Generation Z and the Rise of Conservatism
Generation Z is quickly replacing their predecessors, the millennials, as the token youth on the national stage and as the newest generation to receive media think pieces about, laden with interested speculation. The data is admittedly slim as to the nascent political leanings of this generational cohort — the oldest of which is around the age of 22 — but signs are accumulating that hint at surprising conservative impulses.
Traditionally, young people have nearly always had a progressive bent to them. Accompanying this belief is the idea that people generally grow more conservative with age. Interestingly, the current generation of youth doesn’t appear to be mirroring this historical trend with much exactitude. What might the reasons be for this?
To begin with, it is true that only a subset of Gen-Z is even of voting age. Personally, having been born in 1998, I just barely made the mark to vote in the 2016 election. Thus, I am not making the case that we have on our hands a highly mobilized band of fiery mini conservatives. Rather, the general mood of this generation — slowly but surely arriving on the cusp of adulthood and moving into civic participation — appears to be showing stronger threads of conservatism than one would typically expect from such an age group. Granted, one could question the coherence of the political views of a 16-year-old…
