Gen Z’s political rebellion is just getting started

“Because youth’s a mask and it don’t last, live it long and live it fast,” sang Rod Stewart in The Killing of Georgie in 1976, a line that once captured the hopeful, rebellious energy of youth movements in the 1960s and ’70s. Back then, youthful defiance was powered by optimism, economic growth, and newfound freedoms. Today, that same defiance is back, but, this time, instead of prosperity fuelling rebellion, it’s stagnation.

Generation Z is angry, priced out of housing, trapped in insecure work, crippled by the extortionate cost of education, and disillusioned with a political establishment that feels indifferent to their future. And unlike past generations, they have tools – social media platforms that offer a louder voice than ever before, and they’re using them to reject the status quo.

But what’s emerging isn’t a single youth movement but a fractured political landscape. Some are turning left, others veering hard right, but most are turning away from ‘traditional’ parties altogether.

A generation divided

Financial Times’ data journalist John Burn-Murdoch says Gen Z might be more accurately split into two: one liberal and predominantly female, the other increasingly conservative and predominantly male. The divide isn’t just ideological, it’s gendered.

In the UK’s 2024 general election, fewer 18 to 24-year-olds voted for Labour than middle-aged voters. While only 9 percent voted Reform UK, that number is expected to rise. A recent John Smith Centre poll found 26 percent of young men aged 16–29 felt ‘warm’ towards Reform, compared with just 15 percent of young women.

But this isn’t just a rebellion against the left. It’s a rejection of liberal democracy itself, a generation unsure whether the system can still deliver. While women lean into Green Party-style progressivism, young men are drifting toward nationalist, anti-immigration populism. One European study found 21 percent of young men backed far-right parties in 2024, compared to 14 percent of young women.

As the FT’s Jemima Kelly argues, the old adage, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re young, you have no heart…,” no longer applies. Given that there is abundant evidence that this generation has plenty of heart, albeit not always expressed politically, what’s more likely is that they’ve lost faith in institutions and traditional parties, and are “doubtful that liberal democracy can do anything worthwhile.”

Populism with personality

Enter the populist with personality – apparently.

“Donald Trump and Nigel Farage are funny. They’ve got more personality than Keir Starmer,” my 16-year-old son told me recently. Granted, he likes to wind me up, but what’s worrying is that he’s not alone in his thinking, far from it.

Many young men in particular see figures like Farage as refreshingly blunt, even entertaining. And for a generation raised on TikTok, personality matters.

TikTok, with its short, emotionally charged clips, rewards content that is provocative, humorous, and shareable, all traits’ populists excel at. Farage’s personal account boasts over 1.2 million followers, dwarfing his rivals. Reform UK itself has more TikTok followers than all three main parties combined. Their brand of informal, meme-ready messaging hits the right note for younger audiences, especially young men, who make up the majority of TikTok users, 44.3 percent female vs 55.7 percent male, according to global data.

The blame game

So why are young men especially attracted to the far right?

Beyond the perceived ‘charisma’ of its leader and its mastery of TikTok, Reform and much of the far-right’s appeal among young men may lie in its ability to translate complex societal challenges into simple, blame-oriented narratives.

“Young men in Western Europe are feeling increasingly disillusioned,” says Professor Anand Menon, director of think-tank UK in a Changing Europe. “There are all sorts of sociological reasons, such as not understanding their role in society or being the primary breadwinner anymore.”

According to Menon, far-right parties across Europe are capitalising on this discontent, pushing a message that “how elites have let you down,” and telling you “’it’s no fault of your own. It’s all down to immigrants’. Some sections of younger males find that a very appealing and persuasive message.”

At a time when traditional roles and paths to success are dissolving, especially for young men, such messaging resonates. It provides identity, purpose, and, crucially, someone to blame.

Meanwhile, many young women, who are more likely to attend university and be exposed to socially liberal environments, are moving left.

In the 2024 general election, the Green Party performed especially well with young women, winning 23 percent of their vote, nearly double it received from young men.

These national trends echo the dynamics I see in my son’s friendship group. The boys lean right, sceptical on issues like immigration, climate change, and gender identity. The girls, on the other hand, tend to be more sympathetic to progressive values and causes.

This week, the Green Party of England and Wales announced it has surpassed 100,000 members for the first time, a nearly 50 percent surge since Zack Polanski took over as leader just last month. Polanski’s pitch of bold communication and “eco-populism” appears to be resonating, particularly with younger voters drawn to a more dynamic political message.

The Conservative Party doesn’t publish official membership numbers but estimates put them at around 120,000. If the Greens continue their momentum, they may soon overtake the Tories in membership.

Of course, membership doesn’t always translate into electoral victory. Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour reached over 500,000 members at its peak and still lost two general elections. And while one recent poll put the Greens at 15 percent, most have them hovering around 11 or 12 percent, suggesting limited movement in the polls since Polanski took charge.

Still, the shift is meaningful. Researchers have identified a clear trend – young people are fed up with a two-party system that no longer delivers for them and the political landscape among the under-25s is polarising.

As Dr Ceri Fowler, a fellow in comparative politics at Oxford University, put it:

“Young people are still more progressive in their attitudes compared to older generations, but when you break that down there is a divide where young men are more right wing and young women more left wing. And it isn’t a divide between the two main parties, it’s at the more extreme ends, so either for support by men for Reform, or women for the Greens.”

Blame the Boomers?

It could be argued that at the heart of this shift is resentment towards older generations.

Many young people see Baby Boomers as having had it all: secure jobs, affordable homes, generous pensions. And they believe Boomers have consistently voted in ways that make life harder for younger generations.
Take Brexit, voted for largely by older generations.

It’s “pretty evident” that “places with lots of older voters voted for Brexit while places with more younger voters voted Remain,” said Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester.

David Cameron’s decision to hold the referendum in 2016, followed by Boris Johnson’s hardline approach and abandonment of the single market, plunged the UK into years of political and economic uncertainty.

And it’s young people, in particular, who have felt the decline. The freedom to live, work and travel across the EU was snatched from them, perhaps the greatest betrayal of all.

Even Keir Starmer has finally admitted that Brexit was a mistake. But for many young voters, the damage is done. The establishment, left and right, is seen as complicit.

No wonder they’re looking elsewhere.

Can the centre hold?

The question now is whether mainstream parties can catch up. Can they speak to young people’s anger without pandering to populism? Can they offer solutions that feel real, not recycled? And can they bridge the growing gender divide in youth politics?

Worryingly, the seemingly youth-savvy Reform seems to be ‘bridging the gender divide’ case. The party know it has to do more to attract female voters, as well as male, and there are already signs the party’s gender gap is starting to narrow.

Luke Tryl, from pollsters More in Common, says: “While Reform still has a gender gap and its voters remain more male overall, this gender gap has narrowed since the general election, as the party’s vote share has expanded – with Gen X women in particular swinging toward Reform.”

In August, Reform launched a Women for Reform campaign, fronted by its only female MP Sarah Pochin and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, claiming they care about the safety and security of women and girls.

But the irony is glaring. As Hope Not Hope noted in response:

“From the top down, Reform idolises misogynists… Reform UK are a misogynist magnet, packed with candidates posting pro-Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson content alongside anti-feminist and pro-domestic violence jokes and memes.”

Like generations before them, Gen Z is rebelling, this time, against the political establishment that feels increasingly disconnected from their lives. But, unlike their predecessors, who turned to the Daily Mail, Telegraph or Guardian to shape their worldview, whether they tilt towards progressive change or reactionary backlash, may hinge on who shouts loudest on TikTok.

Because if, as Rod Stewart sang, youth is a mask that doesn’t last, this generation is going to live it long and live it fast, then today’s leaders have a choice – catch up, or step aside.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is author of Right-Wing Watch

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