To understand how a generation votes, Jean Twenge says it’s important to look back at when they grew up.
Twenge, who studies the differences between generational cohorts in America, said when it comes to how people vote, the past can inform the present.
“There’s one big analysis that suggests that generations or cohorts lean – say Democrat or Republican – based on the political party and the popularity of who was president when they were in crucial years of adolescence and young adulthood,” Twenge told Connecticut Public’s "The Wheelhouse."
Recent polling from the Pew Research Center suggests that Gen X – who were adolescents during the Reagan administration – tend to align with Republicans. On the other hand, millennials, who were adolescents during the Obama administration, tend to align with Democrats.
Twenge is the author of “Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents and What they Mean for America’s Future.”
Her work is part of a “theory of generations,” an idea posed by sociologist Karl Mannheim in 1928 that says that each generation shares a specific set of beliefs, experiences, and political inclinations.
But the political inclinations of Gen Z are in many ways, “still more of an unknown quantity,” she said.
While Gen Z tilted strongly Democrat in the last election, recent studies, like a 2024 Gallup and Walton Family Foundation poll, suggest that they may be leaning more conservative than millennials did at their age.
In regards to the upcoming election, Twenge says, “I think Gen Z is a big question mark.”
Learn More:
Listen to the full interview on "The Wheelhouse": Politics across the generations: What mark are people your age leaving on politics?
Connecticut Public's Frankie Graziano contributed to this report.
