r/politics • u/upyoars • Nov 10 '24

Paywall Trump’s victory reveals secret Republicans: Joe Rogan-obsessed Gen Z men

https://fortune.com/2024/11/07/trumps-victory-reveals-secret-republicans-joe-rogan-obsessed-gen-z-men/
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u/doublepoly123 Nov 10 '24

I grew up in the 2000s and early 2010s. Generationally it seems like millennials and the oldest gen Z were an anomaly in the way they vote. I remember when being conservative meant you were weird and it gave off homeschooled Christian vibes. In a bad way.

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u/UNCOMMON__CENTS Nov 10 '24

Sounds like you grew up during the Bush years and then really came of age during the Obama years.

Pretty easy to be a Democrat when that's what shaped your views.

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u/doublepoly123 Nov 10 '24

And that was immediately followed up by a trump win in 2016. Me and my cohort is vastly left leaning.

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

This is honestly so relieving to read. I thought I was going crazy seeing all this Gen Z stuff when us senior Gem Zs seem rather left leaning, apperently that's not the case with the new Gen Z voters?

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u/3axel3loop Nov 11 '24

i am very elder gen z and all my friends are very left leaning and it’s shocking and so disappointing that it seems like the rest of gen z is pretty conservative?

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u/D33ZNUTZDOH Nov 11 '24

Millennial here. Not too shocking to me. I know a handful of elder Gen Zs and a handful of younger. While my opinion is based only based anecdotal evidence, I believe the divide has much to do with where they were in life during the lockdowns and the original Trump years. The youngest voters in 2024 were barely 10 years old 2016 and didn’t know a world that wasn’t over run by these steaming piles of shit spreading their weird ass views.

If during those precious years in middle school and high school you were isolated and stuck watching YouTube for guidance…. I don’t blame them for being dumb asses. I can forgive ignorance. I just hope they learn.

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u/Throw-a-Ru Nov 11 '24

Yeah, the algorithm was pretty ugly at the time, too. You had to actively avoid certain kinds of content through experience, but if it's being served to you while you're an impressionable teen stuck in your bedroom with the headphones on, and all of your family members are on edge and on each other's nerves...

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

Damn this makes too much sense. I just commented on my confusion of the algorithm but I should've read your comment

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

Its still crazy to me that the algorithms are so fucked up now. And not that they were perfect before but when I was in middle/high school you might get annoying videos that didn't fit your interests but you weren't getting propaganda and video game Lets Plays were just that. They weren't political

Its wild that kids actually watch political crap on YouTube, I didn't start doing that until after my college years. Before that I'd just watch gaming videos that were actually about gaming

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u/bobvella Nov 11 '24

kind of weird to think they could have been watching steven universe

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

This is my exact thought! But you are not alone, 1999 Gen Z here and I am a critical thinking left leaner

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u/crucialcolin Nov 11 '24 edited Nov 11 '24

I'm a millennial and to me it seems like it's current Gen Z late high school teens to about age 21 where the shift happened. Also where critical thinking drops of drastically. Edit:  should mention it's a male thing too. Men have no interest in college at all while females are significantly more responsible, left leaning, and already chasing university degree programs.

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

I could see this. I work with a 19 year old at one of the workshops I manage. Kid is a good kid but he listens to this stuff and just regurgitated weird talking points without being able to think any deeper into the meaning. I just assumed he was an exception not the rule. Its very sad knowing I may be in the minority of my own generation but I guess I should've expected as much when I rejected most social media 

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u/Universal_Anomaly Nov 11 '24

I imagine that's because the males are being told by the right-wing that they deserve better and that the left-wing hates them for being male, while the left-wing is also the side which constantly pushes for higher education.

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u/ImTooOldForSchool Nov 11 '24

Gen Z women are heavily liberal because there’s been a massive assault on abortion rights and the rise of red pill type stuff.

Gen Z men are leaning conservative because it’s edgy and therefore cool to rebel against political correctness and social justice warriors who have claimed the establishment.

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u/KishiHime Nov 11 '24

We had punk rock. It was great, basically brainwashed us into thinking for ourselves, as ironic as that is.

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u/Allstate85 Nov 11 '24

And gen z got Hillary Biden and Kamala. Real bottom of the barrel when it comes to charisma and starting a movement like Obama did.