Gen Z has a massive gender divide on politics, marriage and kids, poll finds
Generation Z men and women are sharply divided not only on U.S. politics, but also across a range of other issues, new polling shows.
The latest NBC News survey found a pronounced gender gap on topics that include President Donald Trump’s job performance, mental health, marriage and raising children.
Young men were far more likely than women to approve of Trump and less likely to report feeling anxious about the future. Gen Z men who voted for Trump were also much more inclined to rate marriage and family as important, compared with women who supported former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The poll — conducted by SurveyMonkey — sampled 2,970 people 18-29-year-olds Aug. 13 to Sept. 1.
Trump approval
In the survey, 47% of Gen Z men said they somewhat or strongly approve of Trump’s job performance, while nearly half as many women in this cohort, 26%, said the same.
By comparison, an August Pew Research Center poll found 43% of men and 35% of women of all ages approve of Trump, indicating the gender gap among Gen Z is significantly larger than among the overall population.
A major divide also appeared when it came to specific issues that Trump has addressed.
Forty-six percent of Gen Z men said they approved of the president’s handling of immigration and border security. Just 24% of Gen Z women said they approved. The results were about the same for Trump’s handling of trade — 42% vs. 23% — and inflation and the cost of living — 41% vs. 21%.
The findings come 10 months after the 2024 election, during which young men tilted rightward.
In the election, 55% of young men voted for Trump, compared to 41% of young women, marking a major shift from 2020, when these figures stood at 41% and 33%, respectively, according to a November Tufts University survey.
Much has been made of this phenomenon, with experts pointing to a number of potential causes, including growing economic anxiety, social media messaging and evolving cultural attitudes.
Views on mental health, workplace, marriage & children
In the poll — which has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points — a rift also emerged among Gen Z women and men on several other issues.
The vast majority of young women, 66%, said they feel “anxious or worried about the future” most or nearly all the time. Meanwhile, 46% of young men said the same.
Additionally, 69% of men said “when it comes to getting ahead in the workplace,” it does not make a difference if you are male or female. A slim majority of women, 51%, agreed.
That said, when offered a list of eight traits that might help one get ahead at work, young men and women selected the same top four: communication, reliability, adaptability and collaboration.
Respondents were also given a list of 13 markers of success and asked to pick three that are most important to their personal idea of success.
Men and women chose the same top three: “Having a job or career you find fulfilling,” “having enough money to do the things you want to do” and “achieving financial independence.”
However, there were a few notable points of distinction. Young women rated “having emotional stability” in fourth place. Men ranked it in 10th place. Further, Gen Z women rated “making your family or community proud” in ninth place, while men put it in fifth place.
The rankings, though, were far different when the results were broken down by gender and voting history.
Among young men who voted for Trump in 2024, the number one marker of success was having children, while among young women who cast their ballots for Harris, this was ranked second to last.
Additionally, young male Trump voters rated being married in fourth place, while young female Harris voters rated this in 11th place.
This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Gen Z has a massive gender divide on politics, marriage and kids, poll finds."