The Values Gap in Gen Z Voters Is Huge

I wrote this before the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, and it seems even more relevant today. It gives us insight into the values gaps between people on the left and people on the right. 

Regardless of the generation, the difference in values between voters of different demographic groups is substantial.

But it is particularly stark in Gen Z voters, as an NBC poll shows. This is the post-God, all social media generation. 

Top definition of success among Gen-Z voters:

Women who voted for Harris:
• A fulfilling career

Men who voted for Harris:
• A fulfilling career

Women, voted for Trump:
• Achieving financial independence

Men, voted for Trump:
• Having children

👉🏻 https://t.co/sTOxBGBt3u pic.twitter.com/ruH6yG0ZMS

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 8, 2025

Gen Z voters who went for Harris, regardless of sex, value a fulfilling career as the most important thing they can achieve. That, and having enough money to have fun, are their top priorities. Marriage and family barely merit a mention. 

Gen Z voters who went for Trump? They care more about families and financial security. And, in an interesting twist, it is men who voted for Trump who care most about having kids. Gen Z men who voted for Trump placed having children as their most important marker for a good life; Gen Z women who voted for Harris placed it at #12. 

That’s appalling. Liberals keep telling us about valuing human connections and empathy, but money and careers top their list of priorities. 

Gen Z men who voted for Trump rate having children as the most important thing in their personal definition of success. Gen Z women who voted for Harris ranked having children as the second-least important thing in their personal definition of success.

Young, female Harris voters also ranked emotional stability as the third-most important thing in their personal definitions of success, something that young men who voted for Trump ranked second to last.

Men and women who voted for Harris are both more likely to include a fulfilling job and using their talents and resources to help others in their definitions of success. Men and women who voted for Trump are more likely to list financial independence, having children and being spiritually grounded on their lists of what defines success.

Both men and women who voted for Harris prioritized their careers over family, and both were laser-focused on their emotional well-being, indicating a high level of narcissism. Trump voters prioritized emotional stability lower on the list. Unsurprisingly, all Gen Z is focused on financial stability — something few of them have experienced as they enter the world. 

Liberals aspire to the “DINK” lifestyle. 

It’s really troubling that in neither cohort were women saying that bearing children was high up the list. That has to be a vastly different set of values compared to earlier generations, and is certainly due to the antinatal values being taught to younger people. After decades of anti-human propaganda, young women in particular seem averse to having children, and that shows up in the birth statistics. 

The focus on self has practical effects beyond birth rates. Gen Z is the most anxious generation in recent history. It seems the more we get people focused on their emotional well-being, the less emotionally stable they become, instead of the opposite. Our society is obsessed with mental health–“Social and Emotional Learning” is now a staple in the public schools–yet kids are anything but stable. 

The result? Kids are less happy, have fewer kids, are less attached to family life, and are excessively focused on careers. And folks, careers for most people are not all they are cracked up to be. Most of us work to live, not live to work. It has always been thus. Hunter-gatherers didn’t roam the savannas because they loved it, and I can bet most middle managers don’t sit in cubicles because they love the view. 

We have sold kids a bill of goods, and this is the result. A generation, or now two, focused on money and careers, who see their spiritual fulfillment coming from pleasure-seeking and virtue signaling. They still consider themselves spiritual and morally driven, but it is all performative. 

Is it any surprise that, in particular, young Democrats don’t want kids and families? Not really. The Democrats have led with abortion as their top issue for years, and their most important issue today is sterilizing children. 

Ugh. 

This is what happens when you unmoor people from God and Nature. They begin flailing around looking for something to fill the gap in their lives, and pleasure becomes their goal, and “spirituality” becomes performative.