Jake Tapper has said on a podcast that he believes members of Gen Z will be 'a lot more' conservative than millennials and Gen Xers thanks to the failure of Black Lives Matter and other left-wing movements in the United States.
The 56-year-old CNN host made the prediction during an episode of libertarian journalist Nick Gillespie's ReasonTV show that aired Wednesday.
'My impression of Millennials, and obviously there are exceptions, but they're fairly progressive. And I think Gen Z is going to be a lot more conservative,' Tapper said.
'Just my experience knowing Gen Z kids, my kids and their friends, I sense much more skepticism of, and I think it is a reaction to, Gen Xers and millennials forcing on them progressive views in school.'
Data from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University found that young voters were 9 percentage points more Republican in 2024 than they were in 2020.
In terms of raw numbers, there are still more young voters who identify as Democrats. Voters aged 18 to 29 also backed former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump by a four-point margin of 51 percent to 47 percent.
Just four years earlier though, that same age group favored President Joe Biden by 25 points over Trump, suggesting there's been a huge erosion in the Democrats' hold on young people.
Tapper believes this crack in the Democratic coalition comes down to the fact young people are disillusioned with left-wing social reformers.
CNN host Jake Tapper said on libertarian journalist Nick Gillespie's ReasonTV show that he believes Gen Z will be more conservative than past generations
He theorized that it's because progressive movements like Black Lives Matter didn't achieve their stated goals
Pictured: Protesters march in downtown Austin, Texas, on July 26, 2020, several months after George Floyd's murder
'I also think it is a reaction to the failures of progressive movements to achieve what they wanted to achieve, whether it's Bernie Sanders, whether it's Black Lives Matter, whether it's #MeToo,' Tapper said.
There's also a general feeling among young people who haven't shifted to the right that the Democratic party is unimaginative and isn't good at resisting Trump and the Republicans.
Dakota Hall, the executive director for Alliance for Youth Action, said the Democratic party is 'stale' during a Harvard Kennedy School panel this month.
'It has become too out of touch with the mainstream efforts of young people across the board,' he said.
The Yale Youth Poll is the largest survey that examines the attitudes of voters 18 to 29. Their findings suggest that the younger you are, the more Republican you tend to skew.
In a sample of 4,100 self-reported registered voters interviewed in the spring of this year, those aged 22 to 29 favored Democrats in the 2026 congressional elections by a margin of 6.4 percentage points.
Voters aged 18 to 21 said they preferred Republicans by 11.7 points.
'Young people are traditionally thought of as the more liberal age group. And it’s true that voters who are 18 to 29 years old are more progressive than those over 30,' said Jack Dozier, the deputy director of the Yale Youth Poll and a rising junior.
'But we are also now seeing how those within this group who went through high school during the COVID-19 pandemic are significantly more conservative,' he added.
