Letters to the Editor: Gen Z didn’t vote for centrism. It voted against Republicans and for Democrats.
I don’t mean to be unkind, but it’s true. The Gen Z who came out to vote in 2016 were much more politically left of center, and even left of Republican, than those who came out to vote in 2014. It may be that some of this had to do with 2016 being the first election when the new technology was available. It may also be that they were less attuned to candidates for whom they may have voted and were more likely to vote for candidates outside of their political party or a political style they were unfamiliar with.
While Gen Z’s vote may have reflected a more progressive and more left-leaning political sensibility, it was also a vote for the Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton. If you’re a Gen Z, you may vote for a Democrat with a progressive name (Trump or Sanders) if he says the right things. If you’re a Gen Z, you may vote for a Democrat with a liberal name (Clinton) if he says the right things. If you’re a Gen Z, you may vote for a Democrat (Trump) who says the right things…but he often does say the wrong things.
The Democrat nominee for 2018, Joe Biden, was the first Democrat candidate to win a majority of the Gen Z vote since 2004. I think that’s a tribute to the Democrats’ political and cultural influence.
The author, Ryan Sager, is a graduate of Harvard University and has worked for several technology companies in Silicon Valley.
A recent Gallup poll found millennials are the most politically left-wing generation ever, with 47 percent opposing gun rights and 49 percent opposing federal interference with states’ right to nullify federal laws. And they’re the only generation more likely to favor socialism than capitalism.
The author, Sarah Dettmer, is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia.
A recent study found that a majority of millennials are more comfortable with socialism and government-run health care than capitalism and private health care. In addition, a study from the Brookings Institution found that millennials are “heavily supportive” of socialism and strongly supportive of “Medicare for all” and “government-run health care.”
The author, Matt Hohman, is a Washington, D.C.-based policy analyst and director of Research Operations for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for
