While Australian Millennials have been bending the oldest rule in the political rule book, Generation Z have broken it in two. Until recently, politicians across Anglo-democracies could take it for granted that voters become more inclined to vote for centre-right political parties as they grow older. Although this remains true of Australians born prior to 1980, the move to the right among Millennials has been glacial and of greater benefit to the primary vote of the Australian Labor Party than to the Coalition. At the last two federal elections, Generation Z were more likely to give their first preference to the Australian Greens than to the Coalition.
Why is it that Millennials and Generation Z have life cycle voting behaviour so different to that of the Baby Boomers and Generation X? Why are the youngest generations more likely to vote for parties of the left than the right, and appear to be on a trajectory to keep doing so as they get older? Can these trends be reversed, and if not, what does this mean for Australian classical liberalism and Australian public policy?
Join CIS Intergenerational Program Director Matt Taylor, Gen Z commentator Emilie Dye and pollster and political scientist Shaun Ratcliff for a panel discussion on these important questions.
