A new poll of Gen Zers about life priorities reveals some startling results.
W hat makes Gen Z tick?
The question is top of mind for pollsters and pundits in the wake of the November election, especially as it pertains to young men. But, as I’ve written before, it is important to distinguish by sex when analyzing my generation’s political priorities. The gender divide on political and other issues is growing for this cohort — and a recent poll from NBC News reveals just how stark it is.
The survey asked almost 3,000 Gen Zers to list the three factors most important to their personal definition of success. The results are bleak. They suggest that radical feminism is deeply programmed into young women regardless of whether they voted Republican or Democrat.
Of those surveyed, most young men and women who voted for Kamala Harris listed “having a job or career you find fulfilling” and “having enough money to do the things you want to do” as top life goals. “Being married” and “having children” were among the priorities selected least frequently — outranking only “fame and influence.” This is understandable enough. Young Harris voters’ first choices are consistent with Democratic strategist James Carville’s old insight, “It’s the economy, stupid” (an insight with bipartisan application, to be sure). And family formation — a historical concern of conservatism that is not just a bulwark against big government but the only way to sustain a civilization — is less consequential to them than securing material comfort.
However, what shocked me was the study’s next column, which showed that young female Donald Trump voters are not that different from their pro-Harris counterparts in how they rank the importance of forming a family. For young women who voted for Trump, marriage was listed as frequently as it was for male Harris supporters, in ninth place.
Do MAGA ladies and Dudes for Harris really see marriage in the same light? To give them the benefit of the doubt, many Trump-voting young women I know are jaded about the dating market and exhausted from the search. But that’s not a reason to stop looking for your forever partner to share in life’s joys and trials, a major source of fulfillment statistically. Even the New York Times acknowledges that a good marriage is a huge predictor of happiness and a solid foundation for life, much more important than educational attainment or salary. I thought the NBC poll, conducted August 13-September 1, would have shown at least some effect, some marital bump from Taylor Swift’s engagement to Travis Kelce. But no. For female Gen Z Trumpers, marriage still comes after financial independence, a career, and home ownership — all things that a good marriage augments rather than subtracts from.
Electorally, the poll suggests that young women are still the Democrats’ to lose. But the opposite is true for young men.
A theme of politics since 2024 has been the Democrats’ struggle to win that demographic, which turned out in large numbers for Trump (and I should note that these findings were released before this week’s shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk, a prominent political voice for that group). The NBC poll shows that Trump-voting young men are the most conservative young adults on these questions, in that having children is their top life goal, and marriage is their fourth. Some progressives online have mocked the pro-Trump respondents for not valuing “emotional stability,” while prioritizing “having children” — the implication being that these young men should be disqualified from fatherhood because they’re not in therapy.
There’s nothing wrong with conservative young men desiring to leave a legacy. Perhaps Trump-voting young men see success as something greater than their feelings — a mature outlook. But more importantly, why would conservative young men select “emotional stability” as a top choice when that’s evidently not something they lack?
Since 1972, conservatives have consistently reported greater contentment compared with liberals; women between the ages of 16 and 24 are almost three times as likely to experience a common mental health issue, such as anxiety and depression, as males of the same age.
One final takeaway from the poll is that young men and women who voted for Trump prioritized being grounded spiritually above enjoying emotional stability, while the reverse was true for young men and women who voted for Harris. Progressives may claim this is because they are deeply empathetic about collective humanity and troubles like climate change. The reality is that many young progressives are out of touch with religion, which can contribute to a cynical view that life is random and chaotic, and that the only worthwhile use of time is to focus on gratifying and enriching yourself.
There are some silver linings in the poll, but these are my main takeaways. The parties are aging rapidly, and new blood with revolutionary ideas (that definitely have never been tried before!) will soon step up to the plate. While Trump made inroads with Gen Z in November, one thing is for sure: Young men are carrying the weight of the conservative movement on their backs.