Young people across the world have thrown their support behind right-wing leaders like Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump – but the situation is very different in the UK
It’s a misconception that all Gen Z are left-wing radicals – notably, young men are developing unusually regressive views on gender and feminism. But in the UK, it’s becoming increasingly clear that support among young people for the Conservative party is nosediving. According to recent polling, only one in ten people under 40 will vote Conservative at the next election, falling to a measly one in 100 of 18- to 24-year-olds.
This stands in stark contrast to trends observed in other parts of the world. Young people are throwing their support behind right-wing leaders in France, The Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. In addition, almost 40 per cent of US voters in their twenties backed Donald Trump in 2020, while a similar proportion plan to back him this year too. So why has support for the Tories totally disintegrated among young people in the UK?
The housing crisis is arguably one of the biggest issues facing the UK, with young people disproportionately impacted by rising prices. Four in ten young people spend over 30 per cent of their income on rent, a level which experts deem ‘unaffordable’. House prices have skyrocketed to such an extent that levels of homeownership among young adults have plummeted. Even young people from the upper-middle classes who have views and backgrounds typically aligned with the Tories have been impacted.
While home ownership remains a pressing issue in many countries, the situation in Britain is uniquely terrible. According to data outlined in the Financial Times, “the share of 25-to-34-year-olds who own their own home in the US is six percentage points lower today than it was in 1990. In Germany it’s down eight points, in France just three, but in Britain the drop is 22 points.” As highlighted by data journalist John Burn-Murdoch, incomes have also dropped more in Britain compared to other countries like the US. “The conveyor belt of socio-economic progress may have slowed elsewhere in the west, but in Britain it has sheared in two, leaving a generation stranded below,” he writes.
NEW: we often talk about an age divide in politics, with young people much less conservative than the old.
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) February 9, 2024
But this is much more a British phenomenon than a global one.
40% of young Americans voted Trump in 2020. But only 10% of UK under-30s support the Conservatives. Why? pic.twitter.com/XJYqkUF62T
With young people “stranded” and unable to progress up the social ladder, an entire generation has collectively wisened up to the fact that meritocracy is a myth. With this in mind, it tracks that the Tories’ Thatcherite ‘bootstrapping’ ethos is fast becoming both unappealing and ridiculous for young people. As Burn-Murdoch points out in the Financial Times, just 39 per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds in Britain believe that “hard work brings a better life”, far below the proportion of young people in the US (60 per cent) and Germany (49 per cent) who believe society is meritocratic.
It remains to be seen whether young people will stick to projections which claim that they’re becoming more left-wing with age, especially as the children of wealthier boomers are set to inherit life-changing sums and assets in the coming decades. But equally, research does suggest that your politics are formed for life by your experiences in your twenties. If that’s the case, the Tory party’s disdain for young people could cost them dearly – not only in the next election, but also in elections to come.