Political views of Generation Z

[5][6] In the late 2010s, Generation Z was often portrayed as a progressive cohort, showing strong support for social issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, gun control, gender equality, sex positivity and access to abortion.

[7] Statistically, Gen Z tends to register as Democrats, reflecting their greater openness to left-leaning causes compared to earlier generations.

[9] The popularity of incel communities among some Gen Z men stands in contrast to the generation’s broader progressive image, opposing LGBT Rights, feminism and Anti-Fascism.

[10][11] However, this perception was later challenged, particularly in the context of the 2024 United States presidential election, with a large segment of American Gen Z men aligning themselves with more conservative beliefs then women.

American Gen Z women individuals and non-binary leaned left, supporting progressive causes such as reproductive rights and intersectional feminism.

[14][15]The Gen Z gender divide has been criticized for referring to what individuals "politically identify" as instead of polling data, causing some outlets to dismiss this claim as misleading.

[21][22][23] According to Sean Simpsons of Ipsos, people are more likely to vote when they have more at stake, such as children to raise, homes to maintain, and income taxes to pay.

In recent years, a political gender gap between Gen Z men and women emerged, with Gen Z men leaning towards Conservatism and Right-wing Populism, and women leaning towards support for progressive and left-wing policies, a gap that has been detected by various research and numerous countries, but more predominantly in Argentina, Brazil, the United States and South Korea.

Moreover, the share of women aged 18 to 26 who backed the Le Pen political family rose from 9% in 1988 to 32% in 2017, closing the gender gap in the process.

In 2022, exit polls revealed that voters aged 18 to 24 intended to vote overwhelmingly (by a margin of over 35%) for Gustavo Petro in the runoff for the Colombian presidential election.

[35] Argentina, on the other hand, has seen an uprising of right wing and pro-market movements in younger generations, as polls estimate that the majority of young voters between 16 and 24 years voted Javier Milei for president in the 2023 Argentine general election.

[37] A 2017 survey produced by MTV and the Public Religion Research Institute found that 72% of Americans aged 15 to 24 held unfavorable views of President Donald Trump.

"[18][42] However, according to a field survey by The Washington Post interviewing every fifth person at the protest, only ten percent of the participants were 18 years of age or younger.

[43] According to a Politico survey, a 2020 presidential election with only Generation Z voters would see Joe Biden win 51% of the popular vote, compared to Donald Trump's 25%.

Gen Z women, more than men, tended to support progressive candidates, influenced by concerns about issues like reproductive rights, climate change, and social justice.

[49][50][51] Overall, these factors reflected how gender-related issues, such as women's rights and gender equality, influenced the voting behavior of young people in the United States during the 2024 election.

[57] Nevertheless, anti-abortion sentiments among American youths in the early 2020s were sufficiently strong to motivate them to participate in the annual March for Life in Washington D.C.[58][59][60] The 2016 Varkey Foundation and Populus survey also asked about people's viewpoints on moral questions regarding sex and gender.

[63] In a 2019 poll by YouGov and Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation found that more than half of Gen Z Americans have an unfavorable view of capitalism, and almost two-thirds said they were likely to vote for a socialist candidate.

[29] This age group in the EU is also more likely to attribute poverty to “laziness or lack of willpower," though this sentiment is not the majority view of the cohort in most countries in Europe.

The poll also found that overwhelming majorities of Gen-Z Britons (aged 16 to 22) blame capitalism for the UK housing crisis to some extent, label climate change as a capitalist problem, and would like to nationalize utilities and railways.

[66][67] According to a 2018 International Federation of Accountants survey of G20 countries, the top three public policy priorities for members of Generation Z are the stability of the national economy, the quality of education, and the availability of jobs.

[69][70][71] In 2019, Harvard University's Institute of Politics Youth Poll asked voters aged 18 to 29 – younger Millennials and the first wave of Generation Z – what they would like to be priorities for US foreign policy.

Overall the British public has not changed their minds on the issue[73] as this aligned with the results of the 2016 Brexit referendum when younger voters were more likely to vote to stay in the European Union.

[74] In a 2016 Varkey Foundation and Populus international survey,[note 1] the question of whether or not those 15 to 21 favored legal migration received mixed responses.

[7] A worldwide Deloitte survey saw that climate change and protecting the environment top Generation Z's primary concerns, with curbing unemployment and expanding health care access not far behind.

[80] A 2020 survey conducted for Newsround of Britons aged 8 to 16 suggested that 80% of young Generation Z viewed climate change as a problem, with more than a third thinking it was "very important".

The movement saw millions of young people around the world, inspired by the activities of Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, protest for greater action on climate change.

The March for Our Lives, a protest taking place in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 was described by various media outlets as being led by students and young people.