“Fight”

February 15, 2022

In his book “Fight,” researcher and pollster John Della Volpe shares his observations about Gen Z from polling data that he has gleaned from his position at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. He talks about how Gen Z is channeling its fear and passion to save America. The bottom line is that Zoomers and Millenials are politically engaged, and political parties ignore them at their own peril.

The issues that motivate Gen Z are pretty clear. Climate change and the world they will inherit are politically motivating. Gun violence, school shootings, and gun safety are critical issues. Income inequality is a major concern. They are very concerned with the unchecked rise in hate speech, hate groups, and racism. And, the potential of crippling debt in the pursuit of higher education weighs heavily on them. Gen Z votes predominantly Democratic, but Democrats cannot take this support for granted.

What do Republicans offer Gen Z? The Republican Party offers Gen Z lip service at best to the problems of climate change, and climate denialism at worst. It is clearly the fossil fuel party. The Republican Party offers “thoughts and prayers” every time there is a school shooting, and actively thwarts concrete proposals for mitigating the bloodbaths. The Republican Party at the highest levels gives comfort to white supremacists, hate groups and politicians, who support them. The Republican Party has no agenda addressing the cost of college tuition. It literally has no agenda.

The Republican Party is more concerned with cultural wedge issues like Critical Race Theory, abortion, Stop the Steal, and anti-vaxxing. You couldn’t come up with a better plan for losing the future and future voters if you tried.