"A new trend has emerged in American politics: The very youngest voters — 18-to-24-year-olds — say they’re more conservative than the cohort that’s just older,” according to the latest Harvard Youth Poll.
“This new trend — which is true for both genders and emerged only in the last few years — is especially pronounced with men.”
I’d like to know the exact definition of “conservative.” I find it hard to believe that youn people are viewing the widespread woes of late game capitalism thinking “more capitalism will fix this.”
What I’ve seen are young men feeling isolated and lonely then being angry about it. Then they are told by Rogan/petersonesque types that being authoritarian to women as policy will get them an obedient wife.
The bottom paragraph of the article states that they’re just as likely to say health care is a right and governments should pay more to help lift people out of poverty. So, there’s a disconnect between the identity and actual policy positions which I think is pretty key.
They want more fair capitalism, universal health care and women to know where they belong.
It’s not ambiguous to them.
Whatever they believe…
They could say they want M4A, no more billionaires, and our college system to be fixed, then say they’re a conservative because Dad said their family is conservative.
When I was in that age bracket, I identified as conservative. Over the years, my positions have become increasingly conservative, and I find myself classified by many as a flaming socialist.
So this isn’t a new thing; people compare themselves to what they consider normal.
I think what it really shows is that it’s less obvious today what the difference between conservative and (what? liberal? progressive?) is. People tend to know more what they aren’t than what they are when they’re young. If they reject something that’s considered liberal, they must be conservative.
I think this is exactly it. For the younger generations, things have shifted leftward, to such a degree that standard issue leftists almost look like they’re conservatives.