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🌊 The Gen Z Gender Divide
How Zoomers are both more progressive and conservative than the generations before them
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By Max Towey
At first glance, Gen Z’s politics seem paradoxical.
One day you’ll read about how Zoomers are moving right and returning to church – and they are. Then the next day, you’ll read about how they’re by far the most activist and LGBTQ+ generation – and, again, they are. So what gives?
Gen Z is divided along gender lines: It has the widest gender partisan gap of any generation by a wide margin. And that gap is growing.
Before we dive into the data that depict this gap, let us introduce a couple that not only epitomizes it but has led it. Their story truly is a tale of two genders.
In 2020, Bryce Hall and Addison Rae were on top of the world.
Bryce Hall, then 20 years old, had catapulted to fame on TikTok two years after moving from Maryland to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment. He was living in a Bel Air Mansion with five other young, broccoli-haired heartthrobs who did viral trends and dances for their tens of millions of followers and made millions from brand deals.
Addison Rae’s rise was even swifter: In the fall of 2019 she was a freshman at LSU studying broadcast journalism; a year later, she was the second most-followed person on TikTok, with 56M followers. In 2019, she was caught on camera freaking out when LSU’s safety Grant Delpit followed her; in 2020, she was hanging out at Kourtney Kardashian’s home on weekday afternoons. Her reach was staggering: She garnered over 100M views on five different videos. Her dance to the hit song “WAP” received over 320M – triple the Super Bowl audience.
Bryce Hall and Addison Rae
When Hall and Rae started dating publicly in 2020, they became TikTok’s royal couple, icons of a generation that was suddenly coming of age. They weren’t political – neither indicated any interest in politics. They were dancing, high on their newfound money and Bel Air fame.
But alas, true love doesn’t exist: They broke up several months later. And that’s when the interesting part of their story begins: Bryce Hall and Addison Rae went two separate directions, epitomizing a shift that defines the politics of their generation.
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Editor’s Note
Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoyed today’s report. We’re curious to hear from you: Is the gender partisan gap a problem — or just a reflection of increased freedom to express different identities and views? Should politicians do more to bridge the Gen Z gender gap, or is it too late? Let us know by replying to this email.
If you’ve missed any of our latest deep-dives, find them below:
We got a lot of emails on yesterday’s report about Europe’s welfare and military budgets. Here’s a selection of those replies:
Jonny wrote:
I'm a big fan of how and what material was presented here. You stayed on topic and didn't sidebar into whether it was good or bad that we spent less on each social welfare program, just that we do with examples (and kept it at the federal level). That's very hard to do folks, good work!
And David from Alabama wrote:
Very interesting piece about European defense spending. It’s definitely time they pay their own way. Defense spending should be a top priority for any nation. I also think not having a deficit is a requirement except in times of crisis. Infrastructure and necessities should come before entitlement and welfare.
Your article raises more questions about how US spending compares to other nations in all categories. How can European afford to be so generous to its citizens? What do they spend in other areas? Where do they get their money?
That’s it for today, see you tomorrow.
–Max and Max