In December, President Trump was impeached due to using his position to abuse the power of the presidency. The president was accused of several impeachable offenses including putting pressure on Ukraine for political advancement and for his own personal gain in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. But what does that mean to Generation Z?
Generation Z is known to be the people of the world who have never seen the world without the internet and because of the use of technology all of their lives, they have a strong ability to process information quickly through the use of social media. Impeachment is a long process, and the use of historical constitutional language is something that will not appeal to this generation and the way they learn.
The only thing about the impeachment trials that might grab the attention of a person among this demographic is the president’s Twitter activity. But, according to an article from Business Insider, Instagram remains on top. Business Insider’s poll of 1800 people found that 59% of people between the ages of 13-21 use social media as a top news source. It also found that 65% of respondents checked Snapchat, Youtube, and Instagram daily, many of them citing it as the main source for political information.
Now, with some of Gen Z being of age to vote, American politics is set to change based on the demands and opinions of these young adults. Since being a part of the Gen Z, I found that learning more about the political battle going on between Republicans and Democrats in the impeachment inquiry through articles from the New York Times and doing relevant google searches on America’s history was a difficult process to find out specifically what was going on.
For me, a short video on Instagram breaking down the heavy details of the impeachment would persuade or sway my political standpoint over long articles and scholarly journals.
What does this mean not only for President Trump but also for the presidential candidates of 2020?
The study from Business Insider also found that more than half of Gen Z think that things are going poorly in a political aspect. The top response for the biggest issue facing the country from them was President Trump himself. Gen Z feels that America should be doing more about focusing on issues of climate change, LGBTQ protection, inequalities, legalization of marijuana and student debt.
Even though Gen Z is empowered for change, it starts now with the current impeachment investigations of the president. Previous generations have seen impeachment with President Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. The turnout of the investigations is left in the hands of previous generations. It will leave a mark on our Gen Z history and will define what we stand for.
Trump’s dealing with Ukraine is something as a generation we did not stand for collectively. There aren’t enough Gen Zers within the age bracket to make a significant change now politically, but in the future, there will be collective thoughts on things like impeachment because this generation seems in agreement on things they feel strongly about.
It is expected that President Trump will be acquitted by the Senate on Wednesday, Feb. 5 2020.
Gen Z uses social media to not only receive political information but also to voice and revolutionize their strong opinions.
