JDV onGenZ

Governor Gavin Newsom’s podcast debut with Turning Point USA’s co-founder and CEO Charlie Kirk reveals an irrefutable truth: Conservatives are winning the youth messaging war. Though the LA Times called their exchange “full-on cringe,” Kirk’s journey from “a card table and a debate me sign” to political influence offers critical insights into Gen Z’s rightward shift. Despite growing backlash to Trump’s economic policies and falling approval ratings among young voters, the conservative approach to messaging continues to resonate in ways Democrats struggle to match.

#1: Survival Economics: The Message Democrats Missed
The most obvious but somehow overlooked insight from the Kirk-Newsom conversation is the primacy of economic concerns for young voters. Zoomers I spoke with felt Democrats relied too heavily on messaging around issues like abortion rights and democratic norms, as well as celebrity endorsements from figures like Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion.