Originally published in Deseret News.
Something is happening among America’s young people — highlighted vividly by the result in New York’s mayoral primary election — and we need to pay attention, because activists across the country are already plotting to replicate New York’s result in a city near you. A generation once expected to inherit the American Dream is now openly questioning the very system that underwrote it.
For over a decade, surveys by Pew, Gallup and others have tracked a growing skepticism toward capitalism among young adults. But what once seemed like an abstract ideological drift has now entered the electoral arena. Last month, New York City’s Gen Z and Millennial voters turned out in striking numbers, propelling Zohran Mamdani — a candidate proudly backed by the Democratic Socialists of America — to a dramatic primary victory. This wasn’t a one-off. It was a flashing red light for anyone tracking the nation’s civic trajectory.
A 2021 Gallup poll found that just 47% of young Americans aged 18 to 34 had a positive view of capitalism — down nearly 20 points from a decade earlier. Meanwhile, a 2025 survey by the Cato Institute and YouGov found that 62% of Americans aged 18–29 say they hold a “favorable view” of “socialism.” That’s a remarkable generational pivot. Older Americans still reject the label overwhelmingly, but for younger voters, “socialism” is no longer taboo. It’s part of the political mainstream.
What’s driving this shift? Partly, it’s economic memory. Many Millennials and Gen Zers came of age during or just after the Great Recession. They watched their parents lose jobs, homes and retirement savings. Then came a crushing student debt crisis, skyrocketing housing costs and the gig economy. The traditional formula — education, hard work and upward mobility — no longer feels like a promise. For too many, it feels like a bait-and-switch. And let’s not forget social media bubbles and college campuses where faculty openly attack the American Dream and regularly distort economic and political history in opposition to capitalism and the value of enterprise.
If we are going to respond meaningfully to this shift, we need to get past labels and listen carefully. When young Americans say they support “socialism,” they are rarely endorsing the nationalization of industry or centralized planning. They’re expressing a desire for greater fairness, stronger social protections, and institutional accountability. In practice, many favor policies such as universal health care, climate investment, affordable housing and debt relief — not the abolition of private property.
This nuance was on full display in New York. Mamdani’s platform didn’t call for the end of markets, though he has called for significant market interventions. His platform centered on more affordable housing, more responsive government, and a more equitable public sphere. In pre-election field polling, he won Gen Z voters by a staggering 57-point margin. That isn’t a footnote — it’s a generational shift that we cannot ignore or overlook.
For those of us who study civic engagement, this is not a moment to dismiss. It’s a moment to reflect, recalibrate and engage.
Young people today are not radicals. They are pragmatists frustrated by broken promises. They still value individual liberty, innovation and the ability to build a better life. What they’re rejecting is the version of capitalism they’ve seen in practice — a system they perceive as rigged, extractive and unresponsive to ordinary people.
This is where public intellectuals, policymakers and educators must step up. First, we need to stop caricaturing these young voters. Labeling all critique of capitalism as “socialist” or “anti-American” only deepens alienation and forecloses honest debate. We must be willing to confront capitalism’s shortcomings without abandoning its virtues.
As Arthur Brooks has persuasively argued, free enterprise is not simply about economic output. It’s about dignity, purpose and earned success. In his book “The Road to Freedom,” Brooks reminds us that “the system that will allow the most people to rise and flourish is democratic capitalism — not because it guarantees equal outcomes, but because it guarantees equal rights and opportunities.” He further warns that forced equalization — like punishing savers to subsidize spenders — undermines both fairness and motivation.
Second, we need to make a more compelling case for capitalism’s moral and civic worth — not just its efficiency. Capitalism, properly regulated, has lifted billions out of poverty and rewarded risk and creativity. But young Americans need to see these benefits in their own lives. They need housing markets that work, job markets that reward effort and institutions that deliver.
Third, we must revitalize civic education. Many young voters are passionate, idealistic and motivated — but too often, poorly informed. The distinctions between democratic socialism, social democracy and authoritarian socialism are blurry at best in public discourse. Many haven’t been taught the real historical consequences of top-down economic control, nor the real virtues of liberal democracy and competitive markets.
Good civic education isn’t about indoctrination. It’s about giving young people the intellectual tools to compare systems, understand trade-offs and reason through hard questions. It’s about explaining why our institutions exist and how they can be reformed without being dismantled.
New York is often a bellwether. If Gen Z’s surge tells us anything, it’s that the future of political identity in America won’t be constrained by 20th-century ideological categories. It will be forged in response to real-life frustrations and new civic demands.
The next generation is speaking. They are skeptical, yes — but not cynical. They are disillusioned, but not disengaged. If we meet them with openness, clarity and a commitment to shared flourishing, we can build a future that preserves both liberty and fairness.
But if we dismiss their concerns — or worse, sneer at their hopes — we risk losing a generation not only to bad economics, but to political despair.
Let’s not make that mistake.
