The Nation Wonders Why Gen Z, Which Thinks About Climate Doom All The Time, Doesn’t Vote Like it

I mean, the reasons are literally in the 1st paragraph

Gen Z Thinks About Climate Change Constantly. Why Don’t They Vote Like It?

The cost of living, healthcare, and abortion were the top three issues for young voters in the 2024 election, according to a Tufts poll. Financial precarity and political instability are, in many ways, the defining features of young Americans’ futures. A record-high percentage of Americans say their finances are worsening; housing prices are 60 percent higher than in 2019, and credit card debt has risen 63 percent since 2021. It’s easy to see how a relatively post-materialist issue like climate change could get lost in this list of immediate concerns.

And almost all of that was caused by COVID and the government’s response. And, let’s be honest, on lists of real world issues ‘climate change’ always comes out near the bottom.

When survival in the present is already so exacting, thinking about what life may look like in a few decades becomes difficult, if not impossible. Inevitably and understandably, the climate has been placed on the back burner for many people. Though climate remains a concern for many Americans, this pattern indicates that those who care deeply about the climate aren’t considering it a top priority in their voting decisions—or even voting at all.

That’s the way this works and has worked for decades. It’s important in theory, not in practice. Isn’t the Nation a hyper-left wing rag? Why are they exposing that their cult is really unimportant?

Stinnett started the Environmental Voter Project to specifically address lagging electoral engagement. The nonprofit targets the millions of Americans who list the climate as one of their top issues yet don’t vote consistently in elections. In 2024, over 11 million people who identify as environmentalists did not vote in the presidential election.

For politicians, this is a sign that the climate doesn’t need to be prioritized, Stinnett said.

Interesting. They data mined all this, and now will nag the shit out of these people, who probably thought their data was private.

But moving young Americans to vote, and vote specifically for the climate, can be a challenging task despite their high rates of eco-anxiety, an emergent mental health problem, according to UNICEF. A 2026 Gallup poll found that 66 percent of Americans think the environment’s quality is worsening, a near-record high. In addition, 71 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they think about the climate crisis at least once a week. Yet this hasn’t spurred them to go out and vote in large numbers for avowedly pro-environmental candidates.

Perhaps they understand that the policies are designed to take away their money, life choices, and freedom?

“If young people just started showing up, politicians would immediately start leading on climate,” Stinnett said. “Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they don’t want to lose elections. It is crucially important that whenever you vote, you hold politicians’ feet to the fire.”

They rarely do, and, at this point, few are voting for climate cult policies that they can see will harm their own lives. Give it up, cultists.