Trump's victory reveals secret Republicans: Joe Rogan-obsessed Gen Z men
Trump's victory reveals secret Republicans: Joe Rogan-obsessed Gen Z men

Trump's victory reveals secret Republicans: Joe Rogan-obsessed Gen Z men

Summary
Despite his conservative platform, Donald Trump made unexpected gains among Gen Z voters. Exit polls showed a shift, with young men favoring Trump by 2 points, a reversal from Biden’s previous lead.
Gen Z’s support for Trump may have been underestimated, as an Axios poll found nearly half of Gen Z voters lied about their vote, with young men more likely to support Trump quietly.
Trump connected with young men through appearances on popular podcasts and endorsements from social media influencers.
Disillusionment with the economy and frustration with the Democratic Party’s approach to working-class issues also drove some Gen Z voters to seek change, with Trump capitalizing on these sentiments.
The only people this was a "secret" too are people who weren't looking or listening.
It sucks how much people are ignoring this.
Well, a lot of people - mostly people in a certain age range - kept saying how magical the younguns are, how media savvy and how morally upright they were, and how they were going to get things right where the stupid boomers, Gen X and Gen Y got it all wrong...
And while I'd like to believe that, I've seen little evidence of better instruction anywhere K-12 or in higher education about logical fallacies and teaching about a good media diet. Being able to install an app on your phone doesn't make anyone media savvy; these things are designed so nearly any idiot can use it.
Why anyone ever thought that "the kids" were going to be able to have a better filter than older generations is like assuming kids plopped in front of Saturday morning TV that was meant to PREY on them were more "media savvy" about that environment....sigh.
If anything the easy access to information and apps are a lower barrier of entry than in the past meaning you can be dumber and still participate.
I don't want to shit on an entire generation but I am also not so impressed. This is a historic thing though where people don't think highly of younger generations. One needs to be aware of this bias.
I'm a highschool teacher. This generation of students isn't even more tech savvy, let alone media savvy. Your exactly correct about the design of modern technology; this generation grew up with tablets and iPhones, they have no idea how to do some incredibly basic tasks unless an app does it for them, and they no understanding of really core - and in my mind simple - computer use concepts like what a folder is, or how find a file on a device and attach it to an email.
We've begun teaching media literacy in the highschools, but it's unfortunately falling into the pitfalls or most education. We pull specialized articles from sources that students would literally never engage with, discuss how to read such articles and how they can be misleading, and never make the connection to the kind of content that students actually absorb. Students are day-in, day-out learning from influencers and social media, and we're handing them articles from 2010 reprinted into textbooks and news posts they'd never have the patience to read, while continually reinforcing that cell phones are toys that are meant to stay out of the classroom and used in private or with small groups of friends.
The kids aren't alright, but that's not on them.
Just a few years ago this generation was walking out of schools to protest our lack of action against climate change. The shift is crazy.
It was mostly the girls doing that, and they haven't gone as hard right.