Four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump has been successfully selling white Christian nostalgia, racism and xenophobia to his base. However, the Public Religion Research Institute’s massive poll of 6,616 participants suggests that what works with his base might pose an insurmountable problem with Gen Z teens and Gen Z adults (who are younger than 25).

Demographically, this cohort of voters bears little resemblance to Trump’s older, whiter, more religious followers. “In addition to being the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in our nation’s history, Gen Z adults also identify as LGBTQ at much higher rates than older Americans,” the PRRI poll found. “Like millennials, Gen Zers are also less likely than older generations to affiliate with an established religion.”

Those characteristics suggest Gen Z will favor a progressive message that incorporates diversity and opposes government imposition of religious views. Indeed, “Gen Z adults (21%) are less likely than all generational groups except millennials (21%) to identify as Republican.” Though 36 percent of Gen Z adults identify as Democrats, their teenage counterparts are more likely to be independents (51 percent) than older generations.

  • MicroWave@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    191·
    10 months ago

    Some additional interesting points in the cited poll report:

    • Gen Z adults trend slightly less Republican than older Americans. More than half of Gen Z teens do not identify with a major party, but most share their parents’ party affiliation.
    • Gen Z adults are more liberal than older Americans. Gen Z teens are more moderate.
    • Gen Z is more religiously diverse than older generations. Gen Z teens mirror their parents’ religious affiliation. Gen Z teens are more likely than Gen Z adults to attend church or find religion important.
    • Most Gen Z Americans, particularly Gen Z Democrats, are more likely than older Americans to believe that generational change in political leadership is necessary to solve the country’s problems. Younger and older generations both express a lack of understanding across generational lines.
    • Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world
      363·
      10 months ago

      It bothers me that younger Gen Zs find religion more important than older Gen Zs. I’d hate to see all that progress in abandoning religion reversed.

      • NoStressyJessie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        32·
        10 months ago

        If the demarcation point is adulthood, it seems reasonable to believe the “younger gen z attend church or think religion is important” probably shows more that their parents make them go than anything.

        • Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world
          121·
          10 months ago

          Hmmm that’s a good point, and I hope you’re right. I just shudder to think that all the conservative Prager U and “He Gets Us” indoctrination and propaganda might be working.

          • NoStressyJessie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            12·
            10 months ago

            I think that fundamentalist views come from a lack of knowledge of the religion itself. Seems kinda suspect that your pastor went to seminary and learned that historically the Jews didn’t come from Egypt but the land of Canaan, had zero cultural exchange with Egypt, and did the same things they called the canaanites evil for (looking at you sacrificing your daughter Jepthah), but with a straight face will preach the exodus and plagues to an ignorant congregation.

            I was so Christian it became incompatible with modern Christianity, and I’m not the only one.

            The truth doesn’t fear the light, or being asked questions and cross examined, and Christian’s fear nothing greater to the point they have to pretend the ultimate evil big bad is creating the questions, and not the lies they told us for centuries.

          • Auli@lemmy.caEnglish
            120·
            10 months ago

            Except younger people are disalousned with democracy. The younger generation trends more towards authoratative rule over older generations. The younger the generation the less likely they are to believe in the holocaust was real or exaggerated…

            • conorm@feddit.uk
              124·
              10 months ago

              natural law taking course, the political system wants people to believe that following the natural law with no compromises is “authoritarian”, though democracy is just a farce to avoid following nature

        • tiredofsametab@kbin.social
          31·
          10 months ago

          I’m a xennial, but I went from being more into religion than my parents, getting people to come get me and take me to church until I had a car and more, to Atheist (with a weird neopagan interlude in my early 20s). Both sets of my parents, on the other hand, swung back more to religion to some degree or another (though both have at least one parent that is more into what they think the Bible says vs what it actually does).

        • Feathercrown@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          10 months ago

          It really doesn’t surprise me that much. Religion is heavily politicized and is a powerful motivator for many large and/or extreme groups of people.

        • meyotch@slrpnk.net
          2·
          10 months ago

          Religion has done some serious harm to a lot of people. It’s natural this would lead to some radicalization. I am personally in favor putting religious trauma in the DSM. Something about my religious leaders advocating electroshock torture to ‘cure’ homosexuality left a bad taste in my mouth.

      • conorm@feddit.uk
        264·
        10 months ago

        it only bothers you because you are scared of nature taking it’s course, that natural law is being followed, because the abandonment of religion is a debasement triggered by unintelligent ape-wannabes who genuinely believe that humans dictate moral law :)

        • theluckyone@lemmy.world
          271·
          10 months ago

          To clarify, there are a set of rules in your head that you attribute to a religious figure, that you expect the rest of society to follow because doing otherwise hurts your snowflake feelings.

          That’s a rather psychopathic view of the world, and I pity you for it

          • conorm@feddit.uk
            139·
            10 months ago

            the views are natural, they exist in nature and you can freely observe them at will, they are in the head of everything that isn’t your head, apparently :)

            • theluckyone@lemmy.world
              191·
              10 months ago

              Please detail, cite, or otherwise reference these natural laws, morals, and/or rules that we’re supposed to be abiding by.

              • gibmiser@lemmy.world
                83·
                10 months ago

                Psh, look at this guy, he doesn’t know the innate morals all humans are imbued with at birth. Loser!

                • conorm@feddit.uk
                  128·
                  10 months ago

                  humans are not inbued with morals, the world has morals, humans are a blank canvas shapeable by their experiences, and for the most truth they should look for nature’s law, though at least you are closer than these others

              • conorm@feddit.uk
                134·
                10 months ago

                look at things through a lens of logic and it’ll all come clear, there are endless rules provided a topic can be conceptualised, in this instance we see the political system (a farce designed by people above the political interface designed to make people believe they control the world), whereas it contrasts to understanding the world around us is not one that humans may decide the laws of, rather we are all dictated by what is and has been, human-invented morals are a farce designed to also try to tell people that they determine the world, but nature doesn’t care for the make-believe laws invented in the heads of people, conceptualised exclusively and not observable in nature

                  • conorm@feddit.uk
                    124·
                    10 months ago

                    you sound like someone who hasnt thought in their life, besides, you use full grammar to compensate for a lack of written content, i have nothing to fear against weird automatons of the human nature like you

                • theluckyone@lemmy.world
                  131·
                  10 months ago

                  I’ve seen nature at work, cruel and harsh. Predators eating prey alive, no mercy, no justice. Where might makes right, as there is no human law to intercede. Are those the natural laws you’re referring to?

                  Your other posts imply you view the world colored through a religious lens… Which is not a natural view. Supernatural, possibly, but anything but natural.

                  • conorm@feddit.uk
                    120·
                    10 months ago

                    those natural laws merely teach the fact that everyone must recognise that there are insurmountable opponents that must be protected against, the natural law more also refers to natural processes as well as logical processing, on top of this, a religious view of the world is a natural one, the natural world’s logic is observable and to describe it as a laymen’s work would be at the very least a grave insult

        • grte@lemmy.ca
          111·
          10 months ago

          Those Gen Z teens will look more like the Gen Z adults when they themselves become adults. They are being influenced by their parents. But religiosity has been and is continuing to collapse, basically everywhere. :)

          • conorm@feddit.uk
            136·
            10 months ago

            you just stated that the opposite is happening as to what the original post said, and religion is actually on the rise, whether you like it or not, there will be conflict in which the people who deny natural law will either accept natural law, or end by natural law :)

              • conorm@feddit.uk
                128·
                10 months ago

                the people who disagree with the world being a truthful one cannot exist alongside a truthful world, and the world is truthful, you can shove your quran back to the fucking desert as i can tell you would bend over backwards to protect it despite being a self proclaimed “hater of religion”, i only hope the truth will come to you, though you don’t know to receive it :)

                • Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world
                  81·
                  10 months ago

                  Let me know when all the religious folks can agree on what’s true and what’s not. Maybe then I can take religion seriously.

                  • conorm@feddit.uk
                    113·
                    10 months ago

                    abrahamic religions arent true, non-IE religions arent true, all IE religions that have syncretic features with non-IE religions are not true, that leaves very little room for misinterpretation, but you just fail to look for the truth

              • conorm@feddit.uk
                121·
                10 months ago

                american article, invalid, abide by natural law and the sources will be in your own mind immediately :)

                  • conorm@feddit.uk
                    115·
                    10 months ago

                    my faith is on the rise and has been for decades, we are the observers of the truth :)

                  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
                    21·
                    10 months ago

                    Lots of comments in this thread have been reported, this one most obviously breaks rule 3, taking it out also kills the thread.

                    “Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (perjorative, perjorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (perjorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!”

        • agent_flounder@lemmy.worldEnglish
          71·
          10 months ago

          And what evidence can you provide to support these claims?

          Religion seems to be common in humans at least for the last few thousand years as evidenced by archaeological study of many past civilizations. I’m not really familiar with anything prior to Mesopotamia so I can’t speak to that.

          With the advent of science and reason, humans have come to learn far more reliable ways of acquiring knowledge than those that lead to religious traditions. Thus, it stands to reason that, as more people come to understand scientific thinking, they would be more likely to question and reject beliefs that aren’t based on sound evidence.

          • conorm@feddit.uk
            120·
            10 months ago

            scientific thinking is inherently that of natural law, which inherently is religious (when known correctly), in reality it must be known that the natural world is observable through conceptualisation, i urge you to step from society with a written method of recording yourself, think of all you can think about in the topic you’re curious in, and thoughts will flow through you

          • conorm@feddit.uk
            16·
            10 months ago

            how many messages are you going to create and then delete, have your timbers been shivered?