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Reuters
29-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
How a Gen Z gender divide is reshaping democracy
SEOUL/LONDON/BERLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - South Korea's young women are expected to lead a broad political backlash against the main conservative party at presidential elections on June 3, punishing it for months of chaos. Multitudes of young men, though, are unlikely to join them. In democracies worldwide, a political gender divide is intensifying among Gen Z voters, with young men voting for right-wing parties and young women leaning left, a break from pre-pandemic years when both tended to vote for progressives. Recent elections spanning North America, Europe and Asia show this trend is either consolidating or accelerating, with angry, frustrated men in their 20s breaking to the right. First-time South Korean voter Lee Jeong-min is one of them. He says he will vote for the right-wing Reform Party's candidate, Lee Jun-seok, on June 3. Lee, the candidate, vows to shut down the ministry of gender equality, speaking to an issue that resonates with men like Lee, the voter, who particularly resents that only men have to do military service. "As a young man, I find this to be one of the most unfair realities of living in Korea. At the prime of their youth — at 21 or 22 years old — young men, unlike their female peers, are unable to fully engage in various activities in society because they have to serve 18 months in the military." In South Korea, almost 30% of men aged 18-29 plan to back the Reform Party compared with just 3% of young women, according to a Gallup Korea poll this month. Overall, more than half of the men back right-wing parties while almost half the women want the left-wing Democratic Party candidate to win. The divergence shrinks for older age groups. Political economist Soohyun Lee, of King's College London, said many young South Korean men felt unable to meet society's expectations: find a good job, get married, buy a home and start a family. And they blame feminism, many believing that women are preferred for jobs. With negligible immigration in South Korea, Lee said, "women become the convenient scapegoat". In South Korea and other democracies, Gen Z men are seeing an erosion of their relative advantage, especially since the pandemic -- to the point where in a few countries the gender pay gap among 20-somethings favours young women. EU data shows one of them is France, where men aged 18-34 voted in larger numbers for Marine le Pen's far-right party than women in last year's legislative elections. In the UK, where more young men than women vote conservative, males aged 16-24 are more likely to be neither employed, nor in education than female counterparts, official data shows. In the West, young men blame immigration as well as diversity programmes for competition for jobs. In Germany's general election in February, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a record 20.8% of the vote, tugged along by an undercurrent of support from young men -- though the leader of the party is a woman. Men aged 18-24 voted 27% for the AfD while young women ran to the other end of the political spectrum, voting 35% for the far-left Linke party, according to official voting data. "A lot of young men are falling for right-wing propaganda because they're upset, they have the feeling they're losing power," said Molly Lynch, 18, a Berliner who voted for Linke, drawn by its stand on climate change and economic inequality. "But it's actually losing power over women that wasn't actually equal in the first place." The gender divide is not restricted to Gen Z, voters born since the mid-to-late 1990s. Millennials, aged in their 30s and early 40s, have felt the winds of change for longer. In Canada last month, men aged 35-54 voted 50% for opposition conservatives in an election turned upside down by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on his northern neighbour. The Liberals, which had been braced for defeat, rode an anti-Trump wave back to power, thanks in large part to female voters. "It tends to be men who have a bit more life experience and are now in that situation where they're saying, 'This isn't working out for me and I want change'," said Darrell Bricker, global chief executive of public affairs at polling firm Ipsos. Nik Nanos, founder of Canadian polling outfit Nanos Research, agreed, saying social media was accelerating democracy's "angry young men symptom", especially in areas where blue collar jobs have dried up. Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, which promised a manufacturing renaissance and attacked diversity programmes, also resonated with young white and Hispanic men, but turned off young women, fuelling the country's big political gender gap. Roughly half of men aged 18-29 voted for Trump, while 61% of young women went for his opponent, Kamala Harris. Young Black voters of both genders still overwhelmingly backed Harris. In Australia, which went to the polls this month, the Gen Z war did not play out at the ballot box. There was no clear divergence, with compulsory voting perhaps helping to explain why radicalised gender politics have not taken root. "It tends to iron out extreme ideas, ideologies," said political scientist Intifar Chowdury of Australian National University. So how does the Gen Z war end? Pollsters said it could drag on unless governments addressed core issues such as home affordability and precarious employment. One cited young men's health as another policy challenge, especially high suicide rates. Lee, of King's College, said the divide could make consensus on over-arching tax and welfare reforms harder to achieve. "If the future generation is ever so divided along the lines of gender and then refuses to engage with each other to build social consensus, I do not think we can successfully tackle these huge issues," she said.
SBS Australia
16-05-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
'People underestimate how dire it is': Young Liberals reflect on a historic loss
As the Liberal Party grapples with the 2025 election loss, due in one part to a failure to engage young voters, we ask young Liberal supporters how they reflect on the party's campaign — and its future. Credit: Illustration by Caroline Huang Coming up to the 2025 federal election, there were several factors in the Liberal Party's favour. There was a global trend of young men shifting to the right, and a 2024 pattern of incumbent governments losing elections . Plus the party had employed the same social media agency that worked on former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison's 2019 successful election campaigns. And yet it still suffered a catastrophic loss. It was the first election in which gen Z and millennial voters made up a majority of the electorate (accounting for 47 per cent) and outnumbered the once-dominant baby boomer vote - but the party seemingly failed to harness the youth vote. Again. Electorates with higher shares of young people tended to favour the left, particularly Labor, according to early analysis done by ANU youth researcher Intifar Chowdhury. "I think people underestimate how dire it is for us as a party," one anonymous Young Liberal who we'll call Alex told The Feed. "If at the next election again we see an even an worse result, is there even a Liberal Party left at that point?" Anthony Ma, vice president of the UNSW Liberal Club, noted that earlier in the year, the party had been quite confident in its chances of victory. "Unfortunately, this did end up being the worst defeat in our party's history," he said. Lack of support from young voters is not an issue unique to the Liberal Party, with gen Z to abandon major parties altogether, and early research revealing the strongest predictor of a Greens or independent vote was the share of university-educated women who consistently voted against both major parties. The Feed asked four young Liberals based in the ACT, NSW and Queensland for their reflections on the campaign, and how they're feeling about the party's future. Each believes passionately in the party's stated beliefs of small government and individual freedom, and as part of the now-largest voting bloc in the country, young Liberals (and Young Liberal members) are arguably the future of the party. But will young people be listened to? "I think [the party] still treats young people as if it's the same as young people in the '60s or 80s," Alex said. "But it's not — it's fundamentally not." None of the people The Feed spoke to were particularly surprised by Labor's win, but all were shocked by the scale of the Liberal loss, the worst in its 80-year existence. Twenty-year-old Eliza Kingston, who joined the Queensland Young Liberals out of high school, had watched David Crisafulli lead the LNP to victory in last year's Queensland state election. She was surprised by the federal election loss "because there were really excellent candidates for given electorates". "I think we just didn't articulate our arguments for [our policy solutions] sufficiently," she said. But some warning signs for the poor result were there in the party's own review of the 2022 election which highlighted that its two-party-preferred vote was the weakest among young women aged 18-34. And again in research done on the 2022 election by the conservative think tank The Centre for Independent Studies which found millennials were not growing conservative with age — and would not cross over to the Coalition "until their 80s" based on current trends — while Gen Z entered the electorate with historically low support for the Coalition that was also dropping "abruptly". And the Liberal Party policies may not adequately appeal to young people like those of the Greens and Labor, according to some in the party. The youngest new addition to the lower house, 30-year-old Liberal member for the Queensland seat of McPherson, Leon Rebello, told the ABC that "the issue that we have in the Australian political system is that the Greens and Labor appeal more because of what they promise." "If the Liberal Party get their policies right, they can appeal to young people. "But it's difficult as a political party to appeal from the youngest of voters to the oldest of voters." Perhaps a concept dear to the Liberal Party was missed in 2025, according to Anthony and Jordan Abouzeid, vice president of the ACT Young Liberals, who each raised the idea that Menzies' "forgotten people" and Scott Morrison's " " are now young people. The 'forgotten people' date back to a 1942 speech by the then-prime minister Robert Menzies, and would form an ideological foundation for the Liberal Party. Back then, the forgotten people were the middle class; the people not rich enough to 'look after themselves', but nor needed to rely on the state. "Fundamentally the Liberal party stands for Menzies' forgotten people," Jordan said. "And I feel like at the moment, Menzies' forgotten people that we're not speaking to are young people. "Particularly young men." Anthony from the UNSW Liberal Club elaborates that young people have a "white-hot anger" — they have gone to school and university, obtained full-time jobs, and yet are not able to share in the Australian dream. "They've got worse living standards than their own parents." He believes the country needs a course correction on housing for young people, "so they can finally have a stake in our country, so that they can have faith in capitalism." Late last year, Mission Australia's annual Youth Survey Report found that the major concern of young Australians had switched from climate change to cost of living. Anthony said that instead of focusing on the frustration of young people, the Liberal party had been "tinkering around the edges rather than going to the more fundamental issues." "Cost of living was consistently the biggest issue for voters in the campaign. Yet what we saw in the last two months was a sort of meandering," Anthony said. "[The Liberal Party] had a lot of distractions like the Welcomes to Country and the whole ." Jordan believes young people are now trapped in a kind of "luxury poverty" — able to afford a watch or some nice clothes, "but when it comes to the things that really make life tick - when it comes to housing, when it comes to food, those things are becoming increasingly expensive and they're cutting them out," he explains. "Our country has a great history of sheep shearing, but the feeling I got from speaking to young people and particularly young men, is that more so they're feeling like the sheep and not the shearer." He believes the party's policies were a hard sell to young people. "A 25 per cent cut in [the fuel tax] and access to more debt for housing — I think what a lot of young people want from housing policy isn't necessarily more debt." But while there have been ongoing accusations of ' ' for The Liberals, Eliza disagrees. "I think they are engaging young women enough," she told The Feed. "If we're talking within the party, we have a women's branch, we have a young Libs branch, and I think we have strong communities within the party ... I certainly have always felt highly supported within the party as a woman." Perhaps what added to the party's inability to engage young voters was its refusal to engage with influencers and new media in what was dubbed by some as 'the influencer election'. While Anthony Albanese appeared with a long list of young influencers and new media brands that engage young audiences, including Abbie Chatfield and Ozzy Man, Peter Dutton's most notable appearance with a young content creator was an interview with Olympic diver Sam Fricker. When a Daily Aus journalist asked Peter Dutton how he planned to reach younger voters, when he'd denied an interview request with the new media company that boasts an audience of more than half a million, he responded that the Coalition was the best party for young people because it was "the only party with a plan to achieve net zero by 2050" (Labor also had a policy to reach net zero by 2050, while the Greens' was to reach net zero by 2035). He also pointed to providing support to reach home ownership and help young Australians "and older Australians" with the 25 per cent cut to fuel excise. "The party had this approach of being really risk averse, being really professional, and it's clearly not worked," Alex told The Feed. "There has been a lack of bold policy that has moved towards both appealing young people and parts of the broader populace." A missed opportunity, according to all the young Liberals we spoke to, was campaigning more on immigration, "which should be an easy vote winner for us" said Jordan. But also Australia's mounting debt, according to Jordan and Alex. Australia's debt is forecast to increase from $881.9 billion in 2024-25 to $1,136.3 billion in 2027-28, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office outlook - debt that young people will be paying off. "As someone who wants to see this party succeed, I was feeling very despondent watching us 'me too' all of Labor's spending commitments," Jordan said. "I want to see balanced budgets, I want to see debt paid off. "But we are continuing to stick to a lot of high-spending policies that will result in the debt getting larger and larger, and eventually it's going to have to be young people like ourselves that pay that off." As the party moves forward, the true test will be if change is put in place. Alex believes the party's healing process from 2022 was stunted by hesitation to discuss and critique. "Because of the culture within the Young Liberals, people weren't able to have a free and open debate about what is good policy; what we should have as policy in the party," he said. "And as a result, I don't think we have been able to learn the lessons that we should have." Despite the historic loss, the four are determined to see the party succeed. Some are eager for it to return to its core values, while all are confident in what the party can offer to new generations. "Even though we are perceived as a party of the old and the gentry and whatnot, we are the party of the aspirational," Anthony told The Feed. Eliza believes it's playing the long game, and Alex feels that even if there is a long time in Opposition, "there will come a point where lessons will be learned." And with a deep passion for the Liberal Party, Jordan says talking to young people of all stripes has made him excited for the future. "They are ready for something new. They are ready for change," he said. "And I have a feeling they'll be successful in that." Just days after these conversations, when stepped in front of a press pack as the newly elected leader of the Opposition, she mentioned Menzies' forgotten people, and John Howard's 'battlers'. "They're also now the young professionals," she said in her speech. "The Liberal Party that I lead will always have these Australians, and their aspirations, front of mind." Time will tell if young Australians will see the prioritisation those 'forgotten people' once enjoyed. Watch now Share this with family and friends
Associated Press
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
In Pittsburgh, candidates face their future voters, part of a national effort to engage the young
PITTSBURGH (AP) — At Perry Traditional Academy, students took time out from classes on a recent Thursday to listen quietly in the school auditorium while a small group of their classmates questioned the four candidates running in Pittsburgh's upcoming mayoral primary. The topics covered an array of issues important to the teens: policing, school funding and youth involvement in their administrations. The forum, coordinated by the Allegheny Youth Vote Coalition working with Pittsburgh Public Schools, was the eighth held at a public high school in the city, all designed to get the youngest and future voters involved in elections. After the candidates left, they had a short oral civics test on elections, with prizes for correct answers. What's happening in Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County is part of a national trend. Young people have consistently turned out to vote at lower rates than older Americans. Civic organizations are hoping to reverse that by getting teenagers engaged in public debate before they are even eligible to vote, seeing it as foundational to the future of U.S. democracy. A Pew Research Center analysis found that voters under the age of 30 made up 15% of voters in the 2020 election and 27% of nonvoters, a slight improvement in both categories over 2016, when that demographic was 13% of all voters and 33% of nonvoters. Voters were also much older than nonvoters, on average, in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections, according to Pew. Allowing teens to have a voice in local elections Among the groups leading the effort nationally is the Civics Center, which works with high schoolers to run voter registration drives and hold forums that are geared toward raising their participation in elections. Others, such as The Gem Project Inc., in Newark, New Jersey, have pushed for students to be able to register and cast ballots in local elections before they turn 18. Last year, the Newark City Council dropped the minimum voting age to 16 for school board elections, making it the first municipality in the state and the second largest city in the country to do so for any election. Oakland was the largest city in the U.S. to lower its voting age in 2020, but teens voted for the first time last year. Breanna Quist, 18, and one of the recent registrants in Newark, said the push was especially important to her because it allowed students to vote for an office, school board, that directly affects them. 'This just shows how young people should always just take action. They shouldn't be fearful. They should always advocate for what they believe is right,' she said during an interview at a voter registration town hall earlier this year. Nishani Ward, 16, said it was an inspiration when Newark lowered the voting age for local elections. 'Doing this right now, I'm more likely to do it in the future and do it more routinely in the future,' she said. Media reports said turnout among 16- and 17-year-old registered voters in the April school board election was less than 4% but outpaced the overall turnout. Helping young people learn their role in democracy In some places across the country, young people have had success when demanding a greater voice in political decisions. They've argued that voting adults don't always consider them or their needs when casting their ballots. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 states and the District of Columbia allow 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the time of a general election to vote in primaries. Even though the youth vote tends to bend left politically, this might be a good time to reconsider the minimum age because it's become less predictable, said Daniel Hart, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University who has studied lowering the voting age. Data from AP VoteCast, a survey of interviews with registered voters in all 50 states, found that Democrat Kamala Harris had a slight edge over Republican Donald Trump among young voters, but young men swung to the right for Trump even if they didn't agree with him on all issues. The Allegheny Youth Vote Coalition held two vote huddles in 2024, drawing students from throughout the county. They learned about the electoral process and held more than 20 voter registration drives, said Rachel Martin Golman, senior director of social impact of the National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh and a coalition member. During a workshop earlier this year, one student attendee asked why the candidates didn't come speak to them, Golman said: 'And we all thought, yes, why not, and worked to make it happen.' Laura Brill, the founder and CEO of the Civics Center, a Los Angeles-based coalition member, said the point is that 'most teens today have few opportunities to consider their important role in our democracy.' She said engaging the candidates directly is 'the kind of formative experience we believe has been missing from high schools for decades and has undoubtedly led to the low rates of engagement we see among the up-and-coming voters.' 'You are the future' At Perry, the students in the audience didn't shy away from asking questions important to them and their peers. Makaila Nyambe, 17, asked each mayoral candidate about funding for schools, while fellow junior Deahmi Mobley questioned how they might establish a good relationship between law enforcement and teens. Previous forums at other schools included questions on other issues, including how each candidate would implement diversity, equity and inclusion into their administrations. Trash, homelessness and public safety came up constantly, along with a disagreement over whether more school spending would improve academic performance. Infrastructure, road repairs and cuts to public transit also generated discussion. The students listened closely when all four candidates talked about neighborhood policing and building relationships -- and about the importance of young people at such a forum. 'You are the leaders we have been waiting for,' said one of the mayoral candidates, retired Pittsburgh police detective Tony Moreno. 'You are the future of Pittsburgh,' said another candidate, Thomas West, a business owner and former television news producer. 'You are the future of America.' Stalea Chapman, a 17-year-old senior, said afterward she was glad the candidates were taking the students seriously and reaching out to them because their futures are intertwined with politics and policies, especially now. 'It is a lot of pressure being young and seeing what the economy is turning to and what's going on in the world,' she said. 'It's frightening for young people because we want to be successful.' ___ Alexander reported from Newark, New Jersey. Associated Press Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this article. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
In Pittsburgh, candidates face their future voters, part of a national effort to engage the young
At Perry Traditional Academy, students took time out from classes on a recent Thursday to listen quietly in the school auditorium while a small group of their classmates questioned the four candidates running in Pittsburgh 's upcoming mayoral primary. The topics covered an array of issues important to the teens: policing, school funding and youth involvement in their administrations. The forum, coordinated by the Allegheny Youth Vote Coalition working with Pittsburgh Public Schools, was the eighth held at a public high school in the city, all designed to get the youngest and future voters involved in elections. After the candidates left, they had a short oral civics test on elections, with prizes for correct answers. What's happening in Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County is part of a national trend. Young people have consistently turned out to vote at lower rates than older Americans. Civic organizations are hoping to reverse that by getting teenagers engaged in public debate before they are even eligible to vote, seeing it as foundational to the future of U.S. democracy. A Pew Research Center analysis found that voters under the age of 30 made up 15% of voters in the 2020 election and 27% of nonvoters, a slight improvement in both categories over 2016, when that demographic was 13% of all voters and 33% of nonvoters. Voters were also much older than nonvoters, on average, in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections, according to Pew. Allowing teens to have a voice in local elections Among the groups leading the effort nationally is the Civics Center, which works with high schoolers to run voter registration drives and hold forums that are geared toward raising their participation in elections. Others, such as The Gem Project Inc., in Newark, New Jersey, have pushed for students to be able to register and cast ballots in local elections before they turn 18. Last year, the Newark City Council dropped the minimum voting age to 16 for school board elections, making it the first municipality in the state and the second largest city in the country to do so for any election. Oakland was the largest city in the U.S. to lower its voting age in 2020, but teens voted for the first time last year. Breanna Quist, 18, and one of the recent registrants in Newark, said the push was especially important to her because it allowed students to vote for an office, school board, that directly affects them. 'This just shows how young people should always just take action. They shouldn't be fearful. They should always advocate for what they believe is right,' she said during an interview at a voter registration town hall earlier this year. Nishani Ward, 16, said it was an inspiration when Newark lowered the voting age for local elections. 'Doing this right now, I'm more likely to do it in the future and do it more routinely in the future," she said. Media reports said turnout among 16- and 17-year-old registered voters in the April school board election was less than 4% but outpaced the overall turnout. Helping young people learn their role in democracy In some places across the country, young people have had success when demanding a greater voice in political decisions. They've argued that voting adults don't always consider them or their needs when casting their ballots. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 states and the District of Columbia allow 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the time of a general election to vote in primaries. Even though the youth vote tends to bend left politically, this might be a good time to reconsider the minimum age because it's become less predictable, said Daniel Hart, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University who has studied lowering the voting age. Data from AP VoteCast, a survey of interviews with registered voters in all 50 states, found that Democrat Kamala Harris had a slight edge over Republican Donald Trump among young voters, but young men swung to the right for Trump even if they didn't agree with him on all issues. The Allegheny Youth Vote Coalition held two vote huddles in 2024, drawing students from throughout the county. They learned about the electoral process and held more than 20 voter registration drives, said Rachel Martin Golman, senior director of social impact of the National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh and a coalition member. During a workshop earlier this year, one student attendee asked why the candidates didn't come speak to them, Golman said: 'And we all thought, yes, why not, and worked to make it happen." Laura Brill, the founder and CEO of the Civics Center, a Los Angeles-based coalition member, said the point is that 'most teens today have few opportunities to consider their important role in our democracy.' She said engaging the candidates directly is 'the kind of formative experience we believe has been missing from high schools for decades and has undoubtedly led to the low rates of engagement we see among the up-and-coming voters.' 'You are the future' At Perry, the students in the audience didn't shy away from asking questions important to them and their peers. Makaila Nyambe, 17, asked each mayoral candidate about funding for schools, while fellow junior Deahmi Mobley questioned how they might establish a good relationship between law enforcement and teens. Previous forums at other schools included questions on other issues, including how each candidate would implement diversity, equity and inclusion into their administrations. Trash, homelessness and public safety came up constantly, along with a disagreement over whether more school spending would improve academic performance. Infrastructure, road repairs and cuts to public transit also generated discussion. The students listened closely when all four candidates talked about neighborhood policing and building relationships -- and about the importance of young people at such a forum. "You are the leaders we have been waiting for,' said one of the mayoral candidates, retired Pittsburgh police detective Tony Moreno. 'You are the future of Pittsburgh,' said another candidate, Thomas West, a business owner and former television news producer. "You are the future of America.' Stalea Chapman, a 17-year-old senior, said afterward she was glad the candidates were taking the students seriously and reaching out to them because their futures are intertwined with politics and policies, especially now. 'It is a lot of pressure being young and seeing what the economy is turning to and what's going on in the world," she said. "It's frightening for young people because we want to be successful.' ___ Alexander reported from Newark, New Jersey. Associated Press Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this article. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Fox News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Dems promoting AOC, Sanders falls flat with young voters as Gen Z sees through false promises: RNC youth chair
The Democratic Party will be the "Titanic at the bottom of the ocean" come 2028, according to Gen Z political commentator Brilyn Hollyhand, who is on a mission to continue building conservative support among the youth vote following President Donald Trump's strides with the demographic in 2024. "They've actually put up figures like Jasmine Crockett and AOC and Bernie Sanders as their leaders. None of those people are inspiring Gen Z. None of those people are bringing more voters into the party. It's just making this weird, radical wing of the party be the vocal voices. So, by all means, let Jasmine Crockett, AOC and Bernie Sanders be the voice, the future of the DNC. It'll make our job easier come the midterms and come 2028," Hollyhand told Fox News Digital in an exclusive Zoom interview this week. "It's a really weird position that they've taken to go more radical than Kamala Harris. And that's why Kamala lost, because she was too radical," he said. Hollyhand, 18, is a political commentator and chair of the RNC's Youth Advisory Council who was invited to meet one-on-one with Trump in Alabama on Thursday, when the president delivered the University of Alabama's commencement speech. Hollyhand said that he and Trump discussed how to keep momentum among young voters following the 2024 election, when Gen Z voters swung to the right as Trump courted young people on TikTok and in podcasts. The youth vote, he explained, had long been in the Democrat Party's court before Trump upped the ante on youth outreach during last year's election cycle. The 18-year-old activist does not graduate high school until later this month, but he has met Trump five times as of Thursday. The pair discussed how the Trump White House can continue expanding on the strides the Trump campaign made with young people, including Hollyhand suggesting Trump tweak former President Ronald Reagan's famed 1980 campaign question: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" DEMOCRATS ACCUSED OF BEING 'OUT OF TOUCH' AS NEW POLL SHOWS DROP IN SUPPORT FROM YOUNG VOTERS "A comment I made to him was, 'Mr. President, I'm a huge history nerd. And so I loved when you talked about that famous Reagan quote of, 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?' And that's something he echoed on the campaign trail a bunch himself. But something I specifically pointed out to the president is, 'We can tweak that a little bit.' And he said, 'What do you mean? What can we do?' I said, 'Well, now all you have to do is walk out on that stage and ask Gen Z, 'Are you're better off then you were 100 days ago?'" Hollyhand recounted. "The resounding answer every single time is going to be, 'Yes.' I mean, gas is cheaper, the border's secure, and the president performed CPR on the American dream. So, I think everybody in my generation can agree, whether you love Trump or hate Trump, he is improving the nation and making life better for us," he added. The political activist said that he floated to Trump that he could hold a 2025 version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats to talk directly to voters in a virtual setting, and he also told Trump that he has a "secret weapon" going into the 2026 midterms. "I said, 'Mr. President, you're doing this crazy novel concept in politics called actually doing what the people elected you to do in office and actually keeping your promises. I know we never see politicians doing that, but you're doing that and Gen Z loves it,'" Hollyhand said. On the flip side, Democrats have dangled promises of free college and cheaper costs of living to young people, while comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler and Elon Musk to a king, he argued. Hollyhand said such messaging has swayed some youths to rally around left-wing Democrats, such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but that many Gen Zers are able to see through the "false bill of goods from the Democrats." DEMOCRATS' IDENTITY CRISIS: YOUTH REVOLT ROCKS PARTY AFTER TRUMP COMEBACK The Democrat Party is in the midst of finding its footing and platform on a swath of issues ranging from transgender ideology to immigration and the economy after voters poured out in support of Trump and his policies in 2024 in an election that was viewed as a rebuke of left-wing policies. High-profile Democrats such as Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have amplified their positions within the party in recent months, including hosting anti-Trump rallies and speculation mounting that Ocasio-Cortez could make a Senate or presidential run. Hollyhand said that Trump could use his "secret weapon" ahead of the midterms and publish bullet-point lists of his accomplishments, which he argued Democrats will struggle to campaign against. DEMOCRATS' VICE CHAIR IGNITES CIVIL WAR, TARGETING 'ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL' INCUMBENTS IN PRIMARIES "I think that's going to be a really hard thing to campaign against come the midterms. I think it's going to be super hard to campaign against this list of accomplishments come 2028. Where the Democrats are trying to … scare Gen Z with these emotions and dangle free things in front of them and say, 'oh, well, they're Nazis and they're Hitler and Elon Musk is trying to be a king.' And then we come out and just say, 'Hey, here's a bullet point list of the things we've accomplished in the first 100 days.' That's a really hard thing to campaign against," he said. Hollyhand underscored that his meeting with Trump backstage at the commencement speech was relaxed and stood in stark contrast with how the media portrays the president. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "This guy is genuine. Like the first thing he said was, 'You've been killing it.' He took the time to say, 'Hey, I actually watched your hit on Fox News this morning.' He could have been saying, 'Hey, Brilyn, get these youth numbers up, improve our numbers in this college campus, get more students out there in that arena.' He immediately turned it to, 'Hey man, you've been killin' it. …. That shows just the testament of who the guy is. And it wasn't like a serious back and forth. We were laughing, we're cutting it up," Hollyhand said.
