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Gen Z 1.0 and Gen Z 2.0
April 26, 2026
Posted 3 hours ago by
The pandemic split a generation As an election watcher/worker, this Axios report that Gen Z is not monolithic caught my attention: NC Democrats’ chair Anderson Clayton, 28, was on the Bulwark Focus Group podcast on 3/21. The focus group was Gen Z. The very first audio clip played [timestamp 7:00] was a woman saying, “I’ve never really felt seen by either parties.” That’s what I’ve witnessed in 8 months of weekly rush-hour messaging to commuters: young people want to be “seen” more than “policied” at.
They view politics as a red kid and a blue kid fighting in a sandbox over control of the sandbox and think: What has that got to do with my struggles? They don’t feel seen by politicians, so they don’t vote like seniors. Polticians don’t pay them as much attention because they don’t vote like seniors. It’s a vicious cycle. That’s why YOUR LIFE SHOULDN’T BE THIS HARD draws thank-yous and requests for pictures week after week after month. It’s like instant trust. People feel seen. Rachel Janfaza, author of “The Up and Up” explains that the Covid pandemic split Gen Z in two: What the polling looks like: I keep trying to get our people to pay more attention to and adjusting their pitches for younger voters. Almost half of younger registrants are registered independents. If they voted like seniors, they could upend American politics. But then the Trump administraion is doing a pretty good job of upending politics all by itself.
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