The Truth About ‘Youth Politics’
Young people matter more for the Left when it comes to electoral politics. But right-wing young have a ‘metapolitical’ advantage
Leftists won big in Democratic primaries last week. The New York congressional slate endorsed by Zohran Mamdani won its races, dealing a significant blow to the party establishment. One of the key factors in this socialist sweep was high youth support. Avila Chevalier overwhelmingly won the vote of those under 35. Not only that, but young people made up a sizable part of the electorate in these races last week. In the 7th Congressional district, those under 35 made up roughly 35 percent of the vote.
Winning this demographic allowed these radical candidates to win. These candidates heavily relied on young people to campaign for them and get out the vote. It offset the disadvantage of competing against candidates with more institutional support.
These elections reflect a notable trend in politics. DSA candidates are getting elected thanks in large part to young voters. They were key to Zohran Mamdani’s election last year, and they continue to play a similar role in Democratic primaries around the country. They don’t represent all young people of course. But they represent a significant electoral trend, one that goes against confident predictions that Zoomers would be a right-wing constituency.
That doesn’t mean all is lost with the young. Far from it. We just need to be clear about the effects of youth politics in our country. Young people play a far bigger role in the electoral politics of the Democrats. As we see with James Fishback’s campaign, having a huge advantage with young voters doesn’t mean much in Republican primaries. But young people still make a big impact in conservative politics. As I write about in my new book, Whitepill, young conservatives are the ones who made the Right more nationalistic. They achieved this through “metapolitical” action rather than electoral results.
Youth punch well above their weight on the Right. Just don’t expect them to decide Republican primaries.
This is important to remember when it comes to political action. Often, right-wing commentators wish to mold their audiences–real or imagined–into a coherent constituency that can make or break campaigns. They want this audience to operate like an interest bloc, similar to a labor union or the black community. But audiences don’t quite make interest groups. They have a far more casual connection to influencers and commentators than union members have to the body they belong to. They’re spread out all over the country. They’re much harder to organize. And many of them simply listen to their podcaster or talking head for entertainment. They may vote in a completely different way than their favorite influencer. They may not even vote at all.
Not voting at all is a particular problem for young men. They are “low propensity voters,” after all. Young women, who lean much more to the Left, are far more likely to show up at the polls. So are boomers, who continue to dominate GOP primary contests. This is not a demographic one can depend on.
Youth can make a big impact within Democratic primaries because many of them take place where young voters make up a sizable part of the electorate. Deep red districts don’t exactly boast a deep reservoir of young voters and their primaries are determined by boomers. Rural areas and the suburbs aren’t where college grads congregate. They do find themselves in major cities, where radical candidates can utilize them to defeat establishment incumbents. There are also far more young voters within the Democratic Party. Roughly 65 percent of registered voters under 30 are Democrats.
Some conservatives dismiss the idea that the youth are veering Left. They claim it’s just in Democratic primaries in New York City, which is unreflective of the country as a whole. It is true these contests don’t represent the entire country. But general elections last year were more reflective, and they showed a significant Democratic advantage among the young. Polling continues to show declining support for Trump among the under-30 crowd. The GOP’s youth gains in 2024 likely won’t reappear in the midterms.
Even though older people decide Republican primaries, they don’t have exclusive control over conservative politics. The right-wing debate over Israel emanates from young people. The push for immigration restriction came from young activists. The embrace of Afrikaners, anti-censorship policies, and a host of other issues came from conservative youth. Conservative commentary, outside of Fox and talk radio, is primarily shaped by those under 40. And many of the takes shared on Fox and talk radio originally came from the younger corners of the Right. See the intense focus on Somali fraud.
Young conservatives have changed the Right through “metapolitics,” a term used to describe the ideas, cultural forms, and principles that shape politics. As I explain in my book, Whitepill, the youth-led Online Right was able to transform American politics literally through memes. These were more effective than all the books and policy papers put out by the old dinosaurs of Conservative Inc. These memes came to influence Tucker Carlson and other mainstream commentators, who spread these ideas to the masses. The Great Replacement and other “fringe” ideas were embraced and began to influence voters and politicians alike.
That’s how young people changed politics on the Right. But many aren’t satisfied with that and want to have a direct impact on elections. That’s a completely different task, as it requires real-world organizing and lots of money. Both of those things are hard to come by in the world of Online Right politics. It’s difficult to keep a group chat together in these circles, much less convince hundreds of people to do GOTV work. We also don’t have a big enough constituency within GOP primaries to make the kind of impact many wish to make.
It’s better to focus on the “metapolitical” side rather than the electoral side. The Right is dependent on new media to get its message out to the public. This gives young conservatives disproportionate power over that message. They can shape how the GOP governs and campaigns, so long as these ideas don’t alienate the party’s core voters.
One could argue that young people shape right-wing media and information more than they do on the other side. The establishment media is still a very middle-aged affair with older readers and viewers. There are plenty of young socialist influencers, but they have to compete with the more established elements of liberalism. This explains how left-wing media touts “moderate” ideas like Abundance while their voters pick anti-white socialists.
The youth are changing both parties–but in different ways and with different means. The DSA’s strategy probably wouldn’t work for young nationalists on the Right. The metapolitical approach is what works best.
Scott’s new book, “Whitepill: The Online Right and the Making of Trump’s America,” is now available. Order your copy today.