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    • Why young voters say they want candidates who fight for them
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    Why young voters say they want candidates who fight for them

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    Politicians often struggle to relate to Gen Z voters who have never experienced politics without social media, where ideas spread like wildfire and like-minded ideas are prioritized in their flows.

    The more than 8 million young Americans who won the right to vote this year are studying the candidates with the same vigor as older generations, but without the ingrained memory of past elections that were not so combative.

    They were children when social movements like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and March for Our Lives took hold, and preteens when former President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.

    While Gen Z voters have never experienced presidential politics without the words “fight, fight, fight,” one expert told Knox News that it’s a “fight, fight, fight” scenario. “chicken and egg” to find out who is to blame.

    In the end, it doesn’t matter how we got here. Young voters who could hold the key to the White House in 2024 want partisan politics focused on their personality, with candidates who don’t compromise.

    The elephant in the room

    Andy Busch, associate director of the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, said it’s true that angry, aggressive politicians have inspired young voters. On the other hand, Trump and candidates like him would not have risen to power without their appetite for their leadership style.

    Busch co-edited “The Elephant in the Room,” a collection of essays by conservative political scientists and commentators on how Trump has changed the Republican Party and politics.

    Politics has always been divisive, he said. The difference now is that there is more division between parties and less division In them. Politics has become combative.

    “If you fight, you want a fighter”

    This change makes young voters feel like someone is working against them. They say it’s like a force that doesn’t want them to succeed, and they want their candidates to show they’re resilient.

    Those who are not on their “side” are the enemy.

    UT student John Knighton grew up outside Memphis and voted absentee for the first time this year. An ambitious student at the Baker School, he told Knox News he entered politics in 2022, the year before the U.S. Supreme Court ends affirmative action. He says his white male peers were denied their rightful spots at elite universities because of the practice, and he’s glad it’s ended.

    “I think that’s a really motivating factor,” he said. “They tend to think they’re not really respected by Democrats.”

    Knighton wants someone who will defend him, and more measured politicians are not enough. He’s looking for fiery video clips.

    “A lot of voters on both sides feel like they’re caught in some kind of fight, so they want their spokesperson to be a fighter,” Busch said. “If you’re going to fight, you want a fighter.”

    Jill Onks, a sophomore at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is the other side of the same coin. She felt betrayed when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

    She wants a leader who will defend women’s rights.

    “In the months leading up to it, I was like, ‘They’re the Supreme Court, they’re going to take (the challenge),'” Onks said. “In my mind, I looked at (the decision) as a government that doesn’t know how to make decisions correctly based on population.”

    Onks, who grew up near Nashville, told Knox News she would have voted for President Joe Biden, but was excited about the prospect of a stronger candidate.

    “We need someone who is competent and can literally stand up,” she said. “You want to see (a leader) recognize people who say, ‘Hey, you all need to step down.'”

    Onks and Knighton agree on one thing: They want to feel heard.

    Is compromise excluded?

    Part of the reason these voters are so entrenched in their beliefs, Busch says, is that politicians no longer deviate from their party’s unspoken rules. Liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats are a thing of the past.

    Don’t expect to see another vote like the Republican senator’s. John McCain does to save Obamacare in 2017.

    “In some ways we have more homogeneous parties,” Busch said. “There is not a large bloc that systematically challenges the mainstream (sector) of the party.”

    Knighton accepted that there could be no compromise on many issues. If it’s win or lose, it’s better to have a champion on your side.

    “There are some things we’re going to be able to compromise on and we’re going to be able to find common ground,” he said, citing immigration and taxes as examples. “But there are fundamental principles that we think will be more difficult to compromise on.”

    Onks disagrees and wants leaders who compromise. But when asked what compromise on abortion looks like, she pauses.

    “If you don’t want to have an abortion, don’t have one,” she said.

    Young voters are absent

    Young voters like the ideal of compromise, but their emotional appeals to politicians could prevent them from implementing it.

    “I think (young voters) are having a hard time putting themselves in the context of the unusual things that we sometimes see (in politics) these days,” he said. “They haven’t really experienced an environment where contestants aren’t calling each other idiots and interrupting each other on stage.”

    Allie Feinberg reports politics for Knox News. Email her: [email protected] and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg

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