A recent report from a Democratic firm highlights one of the most shocking political phenomena of our time: the connection between President Donald Trump and Generation Z. In trying to understand the 2024 election, Catalist noted “a significant rate of movement away from Democrats among the youngest voters.” Trump credited slain influencer Charlie Kirk for this, declaring, “He had a big impact on the election.”
Pundits try to explain this in many ways, but one potent element cannot be overlooked: the resurgence of faith among younger people. Kirk never shrank from testifying to his faith and brought many young people into the fold.
WHY GEN Z HAS SWUNG BACK TOWARD TRADITIONAL CHRISTIANITY
Gen Z was supposed to kill religion. Instead, it’s reviving it. For years, the media promised America’s youngest generation would walk away from faith, embrace abortion, and lock in a progressive future.
But the opposite is happening. Church pews are filling up with young faces. Surveys show Gen Z is now more likely than millennials to attend worship weekly, and priests report a surge of young adults pouring into Catholic parishes. The antireligious youth movement that the Left banked on never showed up.
Trump was also dismissed. He was supposed to be a “New York liberal” who would never govern as a pro-lifer. Instead, he has cut Planned Parenthood funding, protected conscience rights, appointed justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and surrounded himself with one of the most pro-life, Catholic administrations in history.
The most pro-life president in American history has been embraced by the most pro-life generation in American history. Both were written off. Both proved the experts wrong.
Gen Z was labeled as abortion activists in waiting. Instead, it’s emerged as the first truly pro-life generation at its age. One reason is that every member of Gen Z grew up staring at their own ultrasound photo — watching science testify to their humanity before birth. They don’t need slogans to know when life begins.
The pro-life cause has always been a movement of converts, uniting women who’ve had abortions, former abortion doctors, and even ex-Planned Parenthood workers. Their change of heart wasn’t emotion. It was science and reason. Gen Z reflects the same reality. They are skeptical of empty narratives and trust what they can see. And what they’ve seen has made them the most pro-life generation yet.
Like Trump, Gen Z doesn’t trust the system. His “drain the swamp” message resonated with a generation shut out of their own graduations by COVID-19 lockdowns, silenced by blatant social media censorship, and treated by the government as if they were too naïve to see through the lies.
Boomers distrusted Washington and ran left. Gen Z distrusted Washington and ran right. Just as Trump bypassed the gatekeepers of legacy media by going straight to podcasts and social platforms, Gen Z gets its news outside the establishment. That shared skepticism forged a powerful alliance.
Trump also connected with Gen Z on culture. He’s a celebrity who doesn’t beg for celebrity approval. They respected that. Hollywood’s constant outrage never moved them. Even Taylor Swift’s high-profile endorsement of 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris fell flat. That endorsement, combined with Beyoncé’s non-concert, was supposed to be the youth-vote knockout punch. Not so much.
Gen Z isn’t impressed by Hollywood lectures. It wants authenticity. That’s why it responded to Kirk. And Trump, blunt and unapologetic, became the “cool grandpa” who doesn’t BS the kids.
That’s why in 2024, 40% of women under 30 voted for Trump. The political class swore young women would scream their devotion to abortion “rights” from the rooftops. They didn’t. Instead, they voted for the president who stood for life without apology.
Trump and Gen Z have delivered the most surprising political outcomes of the last decade. Both shattered the limits that the establishment tried to put on them. Both leaned into faith, life, and traditional values when doing so was supposed to be toxic.
The media wanted Trump and Gen Z to be each other’s undoing. Instead, they became the allies that delivered the political victory. And much of that is due to Kirk.
He showed that life, faith, and freedom aren’t relics of the past but instead light the way to a bright future — not the future the Left predicted, but the future the Left fears, and most of all, the future of the unborn, the voters of tomorrow. This could be the most powerful aspect of Kirk’s legacy.
Shawn Carney is the president and CEO of 40 Days for Life, the world’s largest pro-life organization, and bestselling author of four books, including What to Say When 2: Your Proven Guide in the New Abortion Landscape. Follow him on Twitter @CarneyShawn.