Is There Really a Gender War in American Politics? The Ideological and Civic Polarization of Young Men and Women

By Olivia Siegel

Why does it feel like every young woman I meet is liberal, and every young man is conservative? Are we not all a part of the same generation? Do we not all have older relatives who perpetually shake their heads at our modern values? Apparently not. Even on Columbia’s campus, at an institution currently under political fire for its “far-left ideology,” it feels as though there is a heavy skew towards liberalism among young women and conservatism among young men. This appears pervasive across institutions, states, and even countries. Not only are young women more liberal than young men, but they also appear to be more civically engaged. Most young women I know voted in the past presidential election, but many young men I know did not, or were much quieter about their vote- abstaining from posting political content on social media, discussing politics with peers, or even refusing to share who they voted for. It felt like radio silence while many young women were in a state of political turmoil. After all, ColumbiaVotes itself is almost entirely made up of women, with an entirely female executive board. Women students also appear to be at the forefront of many campus-based peaceful protest movements, like the encampments focused on the genocide in Gaza. Is this massive disparity supported by data? Or just a misperception?

The political polarization between young men and women is very real — and supported by decades worth of data. The “gender gap” in politics is the difference in the percentage of men and the percentage of women who vote for a given candidate or party. Data from the Center for American Women and Politics shows that since 1980, women have tended to vote more for the Democratic Party, and men more for the Republican Party. A majority of women have voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1996. However, this difference has actually been most pronounced among the youngest generation, ages 18 to 29. 13% more women aged 18 to 29 voted for the Democratic nominee for president, Kamala Harris, in 2024 than men of the same age. This disparity drops as we focus on progressively older voting groups, of ages 30-44, 45-64, and 65+. It has also increased overall across the generation aged 18-29 in presidential elections since 2008. A 2024 Gallup poll also found that significantly more women aged 18-29 self-identify as “liberal/very liberal” as compared with 1999, while men aged 18-29 have remained mostly stable in their liberal self-identification. 40% of women aged 18-29 identify themselves as liberal/very liberal as of 2023, as opposed to only 29% in 1999. Only 1% more men aged 18-29 self-identify as “liberal/very liberal“ than in 1999. This change is most pronounced among those aged 18-29. The data is in clear support of the fact that young women are increasingly more liberal than young men and that they are voting accordingly.

Now that we have established that young women are increasingly more liberal than young men, is my inflammatory assertion that young men are civically lazy also true? Unfortunately, the data supports this idea as well. Young women vote more than young men. In fact, this trend began less recently than I had expected. Center for American Women and Politics data shows that more young women (aged 18-29) have been exercising their right to vote than young men since 1994. This difference is most prominent for voters aged 18-29 and only switches after age groups 65-74+. In fact, on average, about 5.8% more women than men aged 18-29 voted from 1996-2024. Shockingly, the gap in voting turnout is largest among college-educated men and women. Unfortunately, my surface-level impression that my male peers are less civically engaged than my female peers turned out to have a deeper factual basis than I had thought.

The data shows that this is a nationwide phenomenon. Now that we’ve established the issue, what might be the cause? Manza and Brooks (1998) assess the possible explanations for the gender gap in presidential elections between 1952 and 1992. The potential causes they outline are gender socialization, family transformation, and the rising autonomy of women, feminist consciousness, and women’s rising labor force participation. In their analysis of data from the National Election Studies for presidential elections from 1952 through 1992 (Center for Political Studies 1995), they find support for the thesis that the increase of women in the workplace has caused women to increasingly support Democratic presidential candidates.  This is because more women depend on social programs for jobs, childcare, and income maintenance programs. The Democratic Party has been more supportive of these programs, thus gaining the support of more women as they increasingly join the workforce. However, Manza and Brooks’ data only covers up to 1992. What of the increasing polarization since then? 

This has often been attributed to online echo chambers radicalizing young men and women. A 2024 study from the Pew Research Center found that almost 40% of adults aged 18-29 get most of their news from online “news influencers.” Additionally, 65% said that these influencers “helped shape their understanding of current events and civic issues.” This sphere is dominated by men and leans conservative. Regardless, there is a clear underlying divergence in the values and concerns of young men and women. The international research agency Glocalities has found that between 2014 and 2023, Gen Z women have become more liberal, "anti-patriarchal," and are most concerned with issues of “sexual harassment, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and mental health problems.” On the other hand, Gen Z men have not gotten more liberal and are most concerned with “competition, bravery, and honor,” becoming more patriarchal than even older men. The shift in values is there, and there is likely a multitude of contributing factors, with social media influences not helping the issue.

The increasing gender gap in political polarization of young men and women, along with an increasing gap in civic engagement, and a multitude of possible root causes, paints a grim picture of the future of American democracy and societal health. There is a strong possibility that future generations of women will continue to become more liberalized and civically engaged, while men stay conservative and remain inactive in shaping their democracy. Concerns about a young generation of men “left behind” by the liberal Democratic Party and “cancel culture,” raise the question: Are young men entitled to help catching up in civic engagement? After all, the very rights that women and other minority groups had to wage long civil rights movements to win are now being squandered by those who originally held the key to this privilege. Would modern culture do the same for women were they to fall behind? Women of color? Is it up to young men to act in their own best interests, or is it our responsibility to teach them? Would interference allow democracy to run its natural course?