Millennials and Gen Z Are Revolutionizing Politics

The millennial-Gen Z voting block is at the cusp of if not already the most influential political group of the U.S. electorate. They do not hold the power and money as the Baby Boom and Gen X do, but they have passion, activism and a surprisingly high voter turnout compared to their parents and grandparents when they were their age.

But what are the millennial-Gen Z duo all about politically?

Initially and as late as up until this year, politicos had them pegged as the voting block to lead the Democratic Party to the promise land in 2024 and future elections (based off their overwhelming support for President Joe Biden in his first run).

But this duo of young-adult generations is saying not so fast. Don’t pigeonhole us as the loyal Democrats you all think we are. You have to earn our votes, and rightfully so.

Third party support
At this stage about a year into next year’s presidential election, they are leaning in favor of third-party candidates in numbers never seen before in modern pre-elections polling. And that’s just the beginning in their break from political conformity.

Boycotting
This maverick generational duo is also taking political boycotting to a new level. Boycotting has been around for decades. But the millennial-Gen Z’s use of boycotting is high-level crafting, precise, calculating and effective, which success can be largely attributed to social media.

To begin, their current boycott of Starbucks and other companies over Israel’s bombings and occupation of Palestine not only have resulted in decreased sales but it’s reported to have some investors jittery.

In the case of Starbucks, some financial analysts downplay the boycotts’ impact saying the ongoing unionization of Starbucks locations and investors’ high expectations on returns not being met (causing them to pull out their stocks) are the real reasons why Starbucks have lost billions of dollars going into December. This analysis is sound and credible.

But it’s also credible that the massive boycotting is damaging Starbucks’ brand; and that a company’s brand always has influence on both sales and investments.

We are seeing that boycotting largely led by millennials and Gen Z arguably are having more success than companies would like to admit.

Should boycotting be a legitimate form of political expression?

It’s hard to argue against it. If politicians are held to account for their stand on policy, why shouldn’t companies that lobby Congress on issues from climate change to anti-trust legislation to currently the latest over U.S. involvement in supporting Israel also not be held to account for their political actions?

Afterall, big PAC money have tremendous influence in campaigns; and donors to these SuperPACs are largely funded by corporations.

In this logic, millennials and Gen Z’s political expression through boycotting is a smart strategy, an evolution of sorts that targets the oftentimes source of political corruption and is an effective complement to traditional voting on elections.

Boycotting, in essence, is voting on companies’ ethics and against their lobbying influence.

Just as in nature where living organisms adapt to their environment over time, millennials and Gen Z are forging a new body politic by finding new ways to survive in the current dysfunctional ecosystem of American politics.

Protesting
Besides unprecedented support for third party candidates and precision boycotting, millennials and Gen Z are also integrating as part of their weaponry of political expression – protests.

Protests, again, like boycotting are not new. But this young adult block is taking protests to a level that is influencing public opinion on issues that have not been successfully challenged, at least not since the peace and civil rights movements and activism launched by Baby Boomers in the 1960s.

Since the Vietnam war, each war the U.S. engaged in has been largely uncontested. Gen X failed to muster opposition or were ideologically in line with the Middle East war campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, at least initially.

In contrast, the widespread and passionate protests against U.S. involvement that’s ongoing, mostly led by millennials and Gen Z, is writing new text in the book of U.S. war and hegemony.

One can argue, if it were not for these protests swaying public opinion, the war in Israel would have already been expanded to Iran and possibly other countries in a U.S. intervention, given the U.S.’s history of expanding conflict.

This is debatable. But what’s not debatable is protests have already managed to achieve something unheard of in American politics, and that is to seriously challenge U.S. support for Israel. Protests are responsible for President Joe Biden and others going from “complete unconditional support” to expressing concern over Israel’s bombing of civilians.

Millennials and Gen Z are revolutionizing politics. Politicos thought they had them figured out. But they’re shaking and rocking old pillars – challenging our two-party system, corporate influence and foreign policy and war.

The older generations have underestimated millennials and Gen Z’s resolve and lack of direction. But politically, they’ve mushroomed into a real force.