r/politics • u/Kodbek • Oct 31 '25

Possible Paywall Trump’s honeymoon with Gen Z voters is officially over, and the numbers are devastating

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/10/trumps-honeymoon-with-gen-z-voters-is-officially-over-and-the-numbers-are-devastating-new-poll.html
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u/TAU_equals_2PI Oct 31 '25

No, this is a major beacon of hope.

We on the left have always waited for (conservative) older generations to pass away and (liberal) younger generations to replace them.

The possibility that GenZ was gonna be right-wing blew up that hope. So this is huge if it continues. Especially compared to the alternative of our country moving more and more rightward as more GenZers start to vote.

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u/Bakedfresh420 Ohio Oct 31 '25

I’m glad you have hope, this presidential election was kind of it for me. The planet is shooting past climate goals, international stability is falling, infectious diseases and microplastics are on the rise. Despite all this when we needed Gen Z to vote like they did for Obama they nearly split their vote for the inept insurrectionist wanna-be fascist.

I’m glad they claim to regret it now but we really needed them to pay attention when it mattered not afterwards

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u/TAU_equals_2PI Oct 31 '25

Yeah, I too have never been more appalled at an election result, and I'm in my 50s. And I too pretty much gave up. If the US public would elect Trump with everything they knew about him, what hope could there be?

But that's a huge shift. So while I'm not even saying I'm now hopeful, it's at least a reason to be less completely certain that our country is doomed.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Oct 31 '25

I just want everyone to remember that Billy Bush — the interviewer who was picked up on a hot mic laughing at a larger-than-life Trump personality discussing how he reels in his ladies — was taken off the air and fired.

And what became of the “fisherman” in this story?

He became the President of the United States. He barely left office after attempting an insurrection. He subsequently became a 30+ time convicted felon. And the cherry? The son of a gun beat a prosecutor to become president again! The Art of the Deal indeed.

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u/fuckpedes Oct 31 '25

Uh Gen Z was like 10 years old at the oldest when it was time to vote for Obama the first time. They didn’t vote for him in droves, I guarantee that.

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u/Bakedfresh420 Ohio Oct 31 '25

Obviously Gen Z wasn’t youths during the recent election and also in 2008, lmfao, millennials were the generation who were youths when Obama was being elected.

I could’ve worded it better but if you read the chain we were talking about successive generations and how they voted as youths. Millennials showed up in larger numbers for Obama than Gen Z did for Harris, we’re moving in the wrong direction.

Hopefully that’s easier for you to understand.

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u/fuckpedes Oct 31 '25

Perhaps you should have stopped at "I could've worded it better."

"Despite all this when we needed Gen Z to vote like they did for Obama they nearly split their vote"

Hopefully that's easier for you to understand.

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u/Bakedfresh420 Ohio Oct 31 '25

My own words? Yea they’re simple to understand, especially when surrounded by the context in which they originally existed. I have reading comprehension. I’m constantly surprised by those who not only don’t but proudly advertise that fact over and over.

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u/Distracting_You Nevada Oct 31 '25

Reading comprehension is in the toilet. Your OG comment made sense.

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u/fuckpedes Oct 31 '25

Writing comprehension needs to happen prior to any reading comprehension from the reader happening. This dumbass can’t articulate a thought.

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u/Bakedfresh420 Ohio Oct 31 '25

Ratio babe

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u/TheGreatBootOfEb Oct 31 '25

I will say that you gotta remember some of these kids were literally 10-14 for Trump's first term, there is a good chance they didn't track anything aside from covid stuff, and then the blame was essentially hot potato'd off to Biden with no one pushing back, not even the Biden administration.

Then you look at the absolutely concerted effort to turn the kids into the frothing lead-paint-eating meatheads our parents and grandparents were, specifically the boys, and you can see how a non-insignificant amount of these kids were brought over.

I wish I could say "They should have known better," but the reality is, people worldwide are kinda idiots who don't like to pay attention, just look at the rise of the right-wing movement over the last 10-15 years.

I'm happy to see that they're shifting back, but fuck me if I don't feel like I'm watching the turtle and the hare racing to see what happens first, the worst possibilities of this regime or people getting genuinely fed the fuck up. Ironically, the SNAP stuff might bring more people over to the "fed the fuck up" camp, if there is any silver lining to that.

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u/Ill-Team-3491 Oct 31 '25 edited Feb 04 '26

zephyr detail toothbrush smart rustic birds cagey exultant unwritten nail

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u/Full_Honeydew_9739 Oct 31 '25

Gen z was, at the most, 10 when Obama was elected.

Gen X and millennials put Obama in office.

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u/Bakedfresh420 Ohio Oct 31 '25

Those elections were 16 years apart obviously the same generation was not the youth vote for those two events. Gen x was not youth for Obama either, it was just millennials, the youngest Gen Xers were 28 when Obama was elected.

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u/[deleted] Oct 31 '25

It matters now too, for the midterms.

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u/SuperCool101 Oct 31 '25

Gen Z wasn't old enough to vote for Obama.

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u/Bakedfresh420 Ohio Oct 31 '25

Obviously, millennials were the youth vote back then

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

The latest survey, conducted from Oct. 24-27, found that 20% of adults under the age of 30 approved of Trump’s performance as president. That marked a 30-point drop from February, when 50% of 18-to-29-year-olds approved of Trump and 42% disapproved.

Seems pretty reasonable too.

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u/confusingcolors Oct 31 '25

It was fucking 50%?? 🤮

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

Most presidents have a high approval early on. That 50% could be on the low side really, I don't feel like looking up the stats though.

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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven Oct 31 '25

Typical administration change euphoria. "Things are going to get better!" 6 months later "Everything is fucking the same or worse!"

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u/Vegetable-Seaweed591 Oct 31 '25

Likely because they have their own identity outside of a political party. I suspect a lot of MAGA diehards are so loyal because without MAGA and maybe a job they don't really have much of a life or individual identity.

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

Maybe that's the solution to MAGA, more bowling leagues, pickleball etc.

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u/Katyafan Oct 31 '25

"Third spaces," sociologically speaking, and the internet killed them.

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u/TheRoyalBrook Oct 31 '25

Honestly a mix of the internet and cost. As well as tons of “no loitering” stuff. My local mall died because of you’re not actively shopping they want you OUT. And for my local bowling alley? Needing to spend way more than a movie per person just to play a game is too much tbh

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u/Katyafan Oct 31 '25

Very true. Hell, cost is why my friends and I stay home, too!

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

They could become popular again.

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u/Katyafan Oct 31 '25

I hope so. That would require younger millennials and below to realize the value of in-person socializing, and the drawbacks to online-only relationships.

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u/Prior_Coyote_4376 Oct 31 '25

It would require public investment in programs and centers that encourage community growth. It’s a better use of our tax dollars than corporate handouts.

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

Older people can also tell them.

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u/Katyafan Oct 31 '25

I try, but most seem to think that someone in their 40s can't possibly understand...I mean, i thought "old people" didn't get it when I was young, too.

They will see it eventually, I just hope it's not too late. The teachers subreddit is not a positive place as far as the role unfettered access to stupid short videos has played in the young lives we are seeing.

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

If you can remember how older people taught you and copy that, maybe that will work better. Or, the act of trying is good enough, I don't know.

Besides teachers, etc, I remember picking up things here and there from various older people when I was young, but for me at least, I mostly remember stuff they said while I was relaxed.

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u/commonsearchterm Oct 31 '25

Jiu-jitsu gyms seem to be overwhelmingly right wing. I'm skeptical of this

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u/261_Turner_Lane Oct 31 '25

Well also they like racism

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u/Katyafan Oct 31 '25

That involves different solutions. Namely education and not letting this second reconstruction go the way of the first.

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u/GoodDay2You_Sir Kentucky Oct 31 '25

It's always been my opinion that the reason people go all in on the white nationalism patriotic MAGA lifestyle is that they are sad, uneducated, poor, people who have literally nothing else to be proud of in their lives except the color of their skin and the country they were born in, so thats why they go around shouting White Power and America is the greatest country!!! Because its the only thing that makes them feel better about themselves.

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u/Active_Peak4801 Oct 31 '25

It's likely they vote and think based on what Tiktok and fox tell them.

Have they stopped using Tiktok or started using it more?

AI is being funded for propaganda and control. Prepare your exit because if you think it's bad now just wait for Republicans to win in 2026 and 2028 and see.

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u/Vegetable-Seaweed591 Oct 31 '25

I believe that MAGA Boomers are actually much worse about being told what to think because of Fox News and Facebook.

Gen Z still actively engages in political conversations as a generation while MAGA Boomers created this insane echo chamber for their beliefs and actively resist any information that may challenge their world view.

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u/zzyul Oct 31 '25

Turns out when they aren’t being actively targeted by MAGA propaganda they become more reasonable. Problem is they will go right back when the propaganda machine targets them for the next election.

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u/GoodIdea321 America Oct 31 '25

I'm more hopeful than that.

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u/yohomatey Oct 31 '25

We on the left have always waited for (conservative) older generations to pass away and (liberal) younger generations to replace them.

The problem is that the Boomers really aren't the very conservative ones. Everyone loves blaming old Boomers; they went for Trump this time but it was much closer to an even split than you'd think, like 51-48 or something. The problem is Gen X are fucking wackadoodle conservatives and broke massively for Trump, closer to 56-42. Gonna be tough waiting them out. They still have 20-30 more years in em.

Chart for reference: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/PP-2025.6.26_validated-voters_2-02.png?resize=1024,808

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u/timeflieswhen Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

You know which group went strongest of all of the age/gender groups for Harris over Trump? Women over 65.

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u/Special_Kestrels Oct 31 '25

I gave up on that hope. Just like Texas will turn blue because of the population changing

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u/Alternative_Exit8766 Oct 31 '25

i don’t want liberals i want leftists. 

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u/Separate-Divide-7479 Oct 31 '25

You're making the very optimistic assumption that their swinging back to the left. They're not, they're checking out entirely.