Gen Z shatters America's political orthodoxies
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Young Americans are challenging beliefs their parents and grandparents once considered sacred — from socialism and Israel to Christianity.
Why it matters: Neither party can count on old political loyalties to win over a generation increasingly willing to break with the past.
- Socialism: 35 years after the Soviet Union collapsed, some 57% of Americans ages 18–34 view socialism positively, compared with 43% for capitalism, according to a September 2026 Gallup poll. Among Americans 55 and older, 65% view capitalism positively, compared with 34% for socialism.
- Israel: Decades after Israel fought wars against neighboring Arab states, some 53% of Americans ages 18–34 sympathize more with Palestinians, compared with 23% who sympathize more with Israelis, according to Gallup's February 2026 survey.
- Christianity: After centuries as the overwhelming religious identity of Americans, only 54% of Americans ages 18–29 now identify as Christian, compared with 76% of those 65 and older, according to nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute's 2025 Census of American Religion, released in April 2026.
Between the lines: The return of forces that voters haven't felt in generations can scramble their priorities all over again.
- After decades of relatively low inflation, prices surged during the COVID era, with annual inflation hitting 9.1% in June 2022 — its highest rate since 1981.
- In 2024, young voters who ranked the economy and jobs as their top issue favored Trump by 24 points, according to CIRCLE's analysis of AP VoteCast.
- Two years later, 78% of financially struggling young students backed Democratic House candidates, compared with 16% for Republicans, according to a November 5 CIRCLE analysis.
State of play: Young voters showed both parties how quickly their support can shift between elections in last week's midterms.
- Some 66% of voters ages 18–29 backed Democratic House candidates, compared with 31% for Republicans, according to Tufts University's CIRCLE, citing preliminary NORC data.
- That 35-point Democratic advantage compares with a 14-point margin in the 2024 House election, according to separate Edison Research exit polling.
- Trump's 2024 gains among young voters, especially men, now look less like a lasting GOP realignment and more like a warning about how quickly younger Americans can change course.
Zoom in: Socialism's fading stigma reached the ballot box in America's two largest cities.
- Democratic socialists now stand poised to lead New York and Los Angeles after Nithya Raman defeated Karen Bass in Tuesday's mayoral election, joining New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
- Both built campaigns around affordable housing and inequality, tapping into younger Americans' financial frustrations.
The bottom line: Young Americans aren't necessarily embracing socialism because they've rejected their grandparents' Cold War beliefs, PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told Axios. They're questioning capitalism because their own economic experiences have left them disillusioned.
- "What they're seeing isn't working, and the American dream is increasingly out of reach for them," said Deckman, author of "The Politics of Gen Z."
