In a surprising twist, the Democrats just couldn’t lock down the Gen Z women’s vote in the recent election, with 40% of women under 30 backing President-Elect Donald Trump, according to exit polling by the AP. It’s the kind of result that throws a wrench into the left’s assumptions about young women’s politics—and it’s a sign that something isn’t quite right in the Democrats’ strategy.
Kamala Harris certainly tried to appeal to Gen Z women, showing up on the Call Her Daddy podcast and getting the nod from celebrity megastars like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. But it seems that endless celebrity endorsements and media stunts didn’t do the trick. It’s almost like young women weren’t interested in political candidates pandering to them on pop culture podcasts or having TikTok stars tell them what to think. Instead, they had more practical concerns, and spoiler alert: abortion wasn’t one of them.
Despite Harris’s focus on so-called “reproductive rights” and her repeated claims that a Trump presidency would roll back women’s rights, the messaging fell flat with Gen Z. Only 13% of voters under 30 actually said abortion was their top issue. Contrast that with 40% who said their main concern was the economy.
It turns out that when faced with high inflation, uncertain job prospects, and sky-high housing costs, Gen Z voters might just care more about their financial security than they do about celebrities or identity politics.
Exit polling shows 40% of women under 30 dumped Harris in favor of Trump.
In general, the youth vote really significantly moved to the right this time around and I think it has a lot to do with @charliekirk11
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) November 10, 2024
And let’s not overlook the shift among Latino voters—another demographic Democrats usually count on. NBC’s exit poll showed that Latino men favored Trump over Harris by a 54-44 margin, a striking reversal from 2020 when Biden won this group handily. What happened?
The Democrats have spent so much time pushing woke agendas and cultural issues that they’ve alienated large swaths of the population, including working-class Latinos who, like most Americans, are worried about real-life issues like jobs, border security, and the cost of living.
Even CNN’s exit polls showed Harris with only an eight-point lead among all women voters—a stark drop from Biden’s margin in 2020. As Cornell professor Sabrina Karim put it, there were “high expectations” about how women would vote. But as she pointed out, women aren’t a monolithic voting bloc. They’re not all swayed by the same social issues, and they’re increasingly skeptical of a party that seems more interested in crafting the perfect sound bite than addressing their real concerns.
Exit Polling: 40 Percent of Women Under 30 Dumped Harris for Trump!
https://t.co/wCmWmKhiFk via @BreitbartNews
— Rebelcat (@graf_there52332) November 11, 2024
Trump’s victory this time around makes him the first person to win back the White House after losing reelection since Grover Cleveland in 1892. For Democrats, that’s got to sting—and it should serve as a wake-up call. They spent years assuming they had Gen Z women in their pocket, but that’s not the case anymore. Gen Z, like the rest of the country, isn’t interested in endless culture wars. They want solutions to actual problems, and they’re willing to look beyond the Democratic Party if that’s what it takes.
