Gen Z isn’t as progressive as you think

• US stocks shot up yesterday after President Trump paused his higher tariffs on dozens of countries for 90 days, caving to market pressure. His universal 10 percent tariff remains in effect and he upped tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent.
• Speaker Mike Johnson scrapped a vote on a Senate-passed framework to enact Trump’s tax cuts because House Republicans who want deep cuts to federal spending opposed it. Johnson vowed to try again today.
• The population of English learners in Massachusetts schools has grown 25 percent since 2019, fueled by arriving migrants. Data suggest the state does a poor job of educating them.

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During my first two years as a student at Harvard, I didn’t see a single person on campus wearing a MAGA hat.

But last fall, around the beginning of my junior year, I began to spot peers in those unmistakable red baseball caps. There they were, crossing Harvard Yard, book bags in hand, or smoking against colonial brick buildings in tweed jackets. On election night last November, triumphant twenty-somethings in red hats and blue suits streamed out of the Harvard Republican Club’s watch party.

Most Americans don’t think of college campuses — especially in a state as liberal as Massachusetts — as hotbeds of conservatism. But over the past year, conservative groups at Greater Boston universities have experienced a renaissance. These clubs have doubled or tripled in size, hosted high-profile Trump allies as guest speakers, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

Changing campuses are only part of it. Gen Z is becoming more conservative. Though voters born since the late 1990s slightly favored Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in 2024, they have shifted steeply to the right. In 2024, young women moved seven percentage points toward Trump compared to 2020, and Trump won America’s young men outright, according to research from Tufts University.

Conservatives also dominate the new media platforms that Gen Z disproportionately relies on for news. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center poll, 78 percent of American adults under 30 reported getting news from social media and 34 percent from podcasts, a higher share than any other age group.

Last year, 9 of the 10 most-listened-to podcasts and streaming shows that covered news or had news-related guests were right-leaning, according to Media Matters. “The Joe Rogan Experience” — which has hosted right-wing personalities like Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, and even Trump — consistently tops the charts.

Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy nonprofit founded in 2012 with a mission of building a youth movement, now boasts chapters on more than 800 college campuses. Internet-savvy groups like Turning Point have also created a wellspring of conservative social media influencers. News influencers are more likely to be conservative men, and Turning Point told the New York Times that it has supported the rise of about 350 right-wing influencers, including Candace Owens, Alex Clark, and Anna Paulina Luna, who is now a Republican congresswoman from Florida.

Many of these influencers’ brands stretch beyond politics, enabling them to reach larger audiences. Clark is primarily a wellness influencer. She has questioned modern medicine and become one of the most prominent voices of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. On Instagram and TikTok, “tradwives” — women who practice and promote traditional gender roles — have skyrocketed in popularity among Gen Z viewers.

Of course, we’re talking about a relative shift: more Gen Z adults still identify as liberal than conservative, and Trump’s approval rating among young voters has fallen by more than ten points since he took office, according to YouGov. But there has nevertheless been a marked trend.

As Gen Z has moved right, their brand of conservatism has shifted, too. In previous years, the Harvard Republican Club’s leaders were very critical of Trump, even refusing to endorse him in 2016. So when I began my reporting, I expected to meet a wide spectrum of Republicans — tech libertarians, populists, maybe some Romney Republicans. But I was surprised by how united behind Trump the people I spoke to were — an echo of the hold Trump has on the GOP nearly a decade after he began his first term.

Many college conservatives I spoke with hope to work in Trump’s White House. Leo Koerner, the current Harvard Republican Club president, believes graduating seniors should spend a few years “doing service in the administration” before moving to the private sector.

Massachusetts’ young Republicans already occupy important positions under Trump — including working for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Over the next four years, don’t be surprised if more fresh graduates leave Boston for Washington, D.C.

You can read my full story for the Globe Magazine here.

🧩 6 Across: Walk casually | 🌂 46º Mostly dry

Boston

• Last team standing: Boston University will face Penn State in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament semifinals in St. Louis tonight. BU is the last New England team still in contention.
• Running with purpose: After his father’s suicide, running helped a Framingham man cope. He and his mother will soon run the Boston Marathon together.

Massachusetts

• Rules of the road: Herb Chambers, the auto dealer, agreed to pay $11.8 million to settle claims that his companies fraudulently got federal relief loans during the pandemic.
• ‘To Catch a Predator’ sting: A judge dismissed all charges against three former Assumption University students accused of luring a man to campus. Two others will still be prosecuted.
• Murder case: A jury began deliberations in the trial of a Dover doctor who admitted to strangling his wife during a drunken argument and sinking her body in a pond.
• In mourning: The Dominican community in Lawrence is reeling from the death of a local restauranteur after a nightclub roof in Santo Domingo collapsed, killing at least 124.

Trump administration

• Supreme Court: Trump asked the justices to let him fire two Biden labor board appointees, despite rules protecting them. The court paused an order reinstating the officials while it considers the case.
• Resistance U: Princeton, Wesleyan, and Mount Holyoke are among the colleges pushing back against Trump’s attacks on higher education.
• Tariff fallout: Massachusetts car dealers are doing brisk business as consumers rush to buy before Trump’s 25 percent duties on foreign-made vehicles increase prices. And a Framingham shoemaker expects to raise prices because of Trump’s China tariffs.
• Shielded: A judge temporarily protected a Dartmouth doctoral student from losing his student visa, which the administration terminated without explanation.
• Regional divide: Massachusetts won’t comply with Trump’s order aimed at eliminating school diversity programs. Republican-led New Hampshire will.
• Banned: Books the administration removed from the Naval Academy library include volumes by Brown University scholars about racism and gender.
• Threats: Police arrested a Maine man for allegedly saying he wanted to shoot Trump.

The Nation and the World

• Measles update: Indiana became the sixth state to report an active outbreak. The US has already recorded more than twice as many cases as last year. (IndyStar)
• Storms brewing: Researchers anticipate another active Atlantic hurricane season, but slightly fewer named storms, after last year’s devastation.

By Teresa Hanafin

📚 Bill Belichick’s book: “The Art of Winning,” out next month, is no tell-all. But it is an enjoyable, fascinating read, Ben Volin writes.

⏯️ Dizzying: Motion-tracking, a viral video-editing technique, has become inescapable on social media. What does its popularity say about us? (Slate)

🍫 Aftertaste: Ever buy chocolate that tastes a bit, um, waxy? With Easter approaching, look for simple ingredients to make sure you’re buying candy and not a candle. (HuffPost)

🐸 The place is hopping: Toad, the beloved pub in Porter Square, has reopened, with live music and a raft of devoted patrons.

😷 Breathe easy: Along with adapters and AirTags, there’s another item that seasoned travelers say is essential to bring on a trip: A portable carbon monoxide detector. (Today)

📺 What happens to a dream achieved? “Hacks,” back today for its fourth season on Max, is asking.

🐔 Wish I were this popular: If you take your kids to see the new Minecraft movie, be forewarned: When the “chicken jockey” appears on screen, the audience may scream and throw popcorn. (CNN)

Thanks for reading Starting Point.

This newsletter was edited by Jennifer Peter and produced by Diamond Naga Siu and Ryan Orlecki.

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Adelaide Parker can be reached at adelaide.parker@globe.com. Follow her on X @adelaide_prkr.