Why did Gen Z think Trump would be in their best interests

Politics & Elections
1

One of the surprising things about the 2024 election, other than the fact that hispanics moved so far to the right, is that Gen Z moved to the right. They gave Biden a 25 point margin in 2020, but only gave Harris a 4 point margin in 2024.

The CBS/YouGov data showed that the collapse in support for Trump among Gen Z voters has been both sharp and steady**.** By late February, it had slipped to 51 percent, with disapproval at 49 percent—a modest but narrowing lead. That equilibrium held through March. But April brought a dramatic downturn, with approval plunging to 43 percent by mid-month and 44 percent by April 25. Disapproval climbed in parallel, hitting 57 percent and 56 percent, respectively.

By June 6, Trump’s approval stood at just 40 percent, and by mid-July, support among Gen Z cratered at 28 percent—the lowest of his second term to date.

I know Gen Z has been abandoned by America economically. They grew up knowing they’d never own a home, have job security, have access to health care, be able to raise a family, retire comfortably, etc the way they felt people should be able to.

So I can understand why they are frustrated by the fact that the country has abandoned them economically. What I can’t figure out is why they thought Trump would be good for them economically. Gen Z’s approval of Trump has cratered in Trumps first 6 months in office. I just don’t understand why Gen Z thought he would be good for them. Why would a billionaire plutocrat be good for the economic prospects of Gen Z people struggling to pay rent? How did so many in Gen Z come to that conclusion?

I know you can say both parties refuse to address income inequality, and that is true. But to me, if a bullet wound is a metaphor for income inequality, the democrats put a band-aid on a gunshot wound and republicans shoot you a second time and rub salt in the wound. Yes neither party actually gets you the proper medical care, but one is worse than the other.

Why would Gen Z think ‘lets get shot a second time and see if that heals the first gunshot wound’ be a good approach to politics? This isn’t meant to be rude, I’m genuinely confused as to what they expected. If they didn’t see this coming, their approval of Trump wouldn’t have cratered so much.

Is the Gen Z collapse more about Israel and Gaza? Even that, what did they think Trump would do to improve that situation?

2

On another note, latinos are souring on Trump a little bit, but nowhere near as much as Gen Z.

Fewer Latinos approve of Trump’s job now (35%, to 63% disapprove) than in Equis polling from May (38%, to 60% disapprove).

A majority of Latinos (64%) rate the current U.S. economy as “somewhat or very poor.” Only 34% view it as “somewhat or very good.”

The economy was consistently Trump’s top-rated issue during his first administration, usually outpacing his overall job approval. Today, approval of Trump on the economy is slightly worse than his overall approval (-31, with 34% approve to 65% disapprove) and on net has worsened since May (when it was -26). Economic approval among Biden defectors has remained stable and net negative since May (now -8, previously -6).

Despite current dissatisfaction, Latinos are largely in a "wait-and-see” mode regarding the economy’s future. While 15% believe it will “definitely get better,” a combined 54% believe it will “probably get better but it’s too soon to know” (26%) or “probably get worse but it’s too soon to know” (28%). This “wait-and-see” posture is particularly evident among Biden defectors, though they lean towards optimism (52% “probably get better but it’s too soon to know” and 28% “probably get worse but it’s too soon to know”).

I wonder why Gen Z soured on Trump due to the economy, but hispanics are still in a ‘wait and see’ mode. I can see some of the economic appeal for hispanics, because Trump threatening to deport illegal hispanic immigrants should in theory increase the jobs and wages for legal hispanic residents.

We’ve had Trump for 6 months and we have a trillion cut from medicaid, trillions in tax cuts for the rich, and tariffs that increase prices.

On another note, if a competent dictator who actually does take action to reduce income inequality ever shows up, America is fucked. Lots of people would happily vote for an authoritarian dictator who promises to make life economically better, and by the time people realize they aren’t going to do it, all the avenues to remove them from power will be gone (see what happened in Venezuela).

Venezuela now has an oppressive dictatorship and life is an economic shithole there. People accomplished nothing by voting in Chavez and Maduro, and now Maduro can’t be removed because democracy has been destroyed.

3

Young voter turn out dropped a lot between 2020 and 2024. From over 50% to 42%.

4

I pit your suggestion that the left only votes in naked self-interest.

6

The left tends to vote for (from what I can tell) a mix of reasons including wanting a more fair and inclusive society as well as a more fair and inclusive economy.

But I don’t understand your question. I’m not talking about ‘the left’. The left is liberals and black people, who overwhelmingly rejected Trump and still reject him.

I’m talking about Gen Z.

Yes but why did they think Trump would be good for them? I can’t wrap my mind around this?

Were they just so frustrated in how America has let them down that they thought ‘anyone would be better’? Again, I don’t understand how voting for a plutocrat would be a good idea if you’re concerned about the working class. Why is this a revelation to Gen Z that a plutocrat would rule as a plutocrat? Why didn’t they know this in 2024?

If they didn’t see this coming, their approval of him wouldn’t have steadily declined between election day and today.

7

While the definition of the years that comprise Gen Z varies a bit, it’s usually defined as around 1997-2012. This means that the vast majority of Gen Zs were not yet old enough to even vote for Trump (or against him) the first time around, in 2016. Almost all of them were still in high school, or grade school, in 2016, though some would have been in college during the first Trump administration.

Most of them were probably not particularly aware of the impact of government policies during Trump45, and weren’t aware that they “got shot the first time.” What they did know was that the economy under Biden wasn’t friendly to them.

8

That answers your question. A lot of people who are unhappy with the way things are going will vote for the opponents of whomever is in power with no real further thought than that. Plenty of dictatorships have gotten into power that way.

9

Don’t forget that young Hillary Clinton volunteered for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Four years later she was an ardent supporter of Gene McCarthy.

Young people can be passionate about “change” even while needing more time to settle into exactly what changes they’re passionate about.

10

But if that were the case, wouldn’t Gen Z have consistently disapproved of Trump?

My impression is approval of Trump among Gen Z was around 50-55% around January, and is now around 28%.

According to the newsweek article I posted, Gen Z was 55% approve, 45% disapprove of Trump on February 7th 2025. As of July 18th, Gen Z is 28% approve of Trump, 72% disapprove of him.

Gen Z, to their credit, realize they made a mistake. MAGA will stand by Trump no matter how bad he fucks up and Gen Z deserves some credit for having morals and critical thinking skills that MAGA lacks.

But that still means about 1/4 of Gen Z approved of Trump in February, but now disapprove of him (meanwhile another ~50% of Gen Z has always disapproved of Trump, and another 25% has always approved of him).

So for that ~1/4 of Gen Z who approved of Trump in February, but now disapprove of him, what did they think would happen? I still can’t figure this out. To me, they would’ve had to expect Trump to make their lives better for them to switch from approval to disapproval. I don’t understand why they thought he would.

Also the Gen Z approval rating of Trump really cratered in June and July. On June 6th, 40% of Gen Z approved of Trump and as of July 18th, only 28% approve of him. What changed? Was it the trillion dollar budget bill that cut taxes for the rich and cut medicaid and renewable energy to fund it?

11

I think a lot of it comes down to the pandemic response, which I think Democrats screwed up in ways that we weren’t intellectually honest about at the time, and haven’t reckoned with properly since (in part because the right-wing screwups were much more obvious – straight-up pandemic denial was clearly a non-starter, and being antivax was, and is, just plain dumb). But: somehow wanting to keep schools closed and generally being maximally pandemic-cautious, even after vaccines became available, became left-coded, and there was a lot of denial about the tradeoffs involved (remember all the people who were insisting that learning loss was not actually a thing?) And I think kids who were in school at the time rightly recognized that they were being asked to sacrifice more than they should for the benefit of older people, and were willing to glom onto whatever side didn’t ask that of them. Add in a hefty dose of natural young-people rebellion against older people who are perceived as being scoldy or killjoys, and here we are. (Honestly, I think a big part of Trump’s evil genius is that he was the first Republican leader in a long time who came across as edgy and transgressive rather than a self-righteous scold, and somehow he managed to pull it off and still keep the fundamentalists on his side. It’s a delicate balance, and I think he has probably lost the ability to do this, judging by the fact that he’s lost South Park, but he kept it up for a remarkably long time.)

12

Again; the thought process begins and ends with getting the people in power, out of power. They likely didn’t think much if at all about what Trump would do, just that he wasn’t Biden.

Just look at the pro-Palestinian groups that supported Trump over Biden, completely ignoring Trump’s hostility to them; the same principle in action.

13

Again: they were all too young during Trump’s first term to have had first-hand, adult experience of what Trump did in his first term.

14

My hypothesis does tie in with @Fretful_Porcupine’s: Z’ers remembered, or thought they remembered, things going reasonably well under T45 before the pandemic threw everything into chaos. So maybe they kind of expected what they thought they remembered from pre-2020 and not that he would go full berserk?

15

I think every generation has to live through voting for change, and understanding the least bad option is considerably better than the worst option. Bush-Gore comes to mind.

So, you have a buncha Zoomers that got sucked into hype and hyperbole, with a dose of actually believing the word salad that comes out of a huckster’s mouth. That it bites them in the ass is a bitter dose of reality. No need to overthink it.

16

I think you have to be careful making generalizations - like these. For example, among most generations, rural people are often more conservative than urban ones. Trump appeals to men more than women. Some ethnic groups are more religious than others, place more emphasis on families and institutions, consume different specific media, and had different views on previous American foreign policy and immigration.

Some Gen Z’s may have preferred Trump to Biden based on their own experiences and possibly be feelings the Dems had not improved their life, seemed out of touch, or were emphasizing the wrong things. This is not necessarily a strong endorsement, picking the least worst candidate in their view.

The story that younger people had little political knowledge, consume more social media, were influenced by people popular on social media, were tired of identity politics, saw Trump as more entertaining or contrarian or successful or wrongfully deprived - these are all probably true at times but also probably stereotype many divergent views.

17

[checking my paintbrush]

Not broad enough for this discussion.

Stranger

18

I wouldn’t be too confident that Gen Z learned their lesson. Consider this 2023 poll:
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Versus 2025:
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The polls aren’t perfectly comparable since the age brackets are fixed but are two years apart, and the first poll is about registration vs. affiliation. Still, the shift is dramatic for 18-29, particularly men, whereas for 50+ the two surveys are fairly consistent. It should also be noted that the second poll went from Feb 5 to Jun 18, so it may have included people who had not yet soured on Trump, though it includes a fair amount of recent months as well.

Well, the youth are fickle, so if they can shift in one direction they can shift in the other. But the significant increase in unaffiliated perhaps suggests that this is more about rejection of the Democrats than embrace of Republicans. A collapse in Trump’s support may not imply that they will flock back to the Democrats unless they offer something compelling.

19

It’s giving them the benefit of the doubt, however. Putting them in the “ignorant and stupid” camp is giving them the best possible reasons to have voted for a monster like Trump.

If they knew what they were doing? They deserve lifelong condemnation for an unforgivable act. A declaration of war against humanity, for all practical purposes.

20

I don’t think you can keep from dividing this into the Left and the Right and various scales between. The entire generation is composed of all of those.

21

Gen Z men watch those idiot bros on YouTube (the Paul brothers and that other idiot anti-vax platforming bozo who has a giant following) – weren’t they in the tank for Trump? I think the various bro influencers had a big impact on Gen-Z men.