America’s future voters — and future leaders — are no longer Millennials. Gen Z, now ages 18–29, is entering the workforce, reshaping culture, and poised to redefine the political landscape.

But here’s the challenge: most older Americans simply don’t understand them.

Hosts Sam Stone and guests Carolyn Downey (National Review columnist, host of Locked In) and Daniel DiMartino (Manhattan Institute fellow and Columbia PhD candidate) dig into what makes Gen Z so unique — from parenting styles and cultural pressures to the political consequences emerging from a generation raised in a very different world.

And it all begins with childhood.

Gen X: The “Free-Range Chickens”

Sam Stone grew up in what he calls “the ultimate Gen X lifestyle” — a dairy farm outside Lake Placid, New York, BB-gun battles, real bows and arrows, and acres of woods turned into makeshift forts.

“Did you die today? No? Okay, we’re good.” — Sam Stone

Kids back then disappeared for hours. Independence wasn’t earned — it was expected.

But as Carolyn points out, society responded by swinging the pendulum the other way.

Enter Gen Z: The Bubble-Wrap Era

The youngest Gen Z cohort grew up during the rise of “gentle parenting” — a softer, more protective approach that sometimes insulated kids from discomfort or adversity.

That upbringing has consequences:

• More risk-averse
• Less dating and romance
• Even less sex than older generations
• Lower rates of drinking and partying

Daniel jokes that he’d never let a 12-year-old ride a motorbike like his mother did — yet many parents now STILL accompany their kids everywhere… even into job interviews.

Yes, that actually happened.

“I’m not going to interview your daughter. You shouldn’t be here.” — Sam Stone

COVID Didn’t Help

When schools shut down — often the longest in blue-state America — Gen Z paid the price:

• Academic loss
• Delayed social skills
• Awkward workplace readiness

In fact, 51% of hiring managers say Gen Z struggles to articulate themselves in interviews — a communication problem now spilling into politics, activism, and civic participation.

Gen Alpha may face similar challenges… but the jury’s still out.

So What Does Gen Z Want?

Despite stereotypes, this generation is not disengaged. They care deeply about:

• Mental health
• Affordability and economic opportunity
• Safety and stability
• A future worth building

But they’re navigating adulthood with fewer relationship skills, lower trust in institutions, and a digital culture that often replaces real lived experience.

That mix — for better or worse — is transforming the political landscape.

The Stakes

Gen Z is now a major voting bloc. Their worldview, values, and anxieties will shape everything from housing policy to national security.

Understanding them isn’t optional — it’s essential.

Sam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Sam Stone. Chuck Warren is not here today because we are over at the Arizona State University for Gen Z, the future of American politics, hosted by the ASU Center for American Institutions. And we’re joined by two great friends of the program, Carolyn Downey, columnist for National Review and host of Locked In, and Daniel DiMartino, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a PhD candidate in economics at Columbia University. Thank you so much. Welcome back to the program.

Carolyn Downey: Thank you.

**Daniel DiMartino: **Very happy.

Sam Stone: So I’m going to just throw this out there. I’m Gen X. Scarily, by the time most people are listening to this, I will have turned 50 the day before this airs.

**Carolyn Downey: **Wow. Happy early birthday.

**Sam Stone: **Yeah, little scary. Is it? Is it though? I don’t know if this is one you celebrate or not.

Carolyn Downey: I think so.

**Sam Stone: **I think you got to be like.

**Daniel DiMartino: **Half a century.

**Sam Stone: **You may be right. Well, considering I grew up with like the ultimate Gen X lifestyle in the middle of nowhere.

**Daniel DiMartino: **Where?

Sam Stone: So we were outside Lake Placid, New York in the 70s and 80s, about an hour and a half south of Montreal. Wow. Lived on a dairy farm. We played, I don’t even know, this is definitely not politically correct in this day and age, but we played cowboys and Indians with BB guns and real bows and arrows.

Daniel DiMartino: Right.

Sam Stone: And it’s all fun and games until someone puts an arrow in your leg. Just saying. But see, see, and I’m laughing because I see these reactions, right? This is in some ways it was like the ultimate Gen X lifestyle. We were the generation that our parents were like, I just get out there and have some fun and let us know if you.

Carolyn Downey: Latch key kids a little bit?

**Sam Stone: **Latch key, but when you’re in the country, it kind of goes further. It’s like, did you die today? No, we’re good.

**Carolyn Downey: **You acres to migrate on.

**Sam Stone: **Yes. Yeah, I think it would be one time we actually clear cut about two and a half acres and back in the forest to build forts.

Daniel DiMartino: You know what’s funny? My parents are Gen X too. I’m from Venezuela and so my parents even then, you’re right, they have that more of a free range culture. My mom at 12 years old, a woman, my grandparents bought her a mini motorcycle. She was running on a motorcycle at 12. Are you crazy? I wouldn’t let a boy, even less a girl, a 12-year-old to be on a motorcycle. Yes, I make sex differences, But also, like, it’s crazy.

Carolyn Downey: But yeah, like free-range chickens. You guys were just let to run wild.

**Sam Stone: **We were the ultimate free-range chickens and I think generations after sorta got reined in because of us, like people looked at us and said maybe that was a little too far. In the parenting, you could kinda see a change in the parenting whereby the time the millennials came along, parents were much more actively engaged in their children’s lives and that’s continued to change.

**Carolyn Downey: **To a fault sometimes.

Sam Stone: Yeah, I didn’t wanna take that too far, but yeah. What do people like me need to know about Gen Z? Where do we need to start to understand Gen Z?

**Carolyn Downey: **Well, since you intro’d with this hook about parenting styles, I think it’s important to note that the heyday of gentle parenting came about for the youngest cohort of Gen Z. So Gen Z is 18 to 29 years old. We’re at the older end, so you could call us Zillennials, because we’re almost millennial.

**Daniel DiMartino: **I’m 26, she’s 27.

Carolyn Downey: Oh yeah, yeah, okay. So not quite millennials, we still identify as Gen Z. But the younger cohort, they’re the ones whose parents were bubble wrapping them a little bit too much, insulating them from the harshness of the world, maybe to a fault, so they didn’t maybe encounter that much adversity. And I think that’s why you’re seeing, partially why Gen Z is so risk-averse. They’re scared of a lot of things, including dating. So there’s a romantic recession that’s been reported among Gen Z. Gen Z is the generation that’s least likely to date, also have sex. It’s across the board.

Daniel DiMartino: Drink less.

**Sam Stone: **Is that changing now with Gen Alpha coming along?

Carolyn Downey: That’s a good question. I don’t know because... Yeah, yeah, right.

**Daniel DiMartino: **Alpha shouldn’t be drinking they’re under age.

**Sam Stone: **We’ve already discussed too much of my childhood.

Carolyn Downey: Well they would be under 18 years old. I think the jury’s still out on how they’ll develop. One thing’s for sure, Gen Alpha, I mean, they were experiencing this, but maybe to a less degree, the COVID learning loss during the very draconian school shutdowns in mostly blue states. Gen Z bore the brunt of that, and it’s showing up in their academic outcomes or lack thereof. They’re heading into the job market now, the older end, unable tomcommunicate properly with hiring managers. 51 %of hiring managers said that the Gen Z candidates they’ve encountered can’t articulate themselves very well. There’s been stories of Gen Z candidates bringing parents into interviews.

Sam Stone: I have actually had that happen to me. No, kidding. Yeah, no. Wow. It was the first time was in 2021 when I was doing an interview for a candidate campaign position for a comms position and the candidate walked into the room and I’m looking at them going, you look about 40 years older than I expected you to to look. And then the woman introduced herself as the mother of the and in the girl we were...

**Daniel DiMartino: **I would be so ashamed as a son.

Carolyn Downey: Yeah, and that doesn’t necessarily help buck the stereotypes, which is that they need to be hand-held through a lot of things.

**Sam Stone: **That was disconcerting from her.

Daniel DiMartino: Did you hire her?

**Sam Stone: **Of course not.

**Daniel DiMartino: **No, but I wanted you to say it.

**Sam Stone: **But I literally told the mother I had to say, listen, I’m not going to interview your daughter. You shouldn’t be here. Right. Like this, this is not appropriate. So, yeah,

Daniel DiMartino: As we say in Gen Z that’s a red flag.

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