Donald Trump, Youth Icon?
Donald Trump, Youth Icon?
State of the Union: Can Donald Trump secure the youngest demographic of American voters?
As The American Conservative’s own Bradley Devlin wrote about the former President Donald Trump’s commanding performance in the January 15 Iowa caucus, “Trump’s floor is higher than anticipated.” Yet caucuses are a bit different than a general election. Will the presumptive nominee have a chance of winning the election this time around with anything close to a comfortable majority?
One significant demographic that can shed light on this issue is young voters—particularly Gen Z. While this generation has a reputation of being more “progressive” than its elders, a growing number of its members have come around to Trump. In December, the New York Times reported that, “For the first time, Mr. Trump leads President Biden among young voters in a Times/Siena national survey, 49 percent to 43 percent. It’s enough to give him a narrow 46-44 lead among registered voters overall.”
On Monday night, the Washington D.C. Young Republicans hosted an Iowa Caucus “Trump Victory” watch party. Despite the heavy snow falling throughout all of D.C., the entire top floor of the Big Board pub was teeming with young conservatives who came out to watch Trump win the caucus. Every time Ron Desantis or Nikki Haley appeared on screen, the crowd would release a unanimous and hearty “boo.”
When Trump was projected the winner, the entire room fell into an uproar, cheering and toasting to, as one attendee put it, “the 45th, 46th, and 47th president of the United States.” Brian Oakes, DCYR Chairman, emphasized to the group how dedicated the organization is to helping reelect Trump to “Make America great again, again.”
DCYR National Committeeman, Gilbert Fiedler, said, “I expected Trump to win, and I’m happy to see it’s by good margins. I think he’s going to keep the wins rolling, and this year’s going to be a great year.”
William Benson, a student at the Catholic University of America and editor-in-chief of the American Postliberal, said, “The results in Iowa tonight show that the Republican Party, especially young conservatives, are united behind President Trump. Young voters will not tolerate an establishment that has lost every political battle since before they were born. It’s time to bring the fight to the left and support president Trump.”
Monday night also marked Vivek Ramaswamy’s departure from the GOP race. However, his announcement was immediately followed by a resounding endorsement of Trump’s campaign. He appeared with Trump last night at an event in New Hampshire, saying outright, “Vote for this man right here in the New Hampshire primary.”
It is no secret that Ramaswamy has appealed to a younger demographic throughout his campaign, often collaborating with popular influencers like Jake Paul to get his message out. Just by perusing Twitter over the past day, it is impossible to disregard the fact that Vivek’s unabashed endorsement of Trump has caused many of his supporters to think of voting for him as well.
Although the road to November may be long, perhaps Gen Z will make its mark on 2024 by deciding that President Biden’s time is up, and that they do in fact want to “Make America great again, again.”
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