Recently, while perusing RealClearPolitics, I came across a piece from City Journal examining what Gen Z Republicans actually think. The article, Everyone Wants to Know What Gen Z Republicans Think. We Asked Them., written by Jesse Arm, is based on a focus group of twenty right-leaning Zoomers brought together in Nashville. As it begins to circulate widely through RCP, my guess is that many are as intrigued as I am because it confirms some uncomfortable suspicions, and also because it resists easy caricature Gen Z is so often victim of.
Right out of the gate, the piece does something valuable, which is instead of treating Gen Z conservatives as an abstraction to interpret from an armchair, it actually lets them talk. That alone sets this piece apart from much of the coverage in this space, which tends to oscillate between alarmism and condescension of these young Americans. Interestingly, Arm’s Gen Z focus group reveals a cohort that is not especially panicked about its own economic pr…
