The Up and Up
Your destination for what to know about Gen Z’s politics: how young Americans are organizing, mobilizing, and participating in civic life and politics – or, how and why they’re not.
Young voters are underestimated and misunderstood.
When I mention I cover Gen Z and its politics, I often get a puzzled look. “Why?,” people ask me, “What makes Gen Z any different? Young Americans don’t vote.”
Gen Z moves the needle in the worlds of tech, culture, and entertainment, but young people are still overlooked in traditional political conversations and often an afterthought in electoral campaigns. And while youth voter turnout has increased the past two election cycles, young people don't regularly see themselves reflected in political news.
That needs to change.
Born right before or just after 9/11, Gen Z came of age during a period of crises: a 20-year war, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial crisis, school shootings, mass shootings, climate change, COVID-19, and movements such as Black Lives Matter.
This is a generation that grew up on social media and started paying attention to politics during the Trump era and in its wake, a time of hyper-polarization through which the line between politician and celebrity blurred and a series of policies – many to the chagrin of this voting bloc – was enacted quickly with the strike of a pen.
Yet, when the mainstream media talks about young Americans, it’s often with the assumption they’re impatient or over sensitive.
The reality is that across the country young Americans are charting new ways to make government work for them. They’re not just posting on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat – though that’s certainly part of their political identity – they’re also marching in the streets, working with officials to advocate for legislation, and running for office themselves (in fact, it’s likely that the first member of Gen Z will be elected to Congress this November).
But there’s no central location that covers the wide-ranging dynamism of Gen Z’s political prowess and the various groups and initiatives supporting their growth as voters, nor a Gen-Zer surveying the youth vote landscape, its ins and outs, with a hint of skepticism.
Even if one or two Gen Zers are elected to Congress this year (Maxwell Frost, a Democrat, is on the ballot in Florida, and Karoline Leavitt, a Republican, is on the ballot in New Hampshire), there will still be more than 530 members of Congress who aren’t Gen Z. And though Democrats rely on young voters for electoral capital, it’s inaccurate to assume the youth voting bloc is a monolith on the left, even if most Gen Zers, regardless of party, are small ‘p’ progressive when it comes to the bulk of social issues.
So welcome to The Up and Up, your destination for what to know about Gen Z’s politics: how young Americans are organizing, mobilizing, and participating in civic life and politics – or, how and why they’re not.
Through my reporting at CNN and beyond, I’ve met many young Americans and youth-focused organizations aimed at bringing young people into the civic and electoral process. The Up and Up will aim to be in conversation with and report on the work of these individuals, groups, and initiatives, and it will also seek to tell stories about how the political system sometimes fails the youngest members of the electorate.
I hope you’ll join me on this mission and encourage you to reach out with tips, tidbits, comments, and concerns.