From DSA to Fishback: Why Young Voters Feel Disenfranchised

Young voters feel left behind by both parties and they’re hunting for a future they can invest in. But will it be socialist — or MAGA?

This article first appeared at American Spectator on August 18, 2026.

As a young conservative, I constantly get one question about my generation when I go to local Republican meetings: “Why are young people so attracted to ______?”

You fill in the gap. Zohran Mamdani. Abdul El-Sayed. James Fishback. (RELATED: Florida’s Floundering Fishback)

There is a new political personality attracting young voters: a smooth talker with sweeping “I will fix your problems” promises.

Voters from both political parties, despite their staunch opposition to one another, have found common ground on affordability and distrust in government. Gen Z increasingly strays from political parties, with a majority self-identifying as independents.

How could they not? Young men and women hear stories of a time when their parents could buy homes, cars, gas, and groceries for a fraction of today’s exorbitant prices. (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 453: Burritogate Exposes Gen Z’s Affordability Crisis)

Republican youth saw the Russia Collusion Hoax, the COVID pandemic, and the lack of transparency surrounding the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on then-candidate President Donald Trump. And now, they see the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act and perceive there to be too few deportations. The young Right feels that it has been duped into voting for incredible strength and change…  that will never come.

Democratic youth, on the other hand, witnessed the collapse of President Biden, the installation of Kamala Harris, and the Black Lives Matter fraud scandals. They look back to how Bernie Sanders had both the 2016 and 2020 presidential nominations stolen from him — only to see the “crown” handed to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively. Every time they have been on the cusp of genuine change, party leadership has failed them.

Across the party divide, Gen Z is desperate for a leader to rally behind. Trump is termed out. Democrats are fighting for their party’s 2028 presidential nomination. Both parties are shredding internally as old coalitions turn over.

The Right looks for the next leader of MAGA and is experiencing an ongoing shift away from the moderate policies of prior Republican presidents and congressmen, who are viewed as neither bold nor effective enough for our times.

The Left is late to the party and stuck fighting among itself — just as we enter one of the most crucial midterm elections of our lifetimes. Democratic operative James Carville, who ran Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, made headlines when he came out against radical influencer Hasan Piker and the Democratic Socialists of America, stating that he was “not going to be in the same party with Hasan Piker.” (RELATED: Carville’s Presidential History Lesson)

Now more than ever, as the cultural gulf widens, it is crucial that Republicans maintain a unified front. We face the complete overturning of our nation’s values. The DSA has called for abolishing the Senate, prisons, and the executive and judiciary branches as we know them, just to name a few of its radical prescriptions. Its platform includes amnesty for all illegal aliens and restoring voting rights for felons. (RELATED: Republicans Can’t Win Telling Only Half the Story)

We are living at a tipping point.

You’ve seen the videos: the college kids out on the beach for spring break being asked simple civics questions and stumbling through an incorrect answer. In a survey, only 4 percent of those ages 18–24 answered four standard civics questions correctly. Eighty-two percent surveyed got less than 50 percent of the questions correct. How will the next generation preserve American values if they do not know what those values are?

We as Republicans must win back our youth. They have been caught by the bait of impossible, unconstitutional promises and are being reeled into voting for those who pledge to destroy America.

We can turn the tide before crossing the point of return. Vote for conservatives who will fight overregulation and inflation, defeating the affordability crisis. Support school board members who want to expand career and technical education, steering our youth away from propagandized universities, crippling debt, and jobless career paths. Show them the opportunities in front of them, so that they do not feel as if their parents had more opportunity.

The affordability crisis is simply messaging from the Left to discredit the Trump administration’s economic growth agenda. Democrats kept their mouths shut tight when inflation hit 9.1 percent in June 2022 under the Biden administration. Youth have been bred to believe that the world is all doom and gloom.

What’s the reality? We have more material blessings available to us than any preceding generation. We have the best technology, access to information, food, medical care, and quality of life — yet the highest recorded rates of depression in youth.

The “doom and gloom” mentality has infected youth regardless of party lines. Politicians and influencers see an opportunity to take advantage of the dissatisfaction. They tell impressionable minds that elites are pulling the strings of their lives and that their decisions are predetermined. While some of these statements may have some grounding, their followers are never given a solution, only larger-than-life problems.

Socialism is a selfish and godless ideology. The temptation of socialism must be prevented in your home first. Take your grandchild to service. Teach them to volunteer their time to help those in need. Teach through example that charity work is not the government’s job; it is ours. Assistance was meant to be from peer to peer, not Big Brother to the proles.

We are at risk of losing our youth. It is dire that we refuse to be satisfied and complacent with the increase in conservatism among youth in recent years.

Will you stand up for the future of our great nation, or allow constitutionalism to collapse?

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