High school boys becoming more conservative, girls becoming more liberal, survey shows

WASHINGTON (TND) — High school boys are trending more conservative in recent years, while their female counterparts are lurching to the left, data from an annual survey of young people shows.

In 2022, 23% of high school-aged boys identified as conservative, according to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey. That figure is nearly twice the number of boys of the same age who identify as liberal.

Historically, the survey shows the number of conservative and liberal boys has hovered around the same mark. But liberal-identifying boys took a nosedive following the 2016 presidential election, dropping from 19% in 2016 to 13% in 2020. That figure remains at 13% in 2022.

Girls of the same age are trending in the opposite direction, the study shows. In 2022, 30% of high school-aged girls identified as liberal, compared to just 19% in 2014. Though boys have been more conflicted about their political leaning throughout the course of the survey, girls have historically been less so, leaning liberal by as much as 17% at times.

Though the study did not provide reasons for these results, it is likely that political party norms play a role in the next generation of political thinkers. Conservatives generally keep traditional values and platform more masculine figures who some see as alienating to women. During Donald Trump’s presidency, he was described as having “weaponized masculinity” by NPR.

Liberals, on the other hand, focus less on traditionalism and more on equity efforts. In her book “Generations,” San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge said “among liberals, the future is female.” That saying also happens to be a common rallying cry of feminists, a movement largely supported by liberals.

The study did not include moderates or students who did not feel a strong alignment to either political party.