Welcome to 2024 — the election of dread. This term, coined by the Wall Street Journal, encompasses a general feeling of antipathy among voters across the political spectrum, especially those under 30, about the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In particular, Generation Z feels as if it is voting out of necessity for the “lesser of two evils,” between voting for U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. President Donald Trump. In fact, 58% of people aged 18 to 34 are considering not voting at all.
Gen Z leans far more left on almost every mainstream policy issue than previous generations, so one might expect more passion about going to the polls. However, the opposite is true. In 2020, 57% of Gen Z individuals were planning to vote. That number has dropped to 49% this year for 18 to 29 year olds, a subset of the Gen Z population. Trump now leads Biden 49% to 43% among registered voters between the ages of 18 and 29. Generation X and the baby boomer generation are perplexed by Gen Z’s ambivalence. If Gen Z is so comparatively politically left, why would Trump — who threatened to lead a mass deportation — be leading the polls? To address Gen Z’s feelings of unease toward the election, older generations and Biden must understand young peoples’ disillusionment with electoral politics and analyze how to fix it.
Trump’s historic win in 2016 was symbolic of the start of the Misinformation Age, a period characterized by half-truths and fake news, when fact and fiction began to blur in an almost Orwellian “doublethink” manner. Trump began calling out traditional media news outlets in 2016, dismissing what he did not like as fake news. Having a politician as insolent as Trump may seem completely normal to Gen-Zers under 25. In the eight years since Trump’s election, Gen Z has seen the rise of abortion restrictions, the passing of Florida’s infamous “Don't Say Gay” bill, rising temperatures and the COVID-19 pandemic, all while economic troubles continued to grow.
While Biden is attempting to address Gen Z’s primary policy issues, he hasn’t been particularly successful. In January, he passed bills to relieve student loan debt. However, this legislation has done little to alleviate all $97 billion in debt among 7 million people. According to studies by Fortune and Vice, left-leaning Gen Z respondents feel that the problem is not their debt but the mere existence of loans for university education. A few factors, such as political polarization, can explain these views.
Gen Z individuals are generally more radicalized than older generations. It's important for the older generation to realize that disillusionment with the political status quo is the culprit. While older Americans had childhoods when the United States was unified by Cold War idealization, Gen Z has watched the impact of polarized politics divide the country. For younger Americans, constant threats to democracy are normalized. As a result of their experiences, it’s understandable that they seek a different approach. Furthermore, Gen-Zers tend to believe that America is neither specifically unique nor better than other countries. While 78% of the World War II era Silent Generation believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world, only 26% of Gen-Zers say the same, while 43% hold the opposite view.
More than half of Gen Z voters identify as Independent due to the belief that neither party aligns with their beliefs. Most of Gen Z feels like both 2024 candidates are standing for similar ideas regarding foreign policy, economic inequality and class divisions. Gen Z hopes for an isolationist attitude toward international affairs and for their taxpayers dollars to be invested inward on expanding healthcare and education. In particular, the war in Israel and Gaza has created a tipping point, as trust in mainstream news sources has dropped radically and young Americans have begun questioning if their politicians have their best interest in mind.
Gen Z is currently the most populous generation, so it is essential that Biden attempts to win younger voters. Biden must appeal to these voting blocs, but, to do so, he has to create a new, radical solution. While this may seem drastic, this has been done before. Former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal came in a period when poverty rates and global tensions were high. The legislation elevated people out of poverty through significant social and economic reforms via protecting union workers, limiting corporations and providing the equivalent of $11 billion today to those affected by the Great Depression. While controversial at its time, this law is widely seen as the most successful legislation of his presidency.
Biden’s version of the New Deal would also be controversial, as sweeping economic reforms have not been implemented in the recent past. We are living in a new era in which COVID-19 decimated the economy. If Biden drafts his own version prioritizing the everyday worker over corporations, giving subsidized loans to those affected by the pandemic and centering economic reform, voters will feel more valued. This would apply not only Gen Z but also to 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Thus, the legislation would spur Biden’s chances in the 2024 election. The American people are struggling, and we need a president who adapts to that — it is time for Biden’s New Deal.
Sabrina Lane (27C) is from New York.
