Overview
- Tapper made the prediction on The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie, citing his observations of his teenagers and their peers as more skeptical of progressive ideas.
- He attributed the shift to progressive politics being pushed in schools and to perceived failures of movements such as Bernie Sanders’ campaigns, Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, also mentioning COVID as a factor.
- Morning Consult data shows 24% of Gen Z now identify as conservative, up from 18% in 2016, signaling a measurable change over the past decade.
- A Harvard Kennedy School analysis found Gen Z favored Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by four points in 2024, far narrower than Biden’s 25-point youth margin in 2020, and Tapper noted Trump still performed better with young voters than past Republicans.
- Additional research cited by outlets reports a rightward tilt among young voters in 2024 compared with 2020, with CIRCLE finding more self-identified conservatives and NBC/SurveyMonkey polling showing a sharp gender gap in Gen Z attitudes toward Trump.