♪ ♪ > > This week in the Wheelhouse.

what's in a generation and why do they get their news?

How did they engage in?

And today we're all about one Generation.

> > Gen Z.

> > And > > for Connecticut Public on Frankie Graziano.

This is that we'll highs.

So that connects politics to the people.

We got to leave the does the politics in Connecticut and beyond right here.

Usa TODAY says Gen Z is the most politically divided generation.

One of our guests today even split them up into Gen Z one and Gen Z 2 point.

Oh, because of differences in views expressed by Younger Gen X-ers to their elders.

Despite these differences and a feeling of disassociation, many of them may have with politics they're still having fun online as we got to know, when we hit the streets to speak with many of them.

Today on the Wheelhouse, get to know Jan And here to help me do that is Alana more.

He reports on politics from NPR's Washington Desk.

Good Morning, Elaine.

A good morning.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you for talking to us this morning.

I appreciated Rachel Jan Fos a is the founder of the Up and Up in media and strategy firm focused on Chancey.

Thank you so much for joining us on the wheel.

Asked.

Into having me.

So happy to have you on the show and back on the Wheelhouse for more is political correspondent for FOX Christian past.

Good morning.

Christian.

Good morning.

It's fun to be here.

So happy to see Its this.

He thank you so much for coming on the show.

Folks, are you part of Gen Z what events of shape your political views?

Join the conversation.

88.

> > 7 to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, Rachel Jens includes people born between 1997 2012.

If you're keeping score at home, that's aged 13 to 28.

What are some of the most generation defining events that have shaped their lives?

> > So when you think about the lifespan of Jenin, see, this is a cohort that was born either just before or just after 9.11 And it's really been a string of crisis and chaos since then, most recently.

> > The last Rachel there for a second will pick it back up once he gets there.

But she's essentially saying that this is a cohort that was born right after 9.11 and crisis after crisis after that.

Not sure if we have Rachel back yet, but I will go to allay did to help us continue that pattern.

One of these crises that we're seeing, if you can continue Rachel's thought > > Yeah.

I mean, if you think for?

about being a kid in, you know, the early 2, thousands, maybe you work and middle school during the Great Recession.

Maybe your parents lost a job.

You're a kid during the Iraq war.

You know, it goes past just 9.11, which obviously change the world.

Then when these this generation gets to adulthood or young adulthood and they start to develop their own opinions and get, you know, their own be independence, their first election, the first election that anyone in Gen Z was eligible to vote for the eldest in that generation was 2016.

So top of a childhood that has been, you know, defined by all of these very generational defining moments.

The first time they were able to make their voices known in a presidential election.

Was this election for from, you know, Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump and their entire political adulthood has been really side-by-side with President Trump's time in national politics.

Yeah.

That's 2016 election seems to be a very important one.

> > Nonetheless, I believe we have Rachel back.

Rachel, can you just help me understand really quickly?

I think you've written about this that there's actually like a divide between Gen Gen Z it in terms of the one point.

Oh, and 2 point, oh, split.

> > Yes.

So when you think about the 15 year timeframe of Gen Z, there's been so many different.

And then San experiences that have really shaped 2 separate code words in this generation because so much has happened so quickly, both with the pandemic and with the rise of social media during the adolescence of Genesee.

So the way the knife Range NC One Jen Sey to point out is split by how old you were during the time of the pandemic.

And I believe that anyone who had graduated high school by the time that the pandemic started, they had a very different experience during and after the pandemic.

And anyone who was still in high school or dunker at the time that COVID-19 started.

If you think about those who had been on the whole discussed that Gen Z like myself, we had already had a taste of independence and adolescents by the time of the pandemic hit.

And that was really different than students who were in elementary school middle school high school during the time that the pandemic started had never lived outside the home were under 18 at the time.

And but it's not just about the educational experience.

It's also the social media platforms that shaped their time growing up.

I had a flip phone before I had an iPhone for members of Gen Z to point out they don't know what a flip phone was.

I mean, there has been a little bit of a resurgence with that recently.

Ironically, when I was in high school and college TikTok didn't exist.

It was nothing whereas for those who were in high school middle school, even younger during pandemic and and beyond TikTok has completely shaped their upbringing.

It is the cultural touch point.

It shapes what music they're listening to.

What trends are popular, what clothes they're wearing and also political.

The U.S. > > I'm trying to understand this a little bit further.

I love this delineation of the pandemic.

I think that's very helpful.

Help us understand, Rachel, if this kind of ships how somebody might vote once they are able to, maybe they got out of high school and then their first eligible to vote during the Harris Trump candidacy of 2024, how might the shape their political views?

How might what happened during the pandemic or what didn't happen for some folks may be having to stay at home during the pandemic.

How might that shift their vote?

> > Totally.

So.

> > During the pandemic, especially for Gen Z 2 point.

Oh, where's who were in high school or middle school at the time?

> > They were really the guinea pigs for a lot of the COVID restrictions and protocols that were in place.

And if you are a young person who felt like your life wasn't in your own hands and your ability to socialize with friends or plans sports games or have prom or graduation.

It's kind of that the whim of this virus and then the authority who was in charge making these decisions about your ability to just do these very normal adolescent things.

There was a lot of resistance to that that developed and a lot of anti authority sentiment.

And while the pandemic started, when President Trump was in office for his first term, many of the protocols about masking and vaccine mandates and school reopenings and things like that happened during the start of the Biden administration.

And so young people who grew frustrated with these protocols, looked at the person or administration who was in charge at the time and in many of the liberal cities where these restrictions on past, perhaps when young people thought they could have or should have the people who are in charge in many cases for Democrats and a lot of resistance to that starting to brew and started to spread online as well.

And so there started to be a lot of anti Democratic sentiment that bubbled up and also just anti authority sentiment.

Couple that with the fact that if you are shaping your political views during this time, young people are typically always in the counterculture.

And while Biden was in office, the counterculture was not to and the MAGA movement.

And I think this is in part why we've seen a shift to the right among some young people, particularly amongst young men who may have been the most frustrated by the fact that, you know, they were confined to their home during these really formative years.

> > Yes, a lot of this gets put on Democrats as it has in Connecticut.

We know that Governor Ned Lamont here faced a lot of flak for local mask mandates and such.

Donald Trump was also president for 10 months or something like that during the pandemic as well.

But Biden does get a lot of that criticism Alaina.

How is that impacting things?

And in terms of the polls, are you seeing that same kind of shift where some of the 2 point, oh, Zahra may be shifting towards a MAGA belief system.

> > Yeah, I mean, first of all, I will always credit like Rachel's kind of designation of these 2 split says is spot on.

I think you can see it even as we start to see emerging leaders in engine see emerging at leaders of this generation are that elder generation still.

And so it's going to be really interesting to see when some of those that younger part to covert starts to have even louder And that might make this split even more I think that another really, you know, I think the polls, it's interesting because it's very hard to actually split up.

Even getting good polling on voters under 30 can be difficult.

Let alone splitting that into.

We have seen certain, you universities like Yale University, Harvard University, do in-depth pulling on young voters and we have seen that generational mid generational split on party, which which is really fascinating.

And I will say even though I think again, Rachel's Point is spot on on these generational defining mid generational defining things that split this generation.

I think those routes that I spoke about earlier, those early moments that really kind of made this generation what we initially thought it wasn't I think a lot of those things still kind of re true throughout the generation.

It's a generation that isn't afraid to, you know, speak out against even the party.

Maybe they vote for often.

We've seen, you know, conservative-leaning, young people, liberal-leaning young people.

Criticized the party that they support.

And, you know, that's a similarity that I think is is quite unique to this generation.

> > I appreciate that perspective, Alana, because now I'm thinking about my kids.

I'm thinking about how parents probably with the parents of Gen Z'ers were panicking about cash in 2008 and that might be something that really influences the kids and how they're talking.

And now that we're going through a bit of a financial crisis here in 2025, I better keep my mouth shut around my kids.

So I don't make these genao fuzz a reactive towards that changes in their life.

I do want to now go to some tape for y'all.

Let's hear from Gen X-ers going to point this question to Christian afterward and hearing the > > Is Jens E's sold on our tape.

political system as it stands now.

We hit the streets to find out.

Here's Sasha Saint Germain of Torrington and Isaac Web OS from the Britain.

> > It's just unfair.

And I feel like we're slowly going back into the 1800's and I'm not with them at > > Is there one particular issue that you feel like we've gone really far back > > Women's rights, including on?

health rights.

> > My sold on our current political system.

I want to say no, I kind of don't like our to our democracy is going.

And I think a lot of gyms.

Here's what degree, because I think politically a lot of us more often leading left.

And right now we're currently and a right wing.

> > Majority.

> > Isaac says one particular issue.

He cares about the war in Gaza and support to Israel.

What about the question Christian that we ask Sasha and Isaac and would you think about their responses?

> > Yeah, I think overall it's easy to say that Gen Z Justice has been the trend among voters when they tend to be younger.

They tend to be a little less than 4 men tend to be little less aware of how systems work, which naturally leads to some sense of distrust.

On top of that, there is an additional aspect of can see pessimism that is kind permeated around social media that shows up in popular culture and shows up in a lot of our mainstream reporting on this generation.

The most anxious generation, you know, you know, people severe mental health crises and Generation Z the pandemic destroying abilities to create friendships develop social relationships with each other.

I do think that it's important to divide the agency up and think about it.

A long lines of social trust in the long lines of engagement with news because one thing that I've pretty interesting is that this idea of trusted institutions really depends on how just engaged these young people are.

a lot of higher information, better informed young voters who tend to be college educated if they are strong partisans, they believe in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, they do trust institutions.

They do have a sense of how the parties work, how government works.

This is why there.

But, you know, participating, electoral or activists, politics, if you have younger voters who not college educated or are not strong, partisans don't have strong ideological beliefs, which is a huge part of Tennessee.

do have a sense of distrust institutions, mostly because they don't understand how they work.

And this is partially why they don't necessarily vote.

I think that's why last year was really interesting because usually the parties are trying to or really usually Democrats of trying to appeal to that first group because those are the people they can count on to turn out to vote.

Those are the folks who would probably be upset that the party isn't more to the left, but they can make a compromise on that front and Republicans tend to just give up that demographic of numbers in general.

And last year we saw was a pretty strong attempt by the party to reach that second category of voters who tend to not believe not trust, not really understand how the system works and speak to a sense of frustration and an overriding sense among the electorate.

But especially among Gen Z because they don't seem to have that many strong political views attachments to parties to pat just.

Metro up to him, blow up the game completely.

And just vote out.

Whoever's in charge and shake up the status quo and the establishment.

> > And Rachel, you heard there Isaac saying that he thinks that people's generation tend to lean more left yet.

The current system in the United States, the current federal government is controlled by the Republican Party essentially.

So it leans right.

are you hearing that about a lot of Gen Z'ers?

Is there actually a lot of liberals among gen-z?

Yours is starting to skew the other way.

> > I am hearing an overall sense of dissatisfaction with both political parties and given what Christian just said, I would push back on that a little bit, too.

I'm hearing this even from some of the most politically engaged and involved young people on both sides of the aisle who feel like they even if they are highly educated and I you know, I do think on the whole this generation is very aware of current events and and the news they have, they're watching all of these events take place in real time with the constant string of breaking news notifications at any given point they're seeing so much so many people whose lives are affected core value to Gen Z is empathy.

And I think part of this is because they have been able to watch other people's lives unfold through their own personal experience and perspective and one of the most common phrases that I hear young people bring even just heard in a listening session last night.

It kept coming back to this idea of lived experience and so I think because young people are feel that they're in such close proximity to the lives of some of the other people, even people who look like or think differently than men, they I feel that they they feel that their pain is there pain.

And I think that that's a part of the ideology of Gen Z across the board.

Whether you're a conservative or a liberal, but to get back to your original question, there is frustration across the board.

It is not isolated to a particular party.

And one of the biggest trends that I've been tracking really since I started covering young people in 2018 is it a political homelessness?

And I think that.

During the first Trump administration, we saw young people who felt just politically frustrated, political only homeless and that perhaps shifted them more to the left.

And now I think given that there hasn't been since the 2024 election, a clear message from Democrats about where they're going from here.

That is leading a lot of young people who maybe did consider themselves a Democrat to say actually don't know really where the party stands right now.

And and while they may not agree with what President Trump is doing, they don't necessarily see an alternative that they align with.

And so it leads them to have many questions about where they stand.

At the same time.

I think there are a lot of young people who did feel frustrated at head of the 2024 election may be day to vote for President Trump but aren't set in stone Republican voters.

They are not conservatives.

They might have felt attracted by the MAGA movement, but they may be frustrated by the rising costs by the cost of housing by the job market by the possibility of what AI is going to do the job market.

And so overall, I think there is a lot as malleable believes and what I with it.

Sort of hone in on is that young people are not loyal voters.

They are not set in stone with either party and it is really up to the politicians and those who are trying to quit their votes to listen to them, to hear what their concerns are and to meet them where they are.

And right now, I'm not exactly quite sure at the national level who's doing that?

But this is something we have to kind of rely on.

And it totally.

And Rachel, this is the exercise we try to do > > In trying to just talked too.

to people because it's not necessarily something that the numbers are going to bear out yet or is there some kind of final data to this?

> > Like Alina said, there has been some data that came out of the yellow.

You poll showing of confirming this shift to the right amongst the younger members of Gen Z Agency to point out and there also was Gallup polling that I had written about last year showing that Gen Z teens had said that they were more conservative than their parents at a higher rate than millennials had when they were there 8.

So there is a little bit of hard data on mad, but to your point, you know, a lot of this is anecdotal.

And I you know, the other thing is the number of young people who identify as independent or non party affiliated and there's been quantitative data showing that for for a few years.

The number Gen X-ers who don't identify with either party.

And I think that speaks to this politically homeless sentiment and Co work that I was describing minutes of that.

> > How much the desire?

> > Alaina to challenge the status quo show up and who runs against older elected official.

So.

> > Who in Genesee challenges those in power are ready.

> > I think we have an interesting parallel right now where 2018 we saw that first midterm election year, which many people described as in some ways a referendum on Trump's, you know, first year in office.

And that's when we we saw folks like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who is a millenial at and was elected as one of the youngest folks in Congress.

It was a huge upset.

She was a big progressive but to 2022, we had our First Gen Z member of Congress elected in Florida.

Maxwell Frost, also a progressive.

And I think a lot of people have been inspired by that, you know, playbook, so to speak.

But it's a really hard one to replicate.

I mean it in see situation in ABC's Case that was in many ways, a huge upset as she was a sleeping giant, you know, hurt her opponent in the Democratic primary was not expecting a hard race > > and now Gen Z's political potential and uncertainty is talked about a lot and that that idea of what does this generation have to say?

How are they gonna make their voices heard a little harder to be under the radar, but you're still facing a lot of these institutional barriers of fundraising networking.

Just reps on learning how to, you know, campaign.

But that being the case we are seeing like 2018, a rise of folks kind of coming in and announcing candidacies for office in part fueled by this anger and dissatisfaction with the current state of play with the way for many of these progressives, their party Democrats are handling Trump to point And I think that is in some ways similar to what we saw in 2018.

But it's like new version of that because we've seen this movie before in some ways.

You know, Trump second term, but now instead of it just being a referendum on Trump and wanting new people to fight Trump as they would say, it's also we, you know, as Rachel was saying, a lot of young people have been saying for for years now that they, you know, they weren't exactly on board with former President Biden.

There were folks even with Harris, though she got more support in the polls leading up to the election.

She was still also struggling to make the same approval numbers that Biden had in 2020 and so I think a lot of young people this time around are announcing candidacies to both as they would say, counter Trump, but also to reframe their own party and give people kind of a new voice to look too.

But like I said, there, the city that is a hard path to walk and it's a hard thing to do.

And so we'll see how many of them are successful.

> > Christian, can we talk about power and agency real quick.

Yeah.

When you talk to these folks here that Gen Z wants to distance themselves from the political sphere in part because they don't feel heard.

Anybody wants to hear what they have to say.

If you do, is that unique to them or do a lot of other chance feel the same it at a different point?

> > Yeah, I do think that there's one aspect where sometimes we think that Tennessee is just completely unique and completely different from any other kind of generation.

And we end up seeing maybe a different reaction to some of the underlying changes and challenges are trends that have affected other generations as well.

I think on this front, it's interesting because of how the parties respond to that.

That sense.

I really interesting to me to know that a lot of we're seeing kind of a retraining of what's happened in other generations in terms of like we were just talking about who is running for office.

One of the big revelations from last year was, you know, just the confirmation of just the difference between the kind of people who want to staff and want to run for office and want to speak for their generation and the voters that are out there who what you know, there are some who respond to that and some who maybe don't necessarily you know, big drastic ideological change within the party because one thing that all know is that some of the candidates that were running that we either see a divide between candidates that are just speaking about change and generational change in the abstract.

Not really offering much of its definitely a much about direction for what that means.

And then some candidates who specifically say, you know, progressive policy left leaning policy, kind of thinking here one of the lessons I was trying to People try to draw from the New York City primary, which was like we need the exciting leftists.

Progressive kind of Democratic Party to be excited.

Young voters when we clearly saw from 2024.

Was that the new young voters that we're talking about are much more like, you know, Jackson much more like boomers actually.

And this kind of gets to to a larger point that I think about a lot, which is I do think that Gen Z isn't necessarily the most unique generation.

I think that millennials are actually the most unique generation.

I think that and this goes back to 2, you know, just how distinct the millennial experience was.

We talk about smartphones and we talk about politics and populism.

We talk about the uniqueness of the Obama era and the effects of the recession and the Iraq war.

I think what we're seeing with the actually is a bit of a reversion to the way that other generations that want more details, kind of you politics and approach the political coming of the political system.

We do have the added complication of things like TikTok of things like AI and of the pandemic but again, goes back to my defense the millennial generation as our greatest generation actually.

> > Yeah, I want to I want to pick that up, but I can't do it now to get a little break from Connecticut Public.

This is the Wheelhouse of Frankie Graziano.

You're listening to NPR's Alana More pin-ups, Rachel Jan and Christian Pass a box.

We're going to take a break.

But after look at where J and Z turns for news and how that may be shaping their political perceptions.

Are you part of Gen Z?

What's your take on politics and the news?

Let us know by giving us a good old-fashioned phone call.

It is 7 to 0 9, 6, 7, 7, hit us up.

It it 720-9677.

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> > This is the Wheelhouse from Connecticut Public Radio.

I'm Frankie Graziano.

We're the middle of getting to know more about Gen Z with 3 reporters who cover the generations.

So with me are NPR's a little more.

Cnn's Rachel Jan and Christian paths of FOX.

Want to hear from you.

If Your Gen Z or where do you get your news?

Let us know.

Do you think millennials are the greatest generation is a Christian pastor said that you want to give us a call about that.

8, 8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, Christian must have had maybe a little hot sauce in his eye in his drink of this morning or something like You know, one of those one of those great what we have at the morning.

I'm forgetting what the drink is right now.

It's got a horse ranch, but he marry maybe had a a spicy bloodied Mary this morning.

What you think about that, Rachel and Elaine, a and help us understand where you identify.

Know that your customer, right, Alana?

> > I am a cause Ima that.

Yeah, 97 So I you know, we tow the line, Rachel and I we've talked about it for years, but I'm a millenial.

What about you, Rachel?

> > I'm in Jen is here to ask for Burn in 97 as well like > > So you're very close what Alina.

you guys think about the the generations and at least what they're going through.

> > Well, I mean, I would just say, I mean, I would, you know, respectfully pushed back to a little bit of what Christian was just saying on.

And, you know, I think that we have to be very cautious on kind of looking at any of these examples of young progressives moving up and being successful as a playbook potentially elsewhere in the country.

I think when you look at some race like mom, Denise, which yeah, he says, I mean, Democratic socialist.

He talked a lot about a lot of progressive issues, but his number one issue was the economy.

And I think that we do see a lot of overlap still in this generation that has Rachel has said is in some ways politically homeless, a lot of overlap on these issues.

They're they're passionate about issues.

And in many ways it's an issue that is a bipartisan wanted.

Just people have different takes on how to solve it.

And that's economic inequality.

Housing, affordability, health care, affordability.

And those are things we hear Dems talk about.

Those are things we hear Republicans talk about and in many ways strategically so because we know Americans across demographic groups feel this, but it's something young people are passionate about.

And I would just say, you know, when I was out covering the 2024 election and I would go to Republican events and see can't yeah.

Candidates trying to appeal to young people.

The freeze you heard over and over again that I would argue worked in the election is they would say we want to give you a life that's better than your parents.

And that's something you hear politicians say on all sides.

And that's kind of and it like message that's > > really all over the place.

So I think that there's a lot of issue overlap and that's kind of what's driving these partisan.

You alignments of young people rather than a label you know, mom, Denise, more progressive.

How is that going to work in a place like, you know, that is more of a purple state and I think that that's a big part of it.

Is that just the issues driving this conversation?

And there's a ton of overlap between people who are driven by issues on the left in a way Bernie Sanders voter might in the same way that they might be kind of driven by economic issues and vote for Trump.

This last fall.

> > You as we finished out that segment, Christian, you also said that there's a lot going on now between AI and the pandemic and things like that kind of popping up at least for Gen Z.

So how might technology and the ability to kind of curing your own information stream be influencing the kinds of political content.

Young people engage with.

> > Yeah, I think that's an interesting dynamic because it's kind of a self-reinforcing cycle.

I I post pandemic this proliferation and, you know, destruction of any kind of my culture.

It kind of allows for the creation of echo chambers allows for algorithms to continue to define and determine what information you're seeing and and the role of AI the role of crypto newer issues that emerged in the post kind of, you know, post first Trump presidency era at a lot more noise.

And I think the big issue here and this is why I defined at the beginning.

The difference between low trust.

Hi trust.

High engagement, low engagement and one thing that I went out and there is a dividing line of weather.

Keep young people seek out information or they encounter information in the wild because I do think most of Gen encounters information isn't necessarily seeking it out.

And in many cases, that's a problem because we have more noise.

We have, you know, the allusion.

This is one of the reasons why we're in for Jen.

See in a way because they feel like their informant.

They feel like they know about issues.

The empathy that Rachel was talking about earlier.

It's apparent in the generation, but we haven't had a generation that has encountered such a flood of information in this way.

It does confuse and does add a little bit more chaos to their decision-making process.

Ease to their trust in various institutions and parties.

And this is why I do.

I was worried for example, last year when TikTok was becoming one of the primary ways that people young people specifically, we're getting information was trying to determine if being and TikTok news consumer had an effect or if there was any kind of correlation between that and political views.

And one thing that I did notice in a lot of middle of the polling that did try to tease out this question and we did have a bit of this was that there was a bit of polarization that resulted as a as a part of being a TikTok news consumer.

When you were young, you either had much more left or much more right views and it does suggest that some of these algorithmically powered weather.

Social media platforms are new systems or even the emergence of podcasting as a medium that your body young people are using to court get informed does present the possibility for more echo chambers for more seiling of information and yes, you know, I would argue that perhaps the older part of Tennessee was better at this and parsing out what was true, what was and what they could trust, what they didn't and in terms of just like in country in the world before this was the standard.

The norm.

I don't know what is happening with the youngest, Janet.

And part of this generation and how they are responding in a similar way, whether they are because media literate, what they are able to tell the difference between AI and reality and so on that front, I think we are embarking on course.

And so we'll see what happens at the youngest cohort and with the oldest part of generation off as they also end up entering the electorate.

Very controversial headline that came from The Washington Post recently.

> > After the federal government took away 2.1 million dollars from Connecticut Public and then some money away from NPR as well after that happened, there was a headline out there that said that one generation got its news from Elmo.

And now another one is going to get it from skip toilet.

That was the controversial headline.

The Washington Post had.

Hey, Rachel, while trying to pin down Gincy somehow in a moment you'll hear how we try to find out when they get there where they got the news.

I imagine political parties are trying to do the same thing how are they if at all Reaching Gen Z, is it in in-person connection?

Is it online?

Is it the algorithmic kind of solution that Christian was talking about?

> > There's a mix of ways and I think the reality of that this generation is that know because of it fragments in our media ecosystem is because of the fact that really anyone can create their own content and and in the words of Elon Musk.

But this existed before him be a citizen journalist, people are getting their information from so many different avenues, mediums, people that there is not one single way to Reach Gen Z as a politician.

And I think that part of the conversation head of the 2024 election.

And in the aftermath has been about the podcast ecosystem and the Manistee year.

And everyone wants to crack the code on how to reach young voters and young men in particular by going through the sort of alternative modes of communication.

And that is super smart and strategic and any politician should be doing that.

But at the same time, it's not the only way to reach young people and not everyone was a young person under the age of 30 is listening to these podcast.

Even if you look at young men the moral of the story is that Gen Z is not monolithic.

No generation is monolithic.

No group of people as monolithic.

And so in part because of how many different creators and modes of communication there are.

Everyone's getting your information a little bit differently, which definitely makes it hard for politicians, perhaps harder than in the past when there was, you know, the nightly news that they could go on and deliver their message.

But there's also an opportunity because you can reach young people really anywhere and the other reality is that you know, this is a very information hungry generation and part of their skepticism comes from a curiosity.

I think they are deeply eager to hear about the world around them and they're so there's an opportunity there for politicians to tap-in to end.

You know, I think one of the the takeaways that I've been honing in on since the election was really that.

What this generation is creating his authenticity.

And so the messengers need to utilize that.

Most indication that are most authentic to them.

If you are a young woman politician who really is and your makeup and beauty do a collab with an influencer who talks about beauty makeup, get ready with me videos if your a congressman who really likes to fish go on a fishing podcast.

If you like to cook, do a cooking pot cast.

There's kind of a way 2 use your personality, your hobbies, your strands and show your unique self through that through the modes of communication because every sort of niche Internet.

Community exists and there's a way for politicians to utilize those to their advantage.

And this is very important because this is going to be a big thing in 2028, maybe even in the midterms.

> > The question of authenticity and being real is more of a question that's being directed at Democrats over Republicans.

Is that correct?

Rachel?

> > I think so.

I think that for whatever reason, young people feel like because President Trump says what he wants is able to, you know, find of these of cancel culture.

He comes off as as very, really he's charismatic the and and people think that young people in particular think he's funny and they appreciate that.

Even if they disagree with what he is saying, whereas there has been a lot of frustration that I've heard.

And and this was true, especially in the lead-up to the 2024 election around the start of policing of language that they thought Democrats were doing.

And the fact that Democrats oftentimes we're coming off as sort of cringe and perform it and whether or not, you know, that is a fair criticism.

It's the way that it was Percy and and politics is perception.

So and matters.

> > When you say cringe it, it's also add one thing I think you have to think about there is gender.

I think women are always going to be face a little more pressure and get a little more criticism there.

So it might have been undo some of it that Kamala Harris got.

But she did get some criticism there about, you know, the brat summer and the coconut and not necessarily the campaign being as authentic.

I think that's kind of what you're speaking to.

Hey, Elaine, a while the Wheelhouse was in the wild with Gen X-ers.

We also asked them where they turned for news and political information.

Here's Basco from New Britain.

Allen case and from prospect Lottie Richardson to knock of Stratford and Isaac Web us from New Britain.

♪ I feel like.

> > My generation and me rely on social media heavily for the news these days, which social media does a good job on like spinning the news and, you know, not giving you the exact.

You know, truth about the news.

> > I take a lot of my news from TikTok Instagram, even Snapchat ads and some traditional media like and PR.

But then also like.

A healthy mix of like streamers, even honestly, I don't feel like I'm really connected that much.

I kind of separate myself from like politics like that.

♪ > > It sounds like a lot.

You probably knows who you are.

Late.

These responses.

What are they shaped by?

Like the political moment we're in right now?

Would you say or buy everything just being really a finger swipe away.

> > Well, I think it goes back to what we've been talking about this whole time.

This is a generation that is very distrustful of institutions of major forces of power.

And I think you have to be living under a rock to not see the Internet as one of those in some You know, we've seen that in the data.

You know, the Tufts University's Circle Institute.

They they found that something like more than half of folks under 34 18 to 34 has very little trust to no trust at all.

In social media and technology companies.

And, you know, to say that these young folks are not informed, I think is a larger question because I think what it means to be informed is kind of changing for this generation because you know, people open their phones and in a matter of seconds to get what you are saying about swiping, you can see what's happening.

conflicts around the world.

You can on the ground reporting on it.

You can see on the ground testimony on it from someone who may identify more as an Internet personality or influence or you can follow, you know, the daily lives of of people who have completely different perspectives than you.

And that's not to say this is in substitution or, you know, no Baez journalism, but it does expose a generation to something that really no generation, including millennials had.

It's such a young age.

And I think that has both giving people a sense of distrust because they know that the Internet is so vast and wide and that people's algorithms can be so different.

So you could be seeing such a different perspective than even your neighbor but at the same time, people are exposed to a lot of topics.

So I think that does get it.

Christian was saying it like this idea that people know a lot of things but are still formulating their opinion on it and still learning more information.

And in some cases are a little unsure of where to get that information in a way that feels fair to > > Not so much time to do them.

this because we have to get through one last break.

So we'll do after the break and I'll get to it quickly.

Division amongst Jens years were going on packet when we come back.

But if you're a member of Gen Z, we want you to give us a call.

Give us a call right now.

8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, You're listening to the Wheelhouse.

♪ ♪ ♪ > > If the 20th century was the American century, many say the 21st century may belong to China, but what if China's rise to dominance has been fueled by one specific us company.

> > How did they go from such poverty 50 years ago into the world's greatest maker of like military weaponry.

And I think that's the electronics year in year out Apple Pot that that's on the next on point.

> > Listen this morning at 10.

> > Uconn wheels has a new collection of compelling documentary short films produced by University of Connecticut Students.

Watch as one photographer explores defiance, learn about wartime propaganda and Posture Syndrome and how our upbringing shapes identities one family impacts the emotional and generational significance of Watch.

Now at CT Public Dot Org slash UConn.

Wife's a lot of times.

> > That's why Connecticut Public Radio, NPR or here to give you the vax the full story and a little clarity when the world feels upside down.

We're not here to add to the noise.

We're here to help you make sense of it.

Take a breath.

Stick around.

We've got this.

♪ > > This is the Wheelhouse from Connecticut Public Radio.

I'm Frankie Graziano.

You may know some 8 months after the presidential election that Jens, he was instrumental in returning Donald Trump to the White House.

Part of the reason there's such an effort to understand tons e particularly since many of us are used to younger people leaning more liberal than their more conservative we finish out today's show exploring why gen-z these political views are the way that they are.

I'm still joined by Elaine and more.

Rachel Jan and Christian pastor, you part of Gen Z want to give us a call.

Only got a couple of minutes left.

So give us a call now.

8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, part of this division, Rachel, with engines either.

We talked about at the top of the show includes a ride range of political identities, right?

So you've got climate activists, a young, religious conservatives in there.

How do we make sense of this widespread is it common across prior young generations to see ID ideas?

Contrast within its members.

> > Well, any generation is not monolithic.

And I think that's a crucial point that we have to.

Hone in on.

There is not one range of experience and in part because this is the most diverse generation in American history.

Of course, there's going to be a range of beliefs and point of use.

And I think that that diversity is also court to attendees, eat those on the whole.

And it's part of why they're so and with because for the most part, they have gone up around people who are a mix of different ethnicities and races and gender identities and sexualities.

And the other thing is that this is a generation that is really anti label and that's part of why many people are backing political labels as well.

We see that across genders yet across sexual orientation, we get across political party and you know, when you think about the trends that this generation is exhibiting in terms of their political believes there is a lot of anti authority sentiment when he just had 4 years of a Democratic administration.

There's going to be pushed back to the Democratic Party, especially when they felt like the Democratic leaders were.

As we said it, you know, in in a few minutes ago they cringe there, there was automatically going to be a push back.

That also because the with the policies and the behavior.

Even just something like the president walking down from Air Force One was shown on social media every single day.

It was over analyze to the point where it drew a lot of criticism in a way that I think is different than any prior generation.

And so I've been thinking a lot recently about our Jens E's politics really just reactionary.

And will we continue to see a flip-flop between moving to the left, moving to the right, depending on the opposite of whatever administration is in charge.

And I don't have the answer to that yet.

I don't have enough history and NC spotting patterns, but it's something that I've been thinking a lot about because of how critical of the Internet is and how native C is to that Internet speed.

We're going to sneak in a collared here right before and the show here in a couple of minutes.

> > Here's Gio from can go ahead with your question.

> > My question is, with all the corporate media, that is now.

How can Cindy the average news station that you see on TV, especially with the the history that we have on that.

> > That show Joe can ask you quickly what generation you a part of.

I am Jen, the 0.2 thousand two, 2002.

So you're 23 years old or 22?

Yes, sir.

All right, Tony, thank you for calling us Today.

G I appreciated Christian.

You take that question.

> > It's a great And it's a great question.

And I think it does speak to the importance of cultivating a solid and reliable set of news and information services.

I think that's why I raise the point a little earlier about Jesse being stuck between being, you receiving a whole host of information being flooded with noise and being, you know, being able to parse that is one of the major challenges I think for this generation going forward.

I think it is true that there are concerns about, you know, corporate influence is about censorship about more recently about political pressure on the White House on certain con certain big corporations that do have news agencies as part of them.

And I do think that speaks to the importance of things.

Sources like public media but it is one of those involving questions that will continue to see.

And I think, yeah, it'll be key.

> > Elaine, about a minute to go here.

Help us close out as Jesse continues to constitute a larger and larger portion of U.S. voters.

What are following?

> > Well, for years now, I think looking at 2022 midterms, 2018 midterms, the election of Joe Biden in Twenty-twenty.

I've been saying these this is a generation that are Democrats voters to lose in the sense that a lot of the issues that a fire them up that has kind of been the base of a lot of their awakenings to politics.

We're inherently issues that the Pats adopt and whether that's true now and whether that rest message is resonating to young people.

Is it different story?

I think you can argue the Democrats have lost some of their narrative in how they appeal to this generation and I think I'm going to be really curious to see if they can take that back in some ways.

This is a generation that has informed strong political views.

But we do know that folks those views while they are young.

And so, you know, I've been really interested in seeing that some Democrats on podcast talk to young Pete Buttigieg, one-on-one and said, you know, these voters may not be Republicans yet, but they will be if Democrats don't do something about it.

> > That's a or of NPR.

Thank you so much for coming on the show.

I appreciate coming on the show and go to NPR DOT org.

If you want to hear more of a thank you so much for coming out, Rachel.

Jan Fawcett, founder of the Up and up a media and strategy firm focused time.

Jen see, please do subscribe to the newsletter there and follow what Rachel is doing and political correspondent for Vox Christian Pass Christian so much that.

Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you for joining me on the Wheelhouse this morning.

Everybody.

> > Thank you for having us.

Thank you.

Today show is produced by Chloe win, but also Isaac Mohsen, Cocoa Kulien.

They join me in West Hartford to talk to folks.

> > Thank you so much to them for producing this.

It was edited by Patrick Scahill.

Our technical producer is dealing Re a special thanks to our social media intern.

Michael Scott for coming with us in the field.

And Sam Hockaday for the great graphics you saw here to today, download the Wheelhouse anytime on your favorite podcast app.

I'm Frankie Graziano.

This is the Wheelhouse.

Thank you so much for listening ♪ ♪