to keep his last name for privacy reasons. , at the Post.
Because he supported same-sex marriage, environmental protection, and limiting American involvement in the Iraq War, Maxwell saw the Democratic Party as his logical home.
But, while working for a consulting firm during the pandemic, his eyes were opened to the DEI initiatives being rolled out in the summer of 2020.
“The CEO called an all-hands meeting to talk about diversity initiatives, which I always thought were good,” he recalls.
But, Maxwell claimed, the CEO announced that he would no longer mentor any white or male individuals, in order to promote “inclusion” in the company.
“It suddenly became clear to me that there were left-wing activists controlling universities and big companies, including the one I worked for,” he recalls.
Since then, Maxwell has sharply criticized affirmative action hiring policies, which he calls “racist”; vaccination mandates he calls “draconian” and office closures during the pandemic.
Although he voted for Biden in 2020, he now considers it “a mistake.” He is undecided between Trump and Kennedy in 2024 and says the most important issues to him as a voter are controlling immigration, passing business-friendly regulations and restoring law and order to America’s cities .
For Maxwell, who now works for a software start-up, his politics are making life more difficult: “It has become increasingly difficult to live in a high-tech world because there is a very strong monoculture of politics left-wing and coastal elites. »
Grace Guentzel: “I had never thought about Republican positions.”
Grace Guentzel was raised by Democrats and so she became a Democrat.
“My family is pretty liberal, and I surrounded myself with very liberal Democrats,” a 20-year-old Gilbert, Ariz., resident told the Post. “At first I just agreed with them because that was how I was raised. »
Growing up in Minnesota, she was taught to be staunchly pro-choice and anti-gun — but a “slow, gradual awakening over the last couple of years” led her to become a Republican.
“I don’t think I really explored the nuances,” Guentzel said. “Before, I couldn’t even understand the pro-life and pro-gun positions. I didn’t understand both points of view. I just accepted the way I was raised.
Being a Democrat was a solution – and the status quo in his community. But when she went to Arizona State University to study history, Grace began to deliberately engage with the other side.
“I finally started deliberately seeking out different opinions,” she said. “When I started studying history, economics and world politics at school, I was exposed to so many different points of view and ways of thinking about things. »
As she began to reason about issues like abortion, she said, the scales fell from her eyes: “I don’t eat meat, but I was very pro-choice and I understood what makes a fetus less worthy of life. than a cow?
Now, Guentzel identifies as a Republican.
Even though his family “doesn’t really like his policy change,” they avoid broaching the subject. But some of her peers excluded her because of her opinions: “I lost a few friends, but that’s okay with me because they’re not people who value debate and conversation.”
As the 2024 election approaches, she doesn’t know whether she’ll vote for Kennedy or Trump, but says she’s looking for a candidate who will solve the border crisis, protect gun rights and keep trans women in line. gap in women’s sports. And one thing is certain: “I will definitely not vote for Biden. »
New York Post
