Gen Z celebrates Donald Trump’s victory on college campuses

Social media platforms are flooded with videos of young people celebrating Donald Trump‘s presidential victory on college campuses across the country, demonstrating widespread support Republican candidate enjoyed among Gen Zers, despite Kamala Harris‘ attempts to get new voters on her side.

A student shared a video on TikTok of students running into the streets on the campus of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, “after hearing Trump had won.” You can see hundreds of young people running to a green space on campus and chanting “USA! USA! USA!”

Students at Grand Canyon University erupted in cheers in the early hours of November 6 as Fox predicted that Donald Trump would become the 47th president of the United States. pic.twitter.com/IfCO7KJGKr

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 6, 2024

Another Grand Canyon University student who was part of the singing, cheering crowd posted another video of the celebration on TikTok, writing: “Blessed to go to a school that loves America.”

Another video shared on X by 1819 News shows dozens of students at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, singing the national anthem and waving an American flag in response to Trump’s declared victory over Harris.

Trump likely won both states where the two campuses are located. Although Arizona has not yet been called because only 71 percent of ballots have been counted, the Republican has a +5 margin, according to data from The New York Times. In Alabama, Trump won with 65 percent of the vote, compared to Harris’ 34 percent.

In other parts of the country, young people are in mourning. Harris’ concession speech on Wednesday in Washington, DC, was attended by several young supporters in tears, as photos shared by news agencies showed.

How Gen Z helped Trump win elections

These very different reactions to Trump’s victory speak to the polarization within a generation whose votes are sharply divided between the two candidates this election season.

Forty-one million Gen Z voters were eligible to vote in this year’s election, with 8 million of them voting for the first time — enough people to significantly help determine the final outcome.

Generation Z’s support for Trump has disrupted general expectations that young people would support Harris’ bid. The Vice President and her running mate, Tim Walzhave made significant efforts to reach this target group, including by introducing memes into the narrative of their campaign.

Close poll data with NBC Washington showed that 55 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 (including Gen Zers and younger millennials) voted for Harris, while 42 percent voted for Trump. Gen Zers, born between 1997 and 2012, are now between 12 and 27 years old. Millennials are now between the ages of 28 and 43.

Compared to 2020, a significant number of young voters have shifted toward Trump. Four years ago, 60 percent of 18 to 29 year olds voted in favor Joe Bidenand only 36 percent voted for Trump.

Within this same age group, 49 percent of men have supported Trump, compared to 37 percent of women who have done the same, a sign of the gender divide that has come to characterize American politics.

Daniel A. Cox, director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life, has written extensively about what he called “the war within Gen Z.”

In an article published in January, Cox wrote about the rapidly widening gender politics divide among the younger generation, with women having become more politically aware and liberal in recent years since the #MeToo movement, and men having shifted to the right as the old-fashioned ideology of masculinity. is facing a crisis.

“Out of a sense of increased insecurity, more and more young men are adopting a zero-sum view of gender equality: if women win, men will inevitably lose. It is a view that makes them defensive and encourages them to ignore or overlook the enduring challenges women face in society, and can even fuel misogyny,” Cox wrote.

Trump and his running mate J.D. Vancewith their defense of traditional patriarchal values ​​and conservative ideas, provided a lifeboat to these unmoored young men. Furthermore, the Republican ticket may not have had the same impact on Gen Z as the Harris-Walz campaign, but it may well have represented the change that so many Americans seem to have wanted.

In an op-ed for Puck, political journalist Peter Hamby wrote that while the Harris-Walz campaign focused on creating a “good vibe” around their ticket, and appealed to young voters with celebrity and meme culture, it failed to address the issue of the economy. , which was among the top concerns of all voters.

After four years of the Biden-Harris administration, “virtually everyone” among the young voters interviewed by Hamby, “even some Democratsthought Trump could probably help their pockets, regardless of his shortcomings.