Are young Americans shifting rightward? And if so, why? Does the shift fit into traditional definitions of conservatism, or is it connected to culture war issues? And what does it all mean for Trump and the future of his MAGA movement? On the latest episode of FP Live, I spoke with conservative commentator Emily Jashinsky, who hosts the podcast After Party with Emily Jashinsky and is the D.C. correspondent for the website UnHerd. The full conversation is available on the video box atop this page, or on the FP Live podcast. What follows here is a lightly edited and condensed transcript.

Conventional wisdom suggests that young people are usually progressive but become more conservative as they age. But numerous polls show that in the United States, at least, the youngest voters are trending more conservative than before: Forty-three percent of Americans under 30 voted for Donald Trump in 2024, a 7 percentage-point jump from his previous two runs for the presidency.

Conventional wisdom suggests that young people are usually progressive but become more conservative as they age. But numerous polls show that in the United States, at least, the youngest voters are trending more conservative than before: Forty-three percent of Americans under 30 voted for Donald Trump in 2024, a 7 percentage-point jump from his previous two runs for the presidency.

Are young Americans shifting rightward? And if so, why? Does the shift fit into traditional definitions of conservatism, or is it connected to culture war issues? And what does it all mean for Trump and the future of his MAGA movement? On the latest episode of FP Live, I spoke with conservative commentator Emily Jashinsky, who hosts the podcast After Party with Emily Jashinsky and is the D.C. correspondent for the website UnHerd. The full conversation is available on the video box atop this page, or on the FP Live podcast. What follows here is a lightly edited and condensed transcript.

Ravi Agrawal: So, you describe yourself as a conservative who is also a journalist. There’s a trend today for journalists to identify their political affiliations, which in my mind runs counter to traditions that prioritize objectivity. What’s behind the trend?

Emily Jashinsky: We’ve seen this happen over the course of decades, especially on the right. The conservative movement once sought to train young journalists who could go populate the newsrooms of legacy institutions, be secretly conservative and balance the media that way. But that changed as technology democratized the media space, especially when blogs erupted during the aughts. And it really shifted toward putting people who have open conservative voices into the media. That has advantages and disadvantages, of course. But it’s almost inevitably where the media is going because of how news-delivery systems are changing. Part of it has also been exasperation that it was almost impossible for conservatives to find themselves in these newsrooms anyway.

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