Gen Z has a big problem. We are divided.
Everyone knows that we can be passionate about our politics, and that can lead to some disagreements. But what many may not realize is that Generation Z has major divisions along gender lines that other generations don’t seem to face.
We are so different that it’s starting to become a problem with how we see each other.
Forty percent of young women in America identify as liberal, compared to just 25% of men. On the other hand, 29% of Gen Z men identify as conservative, compared to 21% of Zoomer women.
The differences between Generation Z influence the way we interact with each other
A growing gender gap in ideology is a much deeper problem than the red or blue team winning. The real-world consequences of the ideological disparity reflect that Gen Z men and women face a difficult path to relationships and friendships.
Polls show that more than 70% of college Democrats would not go on a date with a Republican, while the opposite is just 31 percent. Thirty-seven percent of young Democrats wouldn’t even be friends with a Republican. Women are much more likely to take this position: 59% of women from both parties say they wouldn’t date someone who voted against them.
This environment that is hostile to diversity of thought due to social pressure goes against what my generation should be looking for at this point in their lives, which is an environment where you can be exposed to a wide range of ideas without fear for social retaliation.
My generation will choose the president: Gen Z has the opportunity to decide 2024, but Biden and Trump make us want to wait it out.
Even beyond the direct impact of your own political disagreements on relationships, social pressure discourages inter-party mixing. I felt the social impact of this divide firsthand during my time as an outspoken campus conservative in college.
Friends of mine were shunned by certain peers, people in organizations associated with me were deemed “bigots,” and my then-girlfriend was pushed out of her sorority, all because she dared to be associated with someone who had ideas statements that were considered ‘controversial’. .” All this in addition to the direct harassment I personally received.
Instead of contacting me to have a conversation or just ignoring it, people who didn’t even know what I personally believed took it upon themselves to put social pressure on those close to me , as a form of retaliation they felt I deserved.
Why is Generation Z so divided?
The big question is why this happens. Certainly, other generations have experienced times of political distress similar to the state of our nation today. So what gives?
While Republican partisanship among women has long lagged behind that of men, it is only in my generation that we are seeing such a large gap, with young women leading the way in favor of left-wing politics.
Since the #MeToo movement, young women have been pioneers in social media activism. That momentum continued in the years that followed, under Trump’s tumultuous presidency and in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
At the same time, men are undergoing a somewhat reactionary reaction to all this. Fake male influencers like Andrew Tate have become popular among young men, and we’ve shifted even more in Trump’s favor.
Student Loan Forgiveness: Generation Z wants student loan forgiveness without any liability. It doesn’t work that way.
The reason is widespread resentment about the way their lives have been affected by changing gender attitudes. Nearly half of men now say there is discrimination against us in American society, a double-digit increase from 2019, and 53% say they are reluctant to approach women for fear of being seen as ‘creepy’ to be seen.
Whether it’s fair or not, men have taken a step back from dating for fear of being sucked into the endless collection of stories women share about awkward interactions they’ve had with men. The more divided we are politically and socially, the more young men will turn to toxic ideologies that further erode their understanding of how to interact with women.
Men need to better understand why women have changed in our generation, but we don’t know how without being criticized.
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It is up to us to resolve this difference and find ways to get along
While some writers have argued that this voting gap is not yet visible in voting patterns, I would argue that it is already starting to happen.
“If young men and women are really drifting apart politically, you would expect evidence on Election Day,” Rose Horowitch wrote in The Atlantic earlier this year. “This is where the theory starts to show cracks.”
Horowitch is right when he says that men and women of Generation Z have voted similarly in recent history. While 18- to 29-year-old women made up the largest demographic voting for Biden in 2020, just under 70%, Gen Z men were just 2 points behind as the second largest.
Conservatives should not ignore the university: Young conservatives like me are told not to go to college. That’s shortsighted.
However, if we jump forward just two years to 2022, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the gap widens. Seventy-one percent of young women voted for a Democrat in their respective House of Representatives race, while men did so only 53% of the time. Forty-two percent of men voted Republican, compared to just 26% of women.
Even if the supposed gender gap doesn’t appear at the ballot box in 2024 or future elections, there is still cause for concern. The future of Gen Z’s relationships, both platonic and romantic, hangs in the balance under such a divide. The ballot box is one issue, but it is left to the parties to take advantage of it. The much more difficult problem is a cultural problem that we must solve ourselves.
Men and women of my generation need to change our thinking to realize the problems we face as a group. Even if certain issues affect women more clearly, such as the abortion debate, they still impact us all. They affect our compatibility, the scope of our relationships, and the future families we all hope to create.
My only advice to my age group is to listen more and judge less. Most people don’t disagree with you because they are bad; they disagree with you because they see the world differently.
It’s okay to think someone is seriously wrong about abortion or any other political issue. It’s okay not to date someone who is directly opposite to you on things and topics that are important to you. However, when forming your social network, the best thing you can do is listen to people, argue when necessary, and find common ground. This way you will be happier and you might even change your mind about something.
Dace Potas is an Opinion Fellow for USA TODAY. He graduated from DePaul University with a degree in political science and is also president of the Lone Conservative, the nation’s largest conservative student publication.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gen Z’s gender gap has become political. We have to fix it
