I had high hopes for Gen Z. In the end, we failed even ourselves.

Well, the secret is out. The world finally knows that Gen Z isn’t so special after all and not the generation of progressives sent to save us from a second Trump presidency.
I’m sorry to disappoint.
Between GOP nominee Donald Trump’s blowout on Election Day and the ever-growing list of creeps joining his administration, Democrats have been asking themselves what went wrong this election cycle. Part of this is that voters under 30 didn’t show up like they did in 2020.
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According to The Associated Press, “Slightly more than 4 in 10 young voters went for Trump, up from about one-third in 2020.”
Vice President Kamala Harris won the generation, but the inroads made by Republicans killed any thoughts of Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, saving us from Republicans. All year, I said it didn’t matter how much Harris tried to appeal to Gen Z if we didn’t go out and vote for her. Now, we must all live with the consequences of what turned out to be a disappointing generation of voters.
The biggest shake-up within the generation is the rightward shift of its young men. Like other age groups, white men ages 18-29 overwhelmingly supported Trump. Latino men within this age range also supported Trump over Harris 49-47%.
This shake-up shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who was paying attention.
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Young men are going to college less; their economic prospects are worse than millennials’. The economy and cost of living were the most important issues for voters across generations, and Harris failed to convince them that her economic plan was better.
It’s not just the economy though: 45% of men under 30 say they face discrimination in American society, up from 32% in 2019.
Instead of offering a place where young men can see themselves, Harris focused on courting young women. She leaned into “brat summer”; she appeared on the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy.” Even this failed to pay off – Harris lost ground with young women when compared with Joe Biden’s presidential election in 2020.
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Meanwhile, Trump was able to plug into a right-wing social media ecosystem that has been flourishing for years, giving disaffected young men a place where they feel they might belong. It’s why he appeared on podcasts alongside Joe Rogan and Theo Von. It’s why the Paul brothers and the Nelk Boys supported Trump. Young men see themselves in the hyper-masculine MAGA persona; they can’t see themselves in the Democratic Party.
The solution, in theory, is for the left to create its equivalent of the “manosphere.” This is easier said than done. It has taken years for the right to manufacture this kind of content; it will take the Democrats just as long. It also doesn’t address the fact that young white women are also shifting further right.
Now, let’s address why many people, including members of Gen Z, stayed home this election cycle. A lot of would-be Democratic voters were also unsatisfied with the party’s stance on what’s being investigated as a genocide in Gaza – refusing to call it as such when Israeli troops have killed more than 43,800 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel killed 1,200 people. 
I’ve known this would be a major factor in the U.S. election since the spring, when students across more than 100 college campuses set up encampments to protest U.S. financial ties to Israel – and that it would lead many people to either stay home or vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. It turns out I was right.
Despite record voter turnout in Michigan, which has a high density of Arab Americans, it was the only battleground state where Harris did not win the majority of 18- to 29-year-old voters.
In one CNN exit poll, nearly 40% of Michigan voters who believed the U.S. support for Israel was “too strong” went for Trump. In Dearborn, where more than half of residents are of Middle Eastern descent, over 18% of voters chose Stein. Those should have been easy Harris wins, had she actually taken a stand against the status quo.
Instead of responding with resounding support for the Palestinian people, calling for an arms embargo or even giving a Palestinian speaker time during the Democratic National Convention, the Harris campaign failed to convince voters that she would stray from the Biden administration’s stance on the issue. Now, we’re about to enter an administration that will be even friendlier to Israel.
To the ones who voted third party or failed to show up to vote because of this, you made your point. I hope the moral high ground was worth it.
I’m worried about what this means for the most vulnerable members of my generation:
These are the people who stand to lose the most with a second Trump presidency. These people, not Harris, are the ones Trump supporters voted against.
The factors that led Gen Z to vote for Trump are the same factors that affected older generations. Ultimately, the Republicans won the messaging on the economy. And while I may find it hard to ignore the fact that Trump is also a racist, an adjudicated rapist and a convicted felon, most voters weren’t bothered by any of it.
Right now, I feel hopeless. I’m frustrated at my generation for supporting Trump; I’m frustrated at the Democrats for ignoring young peoples’ critiques of their messaging. Instead of spending the next four years complaining, I hope that we are able to actually address what went wrong for the Democrats and how things can change going forward.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno