Gen Z conservatives are often portrayed by the media as a cohort radicalized by economic despair. They’re depicted as young people priced out of adulthood, lashing out through ideology. That’s the picture you get on cable news and on X, reinforced by both liberals and the oddball Right. But is it true?
Last week, we gathered 20 right-leaning Zoomers in a Nashville conference room for a Manhattan Institute focus group. They were mostly Trump voters, overwhelmingly Christian, a mix of college and non-college, ranging from late teens to twentysomethings edging into thirty.
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The general thrust of our discussion was different from what you see online. They were not, for the most part, crushed by economic conditions. Their concerns about housing costs and the economy sounded more like talking points than lived traumas. They had flexibility and mobility and felt little urgency to lock themselves into the life milestones they say they want. Even in a highly religious room, many were less likely to be sprinting toward marriage and family and more likely to be disappointed by the dating market, convinced there just aren’t many “serious” partners left.
Their genuine source of economic discomfort wasn’t wages or rent—it was health insurance. Several participants described going uninsured, avoiding care, or feeling as if they were one accident away from financial chaos.
Psychologically, this group was marked by desensitization, shaped less by fear than by boredom. They were not especially anxious about their own futures. They worried more about what AI and automation might do to other people than to themselves. Politics is entertainment: a stage for mockery, transgression, and performance, not moral seriousness or policy discipline.
That sensibility helps explain their media diets—and their favorite characters. Most like President Donald Trump. Many like Tucker Carlson and other figures who keep politics loose, funny, and combative. Vice President J. D. Vance—named by many as the ideal next president— was treated less as a flashy standard-bearer than as a default assumption about where the party is headed.
This group knows about the online Right’s more incendiary content, but mostly as background noise. About half knew who Nick Fuentes is. Some described him as funny or provocative; others saw him as toxic; none was fully panicked.
Extreme rhetoric often landed like another genre of Internet content—something to be halfheartedly consumed, laughed at, scrolled past, and then forgotten. There was one true believer who agreed with Fuentes’s worldview and espoused explicit authoritarian and anti-pluralist views. But he was an outlier.
That ambient, unserious relationship to politics has a darker side. Moral stigmas—racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny—no longer reliably do the work they used to. After a decade of hearing the same accusations leveled at everyone from John McCain to Mitt Romney to Donald Trump, some see allegations of bigotry as table stakes. In the room, this translated into moments where ugly claims were met less with agreement than with shrugging indifference—more “whatever” than “yes,” but also more “whatever” than “absolutely not.”
Exhaustion, not conviction, also characterized their foreign policy views. Many participants expressed a baseline preference for Israel over its adversaries. But they were weary of being told constantly that the issue must dominate their attention. On Ukraine, the prevailing instinct was simple: not our problem, Europe should handle it. For this group, America First isn’t a specific doctrine so much as common sense.
For many of these Zoomers, life is not especially bad. Some openly referenced family wealth or trust funds. Others still expressed confidence that they would do as well as, or better than, their parents. The looming intergenerational wealth transfer reinforces that confidence. It gives them the freedom to treat politics as a spectacle, not as something with real stakes.
That helps explain their detachment. Their views on family, illegal immigration, and social order largely align with those of mainstream Republicans. But they are not demanding doctrinal or programmatic rigor. They want a politics that feels less uptight and more charismatic—one that can make them laugh as well as make them better off.
For some, that may not come from the Right. One participant named Michelle Obama as his ideal next president. Another—the same one who had praised Nick Fuentes—cited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as preferable to Ben Shapiro.
What matters most for them all is not ideological consistency but vibe: humor, transgression, and the sense of being led by someone who can command attention. That preference, more than any specific belief expressed in the room, may prove the most consequential feature of right-leaning Gen Z’s political development.
Below is a partial transcript of our conversation, selected for insight and lightly edited for clarity.
Participants
Addie, an 18-year-old Hispanic Baptist Republican woman attending college, who considers herself “very right wing” but did not vote in the 2024 election. Addie walked out during the middle of the group.
Alex, a 28-year-old white high school graduate, who works as a property manager. He is a non-denominational Protestant.
Ally, a 28-year-old white Baptist stay-at-home mom of two (with one more on the way) whose highest level of education is trade school. She is Republican.
Andrew, a 20-year-old white Christian landscaper, who considers himself “very right wing” and voted for Trump in 2024, but isn’t sure if he’ll vote in the next election. Andrew describes himself as a close follower of Nick Fuentes and drove in from rural Tennessee, far outside of Nashville, to participate in this focus group.
Ashley, a 29-year-old white Baptist woman who works as a subcontractor renovating homes. She is a high school-educated Republican.
Atticus, a 25-year-old white non-denominational Protestant man, who has attended some college, and works in marketing. He is a Republican.
Brice, a 24-year-old white Baptist man. He attended some college and previously worked in security. He is now self-employed as a writer, working primarily on a Star Wars YouTube channel. He is an Independent who voted for Trump in 2024.
Caleb, a white 29-year-old Baptist Republican. He completed a bachelor’s degree and works as an IT trainer for an EV charger manufacturer.
Colin, a 19-year-old Christian white Republican student at Vanderbilt.
Dawson, a 21-year-old white Republican. He is currently at college studying Political Science and he interns at his local Protestant church.
D.C., a 29-year-old white man, is an Independent who voted for Trump in 2024. He went to law school and currently works as an attorney.
Ethan, a 29-year-old white Methodist Republican man who works as a warehouse manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree.
George, a 29-year-old white service industry professional who has attended some college. He is a Republican.
Grant and Madison, a married couple from Pennsylvania and South Carolina, are both Baptist, white, and registered Republican. Grant, 27, completed a postgraduate degree and works in communications. Madison, 23, is currently at school, and works at a boutique in her spare time.
Jayden, a 22-year-old black man who has a GED and works at Dollar General. He is not religious and considers himself Republican but did not vote in the last election.
Lauren, a 26-year-old creative, who has an associate’s degree. She is a Christian, a Republican, and white.
Nate, a 29-year-old white nondenominational Protestant accountant, considers himself a Republican.
Sophie, a 26-year-old white nondenominational Protestant woman who has completed an associate’s degree, and works in health care. She is registered as a Republican.
Wilks, a 21-year-old white college student, is a registered Republican. Wilks plans to move to New York City and work in finance next year.
Moderator: Where do you get your political news from?
Andrew: Spotify podcasts like Tucker Carlson, or Rumble with Nick Fuentes.
Atticus: A guy who’s been in the political radio space for 40 years or so, he’s an older dude who I think went to Vandy. Crom Carmichael.
Brice: I get a lot of my political news from YouTubers.
Ashley: Most of the news that I get is through TikTok, or just conversation with other people.
Sophie: I get a lot of news from social media, like varying platforms, and then I feel like once something really notable is going on, I’ll kind of dig deeper on different news sources and channels.
Madison: Not really politics, but my favorite influencer is Alix Earle.
Ally: Most of my political stuff I get from podcasters that I like. I’m thinking of Alex Clark, Brett Cooper, as well as family members.
Lauren: Various sources through Instagram and YouTube, just kind of like, whatever pops up. I’ve seen a lot of Alex Clark and Brett Cooper, and then kind of just going into the whole religious political space. I love Mark Driscoll, he’s amazing.
George: My brother actually has a newsletter here in Nashville that I read daily. Then Twitter, and podcasts like Tucker Carlson, and Ben Shapiro.
Jayden: Mainly YouTube. Donald Trump. Ben Shapiro. Also, the guy who got assassinated, Charlie Kirk.
Alex: Social media and podcasts. Joe Rogan, stuff like that, just kind of depends on the day.
Colin: Mainly social media and Instagram, but if not, CNN.
Caleb: My news comes from a blend of social media, so Twitter or X, Instagram, but then also podcasts on Spotify. Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, mostly a lot of Christian podcasts like The King’s Hall podcast. For me it’s never just a traditional Fox News-style thing, just because after all the years of growing up with my parents and grandparents, waking up in the house with it blasting and it just droning. . . . It never was appealing to me. More individual personalities tend to draw me in more.
Addie: Honestly, my dad kind of fills me in on everything. Or TikTok.
Madison: Social media, like Instagram or Twitter . . . Honestly, just whatever I see really, I can’t think of any specifics.
Grant: I really get my news from all over the place, social media, Twitter. And then other than that, I tend to stick to Fox News.
Ethan: X or independent journalism. . . . And I like to watch The Five on Fox during dinner time.
Dawson: Reels sends me news. Ground News, which has a lot of different resources from different ends of the spectrum. I also listen to podcasts like The Morning Wire, which I think maybe like The Daily Wire does. And sometimes the local channels.
Wilks: Occasionally Ben Shapiro. I watch CNBC fairly often as background noise when I’m doing my work.
Moderator: How is the country doing currently, and why?
Grant: Improving. I think there’s a major culture shift that has happened, and that’s the main reason I would say there’s improvement. I think the economy has improved as well, but that culture shift toward an America-first-type mindset, more of a Christian mindset. That sort of thing is a major shift back to where I feel things used to be. And I think that’s an amazing, major improvement.
Alex: It’s improving. The economy’s settling. The overall financial cost of things is finally improving, supply chains are finally starting to get a little bit back on track, and jobs and stuff like that.
Colin: Changing. I also thought about polarizing just because, I mean, if you look at the way people vote or the way the House makes decisions, it is all just becoming very split down the middle.
D.C.: Improving, partly because of tax incentives. Whenever you see the new tax incentives for employees, that’s going to bring more money into their pocket. Also, lowering the corporate tax rate is going to allow people to invest more money back into capital and assets, which in turn will do a snowball effect for more jobs. Also, over the last few years, I’ve been very concerned about international affairs and homeland security. But it does feel as if we’re moving in a direction where there’s a stronger stance on the types of things that are acceptable and unacceptable. I think that Trump, though he’s got some insane antics at times, he has more of a stable presence, and I think that he’s able to accomplish more internationally.
Addie: I feel like people have woken up. With Christianity. I feel like that is a big part of people’s lives now and it wasn’t before. . . . It was Charlie Kirk. I feel like [when he was killed] was when people started to actually wake up. Like, my aunt, she was a big nonbeliever, and then when all that stuff happened, she got encouraged to go to church and now she’s going every Sunday.
Andrew: I feel like the country’s worsening, and really because of immigration, I feel like who is in the country makes up the country, and dictates what kind of country it’s going to be. And I don’t feel like the Trump administration is doing enough to deport people. I know that they need resources for that but they’re deporting about as many people as Biden did and as Obama did. They’re on track to hit about a million by the end of his term, which is what Obama did, and I feel like that’s not nearly enough. I think more people need to be deported faster, so I would say the country is getting worse.
Wilks: I honestly think it’s doing worse. Right now, more than in years past, just given I’m about to graduate college and it’s a really hard job market right now. A lot of my friends are struggling to find jobs, so things are obviously not ideal.
Atticus: I would say it’s improving. Mainly because we’re undoing a bunch of damage. Specifically, I see that in the health-care world. We’re spending more on health care than energy and food combined. Obviously, subsidies are going up, but that’s because we’re trying to weed out the third-party payment system, which is causing people like me, at least age-wise, to pay so much for health care that we don’t even end up using.
Ethan: I think things are improving. I think the world outlook of America seems to be better than it was maybe four years ago.
Brice: I feel like it’s worsening. Honestly one of the big things for me is price increases. I know you kind of mentioned how the economy’s getting better, and maybe I’m not plugged in to how things are going on the macro scale. But I mean when I go to Walmart or Aldi, meat is $6 to $8 for a pound. That’s terrible. And I think the culture war is affecting media too much . . . As someone who makes money off an interest in Star Wars, anyone who knows what Star Wars is like now knows how that is going. It feels like companies are putting more of their political agenda in entertainment in order to sway the public, instead of just trying to make an entertainment product. And I’d say that about conservative groups, too . . . I think Christian values matter, but . . . stories are suffering because of political leanings being injected in there.
Ashley: I think we’re slowly improving. I think more people our age are starting to get more involved in politics. And starting to kind of wake up to what’s going on and realize they have a say in possibly changing things.
Sophie: Staying the same. I feel like in some areas, we’re improving, but then it’s kind of shifting in other areas. I would say people are kind of seeking out truth more and seeking out opportunities to learn more. I feel like the cost of living is getting worse. I see so many people in their twenties that are like, “I went to college, and I should be doing well, I shouldn’t be living paycheck to paycheck, and it’s getting worse and worse with each passing week.” I hear that so often from friends of mine.
Ally: I think it’s improving. The biggest change to me is just that I feel like people are seeing contrast and wanting things to change. We were in a world where right-leaning people were so silent because they were afraid to stir the pot, and now I feel like we have more of a voice.
Lauren: I feel like it’s a combination. Some things are worsening . . . the immigrants and the deportation. That just makes me angry: there shouldn’t be women dying because certain people are not put away. And these . . . Democratic judges just freaking, like, letting people off. I’m like, do your freaking job, and actually put people away when they commit a crime. Like, why are you letting them off? Why is this so politically charged? No. Democrat or Republican, do your freaking job . . . There’s talk about cancer research going down, and kind of . . . almost ending, and that really makes me angry. My mom had cancer, my grandma is enduring it right now. But religion’s improving: the percentages of Gen Z seeking out the Lord and starting a relationship . . . with who God truly is.
George: It’s a little bit of both. I think that overall, it’s worsening, though, just culturally, societally, looking at the generation beneath us, and just seeing how divided everyone is, and then how stupid everyone is, frankly. Like, just filling their brains with nothing all day, and I don’t think the advent of AI is gonna help much of that. I don’t know if anyone’s doing their schoolwork anymore, if anyone’s learning anything, and I just feel like things are trending downward across the board. I will say, as far as governmentally, I like that people are waking up to the right idea. And the cost of living, that’s concerning. Everything being so top-heavy, the stuff they put in our food. I’m pretty negative about it all.
Jayden: It’s getting better, but it’s also getting worse at the same time. Our government system could use more improvement. The cost of living is high. And schools, it seems like kids . . . don’t want to do anything or focus in school.
Dawson: Improving, for a couple of reasons. I think the economy seems to be stabilizing in these last couple years, really in the last year or so. And I feel like since we’ve had the presidential election, identity politics have taken a little decline, and that’s stabilizing the debates, political conversations, and discussions between people.
Moderator: Which political figure or media personality best represents you?
Brice: I used to agree a lot with Matt Walsh. I think he’s very aggressive, but he’s pretty close. I think he’s very aggressive with the left wing, and I think showing hostility to people on the other side is the wrong thing to do. I think it’s perpetuating political tribalism. So, I used to agree a lot with his points, but not his delivery.
Ashley: Charlie Kirk. I like the core values he held and put forward, putting God first, above everything. And that Kennedy guy—with the raspy voice.
Sophie: Charlie Kirk. He has always done a really good job of mixing his religious and family views, but also tying in political views, and he’s very well educated. He’s not just going off his opinions. He’s informed.
Ally: Allie Beth Stuckey. I think she’s pretty grounded in her faith, which is something that I relate to.
Lauren: Shawn Ryan. And Charlie Kirk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joe Rogan.
George: Tucker Carlson. Especially after his departure from Fox, just seeing kind of how he’s a little more middle ground. Not so brainwashed by the bosses who tell him what to say.
Jayden: It’s a mix between Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson. I like Ben Shapiro because of how he uses debate tactics. He’s very intelligent.
Alex: Joe Rogan’s probably my favorite.
Andrew: I really like Nick Fuentes. I feel like he puts a strong emphasis on social conservatism, and Christianity, and America First, immigration, America First foreign policy.
Atticus: Previously, I would say Charlie Kirk, mainly because of the marriage of faith-based values and nation-based values. But now . . . probably Tucker Carlson. Other than his laugh, which is very jarring, his segue from Fox . . . the bringing things to light, he’s done a decent job.
Nate: Benny Johnson, Michael Knowles.
Wilks: Ben Shapiro.
Dawson: I think the best would be Charlie Kirk.
D.C.: Rand Paul.
Ethan: I’d say Jeffrey Mead or Nick Shirley.
Grant: Tucker Carlson.
Madison: Charlie Kirk.
Addie: Brittany Aldean.
Colin: Tucker Carlson.
Moderator: Who’s heard of Nick Fuentes?
Just over half of participants (thirteen) put their hands up.
Moderator: What do you think of him?
George: I think it’s hilarious. I agree with a lot of his points. He definitely doesn’t care about how it’s gonna be reacted to, which I respect, but I also think it can be kind of dangerous. I think I read earlier that he’s not ever planning on running for political office, which I think is probably a good thing. There’s a lot of baggage attached to him. I just think he’s funny, honestly, and through that humor he’s saying a lot of things that I kinda align with. He said that all blacks should be in jail on Piers Morgan. And I was like, oh my god, this guy’s kind of a psycho.
Ally: At its core I believe a lot of what he says, but I think the delivery is kind of poor. Like, I feel that way about Trump. [But] . . . He’s America First. He’s not anti-helping out other countries, but he’s like we can’t be putting our country at risk because of it, so I just think that general mindset is what I agree with.
Atticus: I dig him. He knows his market. He’s not trying to please everybody. He’s definitely going after more of the shock value with some of his stuff. But as far as general beliefs or values, I sort of agree.
Andrew: Personally, I think a lot of the time he’s just joking. He says a lot of things for shock value and notoriety. He does collaborations with black people.
Brice: I think he [Nick Fuentes] is very dangerous for our side of things. The Right’s already being accused of being racist and invalidating women’s issues and things like that. It’s why the Left keeps drawing people in. Whether it gets clipped or whether people take it seriously or not, the very fact that you make light of it makes us all look bad.
Ashley: I think being too radical pushes people away and makes them look for truth elsewhere.
Andrew: I would just disagree. As far as Fuentes is concerned, I feel like his viewpoints would have been mainstream not that long ago. If he’s saying something like most women want to be raped, well, Fifty Shades of Grey sells like hotcakes to women, so I feel like that’s just a fact.
Ethan: He likes to stir the pot and it’s very polarizing. He has a lot of very, very strong opinions, and a lot of them are very controversial and he’s very loud about the controversial ones and so he tends to dive back into this polarization of politics that I think that we should steer away from. He has some interesting opinions, I think specifically about race.
Colin: I think he reminds me of the Andrew Tate Republican Party, where he’s really good at addressing a common problem, but the solutions aren’t the solutions to go by. So I think a lot of people can relate to what he’s saying, because he’s going, oh, this is the problem, then he’s trying to offer a solution that doesn’t fit.
Alex: I feel like we’re in a time of social media where a lot of people like to rage bait, and I feel like that’s part of what he’s aiming for with some of the things that he says.
Jayden: It’s brain rot. And misinformation, too.
George: Yeah, I’ll admit my brain’s definitely getting fried. I try to delete the apps and everything, but I still find myself drawn to it.
Moderator: Who wants to get married and have babies?
Most put their hand up. Only three are currently married—two to each other—and one is divorced.
Andrew: Potentially. I’m a Christian and—no offense to any women here—but there’s not a ton of good traditional Christian women out there.
Ashley: Yeah, 100 percent. There’s no modesty. I mean they’re walking out in bras, and f---ing underwear.
Lauren: Cover it up!
Sophie: Well, I think that modesty is a virtue, but even modesty aside, I think if you look at the heart, you look at the values, people are not heavily leaning toward settling down or finding someone to build a life with. And maybe it’s because we live in Nashville and around Nashville. Everyone has Peter Pan Syndrome.
Moderator: And how’s the dating market?
George: You go on great dates, and then it ends after, like, 5 months. No one wants to stick through the uneven phase.
Sophie: I go to a lot of weddings.
Brice: I was invited to a wedding last year, and it was too early, so I slept in and skipped it.
Jayden: Well, I’m not into the dating scene, but I do believe it’s hard to find someone.
Andrew: I know a lot of guys who were pretty successful, who are in pretty good shape and successful, and they have a hard time finding a good Christian woman. I’m successful. I do pretty well. I make almost $100,000. I’m only 20 years old, so this isn’t a top-of-mind concern for me, but I don’t see a lot of good Christian women. I see a lot of tattoos, I don’t like that. And I see a lot of promiscuity with women, and I don’t like that, either. I see a lot of feminism, too. A lot of bossy women. I look at my mother, and I see a very traditional, conservative woman, and I don’t see that in other women around.
Moderator: What do the women here think about feminism?
Lauren: Hate it, and it shouldn’t be here.
Sophie: I think true feminism could work.
Ally: Should women be able to vote? Yes. But should we be demoralizing ourselves as women and our true values? I used to work, and now I’m a stay-at-home mom, and there was a time where that was really frowned upon, and I think that that’s sad. I think that family culture and values have been diminished in our country.
Moderator: Does anyone think women should not be allowed to vote?
Only Andrew raises his hand.
Andrew: I just feel like women are very emotional, and that politics is a man’s discipline. I seriously believe it. My mother actually believes this, too. And I know some other women who believe that. I just feel like I’ve never really seen a woman who truly understands politics.
Sophie: Yeah, that might be your issue with finding a good-quality girl. Have you ever thought about the fact that a woman’s emotions are a beautiful thing, and that they might complement a man? And that, yes, maybe we make different decisions because of emotions, but if it were just men there would be no reasoning? I think it’s a beautiful thing to have both sides.
George: No, I don’t agree with Andrew on this. Yes, women are more emotional, but the policies affect them, too. We exist as one just as we do in marriage.
Andrew: I just don’t think it aligns with politics. I think politics is a different discipline than what the female mind is designed for.
Moderator: Who is your ideal next president?
Alex: I think J. D. Vance. He can keep building the economy to try and get it back to where it needs to be.
Jayden: There’s this guy. He’s a streamer. His name is Papa Gut.
George: I’m gonna say J. D. Vance because I don’t really think there’s a better option.
Lauren: Victor Marx.
Ally: J. D. Vance.
Sophie: J. D. Vance.
Ashley: Vance.
Brice: Michelle Obama. I voted Donald Trump last time. I’m not voting based on the party issue. I think there needs to be a lot more compassion in this country, and that’s not, for me, a party issue, it’s a person issue. I’ll vote for anyone if they show the right humanitarian values.
Atticus: Donald Trump. Run it back. FDR did four terms.
Andrew: Steve Bannon. I like him because he’s an economic populist. He’s taken some good stances against the big tech industry, and I also agree with his foreign policy and his immigration views.
Grant: J. D. Vance. I kind of hope that he would be able to continue Trump’s policies that are in place, with less influence from Trump himself. I want to see J. D. Vance in his own viewpoints.
Madison: J. D. Vance.
Addie: J. D. Vance.
Caleb: I defaulted to J. D. Vance.
Colin: J. D. Vance.
Ethan: J. D. Vance or Ron DeSantis.
Dawson: J. D. Vance.
D.C.: Michael Bloomberg.
Wilks: Spencer Cox.
Moderator: Do you own any stocks?
Just over half of participants raise a hand to indicate they own stocks.
Moderator: If you don’t own any stocks, why not?
George: I don’t, because I have a trust fund, so I haven’t thought about it. I own bitcoin, does that count?
Lauren: I don’t, but I’ve made some of my own investments in different things. I also have a 401(K).
Nate: Just a 401(K), if that counts?
Ethan: Never had the interest or the knowledge. It’s just not down the path that I’m on right now. I’ve never really given it any thought.
Madison: I don’t really have any interest in that, and my husband gets stocks offered through his work, so with me right now working at a boutique and still in school I just haven’t had that opportunity.
Brice: I can’t afford the initial investment that would be required to make something fruitful.
Jayden: I did stock trading and day trading before, but I don’t have money in the market right now.
Ashley: Yeah, I have a 401(K), but it’s hard to get into it especially if you’re not educated on it.
Moderator: Will you be better off economically than your parents?
The majority raise a hand to indicate they will be better off economically.
Ethan: I make more money than my parents did at this age. Yet my parents already had two houses, and with interest rates where they are, currently, my mortgage would eat up almost half my income a month. And then also just the way the cost of living and grocery prices are mixed with the interest rates.
Grant: When it comes to things like buying a house or daily cost of living, that sort of thing, I don’t think we’ll be able to afford the same things that our parents afforded. Even though we are making more money, I think that the prices have gone so high that it makes it so it just kind of offsets.
Andrew: I got a little earlier start than my parents did. My dad, he didn’t really start making grown-up money until he was in his late 20s, early 30s. So, I’ve started making grown-up money at 20. I’ll be able to buy a house in about a year or year and a half.
Moderator: Are you looking to buy a house?
Sophie: I’m working and setting myself up to buy, and I want to buy in the country, but I know that’s not what I want right now. But I’m taking steps now, and I think that when I’m ready to buy I’ll be able to.
Atticus: I would like to live in Franklin [a wealthy city just outside of Nashville]. Obviously, I can’t afford anywhere like that, and I have an uncle in the real estate market right now, and he’s just saying, especially with the recent shutdown, things have been tough. So, I don’t know, I think it pushed my timeline. I was shooting for this next year, I think it’s gonna be 2027. But I think I’ll be able to buy.
Wilks: After school I’m going to move to New York City. I don’t plan on living there forever, and I’m not going to buy a home in New York City.
Nate: Work might ship me around.
Dawson: It’s not economic, it’s more circumstances of life. I’m fixing to go to law school, so I don’t know where I’m going to end up practicing, or what that looks like or where I want to live.
Brice: Back when I had two jobs, I was actually on track to buying a house, but I got really burned out. So, I chose to do my passion of writing, so I made kind of a leap of faith and went into that. But with that being my only source of income, I don’t make anything crazy and, so, I don’t have a lot of savings right now. It’s gonna take a while for me to build up to being able to buy a house.
Andrew: My family’s very intact, and we’ve built wealth coming up to me, and not everybody’s done that—not everybody’s been able to do that—so I know I’m gonna be okay. But I do want everybody else to be taken care of as well. Does that make sense?
Dawson: I think that salaries have increased while the national average hasn’t; it’s an average, not a median. And I think that a lot of times people look at that and see that salaries stay the same and home prices go up, which they have, but I think that we have a relatively comparable opportunity to buy houses as our parents did when they were our age.
Grant (and Madison): We would definitely love to buy a home. If we could afford one, we definitely would, but it’s just not affordable. We also don’t want to live here forever because I’m from Pennsylvania and he’s from South Carolina and we want to be close to our families before we buy a home, so that also has an impact.
Moderator: What is broken in the American economy?
Atticus: Health care. We’re busting our asses just to pay rent and health care that we don’t even use.
Ashley: I agree with that 100 percent. I’ve got kids. I can’t pay that.
Brice: I can’t pay for insurance. I haven’t had insurance since I quit a job four years ago, so I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I have an accident. I’m just gonna be in debt.
Jayden: Yeah, I don’t have insurance. And I’ve been in hospitalizations.
Ashley: I don’t think that guy [Luigi Mangione] went about it the right way, but I can see where his frustrations were.
Andrew: I thought it was really disgusting how a lot of people on the left celebrated that, like they did with Charlie Kirk. I thought the Left’s reaction was pretty gross.
Dawson: Capitalism as a system as a whole is significantly better than other economic systems. For example, socialism, which a lot of our peers would probably advocate for on the left-leaning side, and I think that just simply doesn’t work.
Moderator: Is it ever okay to take a life or use political violence?
Sophie: Over a viewpoint, no.
Brice: No. Maybe if there’s a tyrannical regime, or if they’re trying to install some sort of fascist nation. Someone would have to go to the lengths of Adolf Hitler before that.
Andrew: I really try to lean away from the death penalty. As a Christian, thou shalt not kill. I’m not a fan of political violence in any sense.
Moderator: What do you think of Adolf Hitler?
Ashley: I think he was a great leader, to be honest. I think what he was going for was terrible, but I think he showed very strong leadership values.
Andrew: I’m in favor of a strong executive. I think we should have a stronger executive branch. I don’t think we should be killing people or doing mass genocide, obviously, but I do think we should have a strong executive. I feel like one of the biggest problems Trump is running into right now is all these little courts, they want to throw up little blockages against everything he’s trying to do, whether it be his tariffs or deporting people. So I’m very pro-strong executive, strong leader, strong man. I support national sovereignty, and Hitler was a nationalist. He was like, we have to take Germany back for Germans. And I feel like we should do that in America. We should take America back for our native population. So, I’m not an expert on Hitler by any means, but as far as nationalism is concerned, I’m all that.
Brice: I myself am actually Jewish, ancestrally. I’m Christian by faith, but Jewish by blood. I’ve actually read Mein Kampf. The end conclusions that he came to: absolutely abominable. But I strangely understood where he was coming from as far as wanting to improve the national state of Germany.
Lauren: He made all of those people suffer, and I want to do ungodly things to people who do things like that.
Moderator: What do you think of Jewish people?
Atticus: They’ve got Hollywood on lock.
George: Don’t they own, like, a ton of the media, and, like, just kind of everything?
Brice: No different than black people, Asian people, or any other people here today. I don’t really know why there’s a single issue about Jewish people.
Andrew: I would say a force for evil. I don’t see why we support Israel. I think Israel’s a very evil state. The genocide in Gaza, killing all these poor people. And the only reason we really support them is because they are the biggest donors. We have AIPAC, and these are all Jewish-run organizations.
Moderator: Let me clarify that. Andrew, you think the Jewish people are a force for evil?
Andrew: Yes, sir. It doesn’t bother me if it’s true. Those slurs, if you’re racist or whatever, that just rolls off my back… This is my country, my people have been here since the American Revolution, so I say what I want to.
Moderator: What do others think about that?
Ashley: My boyfriend and I were just discussing the differences between Judaism and Christianity, and when you’re looking at biblical terms, the only difference is they don’t believe in the New Testament. I don’t understand what the overall difference is between the two groups.
Ally: I think, for me, any classification of a whole people group, I just don’t think you can say this entire people group is bad. My husband’s Jewish. I wouldn’t say that they’re doing anything to people, you know.
Atticus: I don’t think they’re a force for evil, but I do think the relationship with Israel is very complex, and it’s not just oil and special interests, there’s so many things that go into that, and it makes it a very difficult subject.
Lauren: I hear [pro-Israel content] all the time from certain pastors, and it makes me question them. I used to go to Global Vision Bible Church with Greg Locke, and he’s demonic, and I know a lot of stuff and how much harm he’s done to a lot of people . . . he goes to Israel all the freaking time and takes his stupid money. Israel has a lot of connections to sex and human trafficking, and that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t feel like this is anti-Semitic because I’m a little bit Jewish myself, so I have all the room to talk, and I’ve been seeing evidence. When you see evidence of a pastor abusing people, or a pastor won’t show you his financial statements, that’s a big freaking problem.
Moderator: What do you think about Israel?
George: I definitely think that genocide is bad, but I can see the pros in having a relationship, a positive relationship with Israel. Also, how do we know that the entire thing, numbers from Gaza, is being accurately represented to us? I don’t think it’s being accurately portrayed to us.
Brice: It’s one thing to declare war on terrorists, it’s another thing to declare war on the race of Arab people. I tend to avoid topics on Israel because my feelings are so conflicted about it. Honestly, this is the most thought I’ve given to the subject. I wish the genocide had never even started. I feel conflicted on the subject, from a biblical standpoint. I don’t think we should have anything to do with putting weapons in Israel . . . I actually personally don’t know why we’re allied with Israel at all. But from a biblical standpoint I could see why we would want to keep our eyes on Israel, because that’s where things will start stirring when the end times come.
Ally: I’m primarily just antiwar, I don’t want to go to war, so if we have to play nice with people that we don’t necessarily agree with everything they’re doing to keep our people safe, like, that’s my Number One priority.
Jayden: I personally don’t mind if the U.S. has a relationship with Israel.
Colin: I just don’t think it’s worthwhile having so much of our interest going into a country in the Middle East. I don’t think it’s important.
Dawson: I think that there’s a lot of negative opinions on Israel based on a situation that wasn’t provoked by them and they’ve had to respond, and they’ve responded with some mistakes, and people don’t appreciate America’s resources going toward that, but you have Hamas hiding behind civilians in Gaza, and that’s not really a recipe for success.
Grant: While they, I think, are our greatest ally, I think we do over-involve ourselves with what’s happening.
Madison: As Christians . . . basically, we’re supposed to protect them.
Wilks: Israel is positive, important, and the lesser of evils.
Moderator: What comes to mind when you think about America and the war in Ukraine?
Wilks: Scam. Europe’s problem.
Dawson: Over-involved.
Grant: Calculated and money.
Caleb: Over-involved.
Colin: Yeah. Over-involved.
Ethan: I don’t really care.
Moderator: Do you agree or disagree that all illegal immigrants should be deported?
Thirteen of the 20 said they agreed. Seven did not, including Brice.
Brice: I personally need someone to explain immigration problems to me. I’ve never had a problem with immigration, period. I think most of Europe can fit in Texas, so I don’t understand why it’s such a big issue that people are here.
Sophie: Well, the issue is that some people are coming over here, and they are truly seeking refuge, and they’re doing the best thing that they can at the time. Other people, they’re coming over to traffic, whether it be humans, drugs. They’re coming over to infiltrate . . . to inflict harm.
Dawson: I think Trump has done well on curbing illegal immigration. However, I think isolated—well, not isolated, but relatively out-of-the-norm incidents with ICE profiling people, which is . . . I kind of get it, but also the way that they’ve treated some people is a little bit discouraging, but I think as a whole, I think that you have to do some hard things to solve a difficult problem, and I think that he’s done pretty well with that.
Grant: I personally would like to not have any illegal immigration. I mean, I know there’s probably no way to curb it completely, but I think it should be really a big deal and something that we are actively working to take care of. And I know, like, the perception of ICE in some situations can be kind of bad, but at this point, it’s become such a mess of so many people illegally here and trying to find them and get them out is such a difficult process that it obviously is happening right in front of all of us.
Nate: I feel kind of let down. So we stopped illegal immigration. Yes, at the border, it’s mostly down. But there’s 10 million that came in over the last four years. That’s too many. That’s going to drown the economy. We know why we can’t buy a house: there’s 10 million extra people here. If it’s against the law, you don’t have a right to be here. I’d like to see them deported.
Moderator: Are some groups better at assimilation than others?
Wilks: Well, I mean, I’m not too educated on it, but I’ve done some reading on the Somalian population in Minnesota, and it seems pretty radical to me. They don’t really have any interest in assimilating to American society, and they’re electing leaders that are, like, super pro-Somalia, which objectively has some of the worst numbers in any categories in the world.
Nate: The Hispanic community. I feel like when you go to certain parts of town and things are no longer in English, that learning English is part of assimilating to a culture.
Madison: I agree. Like at my work, there’s a lot of people that don’t speak any English, and I’ve actually had to speak into Google Translate to be able to talk to them.
Ethan: Hispanics have done a poor job of assimilating in certain instances, like, if I go to a Cookout in my college town, and I’m having to figure out how to speak Spanish so I can order, that seems a little problematic to me.
Addie: Nothing comes to mind for me.
Caleb: I came from Central California, so farm-laborer work was prevalent, and when you have generations that do not ever really assimilate to the culture, and everything is either bilingual or Spanish, and then you also can’t get a job unless you’re bilingual most of the time in the United States, it’s a little bit rough. The ones that I could see were good at assimilation, tended to be middle-class Chinese and Japanese.
Around this point, Addie left the focus group.
Moderator: How about Muslim and Arab Americans?
Grant: Women are almost second-class citizens in their religion.
D.C.: I have trouble classifying a Muslim or a certain race group as a problem. I think people oftentimes fail to realize that Christianity and Muslims and all of these are just sons of Abraham, and it’s kind of the same thing. Though it’s different the way it’s practiced.
Dawson: I lived in a part of Germany where a lot of them were Muslims and from the Middle East. The culture there is completely different. It’s no longer safe. You’re advised not to walk alone at night. And this is in Berlin. It’s in the capital, not like the middle of nowhere. So, I’m worried if we allow that to happen here, are we going to have the same outcome as well?
Ethan: I think that they have some very interesting things that they practice regularly through their religion that don’t align with America and Christian values. First, women are almost second-class citizens in their religion, compared with America where everyone is equal. I think they are radical; if you don’t believe in their religion, they almost want to strike you down.
Moderator: Do you agree or disagree that all immigration, legal and illegal, should be stopped completely?
Only Andrew put his hand up.
Andrew: The legal immigration, in my opinion, is a bigger issue than illegal immigration, because the Indians, the Chinese, the Haitians who are coming over, those are the ones who are going to be shaping society and working in industries like tech and finance. Those are the ones that shape society. And so if we want America to be a Christian nation . . . those groups, they don’t come here and become Christian. The Indians, they bring their Hindu beliefs with them. We’ve got a lot of Hindu Republicans, and I don’t . . . I don’t really make any sense of that. I’m not a hateful person, I love people, we’re all God’s children, but I feel like we should have far less immigration from India, specifically.
Ashley: I don’t have a problem. As long as it’s legal.
D.C.: I believe as a generality, we need masses of people to buy things. I think it helps the economy. I think border patrol is important. I don’t necessarily agree with utilizing resources to run raids on people that are living productive lives who have been in our country for quite some time. But the reality is that with most of the large corporations that I work with or represent, people don’t want the jobs. It’s not like immigrants are taking the jobs from others. Nobody wants to work the factory jobs. So, these people keep it running.
Sophie: I think if someone wants to come here and they want to work hard, and they are bringing value, and they are putting best interests first, then I think that shouldn’t be an issue as long as they’re willing to go through the process. I think anyone coming over here legally or illegally who’s expecting a handout or expecting to get on American soil and immediately just have a better life, it doesn’t work like that. And that’s when resources are going to be overburdened, tax dollars are gonna be just shelled out, and I think that that can happen.
Wilks: If a company’s gonna hire somebody from abroad, then they should be paying more money, as opposed to hiring domestically.
Grant: I think if you want to be an American, and are more passionate about America than the country you came from, and you’re willing to pay to be American, and provide for a society that uplifts the American dream, then yeah, I think you’re more than welcome to come.
Moderator: What about H-1B visas? Has anyone heard of those?
Andrew: I think we should get rid of them. We’ve talked a lot tonight about affordability and getting jobs and buying houses. Those jobs should go to Americans, people who were born here. I don’t see why we’re giving jobs, good jobs, to people who aren’t from here.
Ally: If somebody comes in with an idea that an American hasn’t had, and creates a corporation that employs millions of Americans, I think that’s a benefit to our country. I think that people coming to America should want to truly adopt American culture and be proud to be Americans, but I don’t think it should be impossible just because you weren’t born here to live here one day if you’re adding value.
Wilks: I know a decent bit about it because a lot of people I worked with are under that purview. I agree with it to an extent. But recently they talked about extra fees to dish out those visas and I agree with that, too. If a company is going to hire someone from abroad, they should pay more money as opposed to hiring domestically.
Dawson: I think that it’s a good thing to have H-1Bs. I don’t know if they should increase them per se, but having more competition of highly skilled people also increases the level of skill that you have to have to obtain a job. So if an immigrant comes in that’s more highly skilled than an American, then by all means they’re more highly skilled, they should have that job. But it also increases the skill of Americans.
Colin: I think there’s a bit of nuance to it because if there’s more competition, then it is harder as an American to get the job, obviously. But it’s also probably a good thing for American society to have the most skilled worker in that field to have the job.
Moderator: what do you think about abortion?
Sophie: This is a topic where I want to say under no circumstance should abortion be legal. But you get into the topic of ectopic pregnancies, that’s technically still an abortion. An ectopic pregnancy is when the fetus implants into the woman’s fallopian tube. It’s not viable.
Alex: I don’t support anything late term or anything like that. I think in the initial, very, very beginning stages, depending on the situation, it could be OK. But, for the most part, I think it shouldn’t be. But say a girl’s raped, and she got pregnant, she should be able to abort that baby.
Ashley: Being a woman, putting myself in that position, it would be extremely difficult, so I could agree with that.
Lauren: I’m adopted . . . so, yeah. There are so many families that want to have a freaking baby and would do anything to have it. God said we are created in His image, we are masterpieces.
D.C.: I think that in certain situations women should have the right to have an abortion. It’s their body. Republicans are very much opposed to that. I don’t have particularly strong stances on that, and I think people should be able to do whatever they want.
Moderator: Now, I am going to show you some clips. Please let me know what your reaction is to them.
Ethan: I think it makes sense. In the Quran they kill the infidel: if you are not part of our religion or you have differing views, you deserve to die. And there’s nothing like that in Christianity, and I think that’s wrong.
Wilks: I think it’s a bit of a generalization. It doesn’t do a very good job of differentiating extremists from Muslim people, because obviously extremists are an extremely small percent of Muslim people.
Sophie: The government sticks its hands in things that it shouldn’t always, and things might run a little bit better if people stepped up to the plate instead of relying on the system.
Atticus: The government is inherently inefficient and nonproductive. I love the free market. I love it, and I see so much benefit from it, but there’s not really an incentive structure for any new businesses or existing businesses to continue.
Andrew: I disagree. I feel like we’ve been trying all of that since World War II. Biden was doing that with free trade. We’ve lost a lot of our manufacturing because of free trade. Biden governed better than that . . . I think Joe Biden is preferable to Ben Shapiro. I think AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] is preferable to Ben Shapiro.
Caleb: Generally, yes, the free market helps drive things down. However, unregulated can mean monopolization, and I’ve always been a huge proponent of moral capitalism as more of a means to correctly do things.
Colin: The government’s involvement makes things more expensive.
Atticus: My general take [on truck drivers] is find something better to do. This is the time to adapt, this is the whole reason AI is here. We are forced to adapt and find the things that AI can’t do. We are better than this.
Andrew: I just feel like the idea of “do something else, get a better job,” is a whole lot easier said than done. That means that that dude whose family has lived in that county for ten generations, he’s gonna have to leave now, uproot his family. He can’t take care of his elderly parents who live there.
George: I’m excited. It [self-driving trucks] would be cool. But hearing what Tucker Carlson said about people’s lives being affected, you’d hope that there would be some sort of threshold to how many driverless cars you could have versus manned vehicles. A 30-year plan would probably be great.
Nate: People thought the Internet was gonna ruin jobs and get people out of work, but it just changed people’s career paths and trajectories.
Wilks: I’m pretty strong on the free-market economy, and if you don’t have skills that are competitive, then we shouldn’t just give you a job, just “because.”
Moderator: What do you think society thinks of young conservatives like you?
Brice: I think we’re seen as a very cold people.
George: The most dangerous threat to democracy? It’s just ridiculous . . . Maybe we should be a more dangerous threat.
Andrew: I don’t think we should be dangerous in the sense of violence, but I think we should be dangerous in that we have to take power in other ways. We do need to be dangerous in the sense of we have to make the elites listen to us. So not violence, but anything other than that.
Caleb: The representation of, like, young right-wing people, it’s either, “you’re a Groyper” or “you’re a Christian nationalist.”
Nate: They make us out like we’re extremists, the young Right. You know, we’re either on the left or we’re alt-right, we can’t just be in the middle. I’m not a Groyper, and I don’t know any Groypers.
Ethan: Groyper is a funny term. I just heard it for the first time today.
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