Gen Z turns against capitalism as DSA takes off

Only 9 percent of Americans younger than 30 have a “very positive” view of capitalism, according to a new CBS/YouGov poll .

That shows a stark generation between Generation Z and older generations.

Thirty-three percent of people older than 65, or those in the baby boomer generation, said they have a very positive view of capitalism, while 23 percent of people aged 45-64, a group that includes Generation Xers and older millennials, view capitalism very positively.

Millennials in the 30-44 age range were closer to Gen Z, with just 15 percent saying they had a very positive view of capitalism.

Forty-one percent of respondents younger than 30 had a very negative or somewhat negative view of capitalism. That compares with 27 percent of those 65 and older, 32 percent of those aged 45-64 and 37 percent of those aged 30-44.

The data arrives amid a surge in democratic socialist victories across the U.S. — and not just in progressive corners of the country. Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) on Tuesday beat out the more moderate Alex Vindman (D) in the Democratic Senate primary in Florida, a state known for its sunshine, not socialism.

Ashik Siddique, national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), said the polling illustrates what the group is seeing at the street level: Generation Z is ready for a big change.

“We’ve seen that polling and it’s definitely striking, but to us, it really tracks with the experience that so many younger people have,” Siddique told The Hill.

“Gen Z, especially by now, just like wasn’t even raised with a lot of the assumptions that I think millennials were,” he added. “Seeing the condition of the world today, our government spending so much money on militarism and expanding ICE and giving tax cuts to the billionaires to the tune of trillions of dollars while public services are being cut for most Americans — it’s just like the contrast is really clear.”

When asked if there’s a gap between disliking capitalism and desiring a socialist economic system, Siddique said that in response to the capitalist status quo, “people are way more open to socialism.”

He cited a 2025 poll from Jacobin and the DSA Fund that found “Democrats prefer democratic socialism to capitalism by a 58-point margin.”

Nixon is seen as the underdog in the general election battle this fall.

In response to her primary win, election handicapper Sabato Crystal Ball shifted its projection for the seat from “likely Republican” to a safe Republican seat.

That’s partly because of the fundraising shortage Nixon is expected to have, but it also reflects doubts that democratic socialism will be a winning message in the fall in Florida.

CBS/YouGov interviewed 2,287 U.S. adults between August 12 and 14 for their poll, which had a 2.6-point margin of error.

Split up: Gen Z is the generation most divided by gender

Gen Z is the generation most politically split by gender, and the difference could affect the midterms this November.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris won 63 percent of women and 46 percent of men aged 18-29 in 2024, per a Catalist analysis . The 17-point gap was the largest of all generations, and also the largest Catalist has measured across four election cycles.

Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) looked at ideological malleability in July and found that two-thirds of young adults have shifted their political views in recent years.

CIRCLE reported that 40 percent of young women said their beliefs remained unchanged, compared with 26 percent of young men. Among female respondents, 31 percent shifted to the left, 9 percent to the right, 11 percent to the center and 9 percent reported “other.”

Among male respondents, 22 percent shifted to the left, 21 percent to the right, 16 percent to the center and 14 percent reported “other.”

“Party is a really big driver of whether someone shows up to the ballot box,” Sara Suzuki, a senior researcher at CIRCLE, told The Hill. And across male- and female-identifying respondents — and probably most Americans — cost of living is a top concern. These factors could push people to the polls in November.

A June Economist/YouGov poll pinned President Trump’s approval rating among adults 18-29 at minus 45, the lowest it’s been in his presidency.

This dissatisfaction, alongside historical trends that show midterm election results serve as a reaction to who is in the White House, could mean that November may favor Democrats among Gen Z voters, according to Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute.

Deckman added that young women are the most progressive age group and tend to lean left compared with their male counterparts. But this drastic difference between the two groups is unique to Gen Z, and it may be due to today’s media landscape.

“Gen Z has grown up in a fragmented media culture, and algorithms send young women and young men to different sites,” Deckman told The Hill.

This was evident in 2024, when Harris appeared on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” a podcast with a mostly female audience, and Trump spoke with Joe Rogan, Theo Von and NELK, to mostly male audiences .

November will hold several close races, but if any candidate can appeal across the Gen Z gender divide and pull across the aisle, they may have a better chance. “Young people go to the spheres they already belong to,” Suzuki said.

The CIRCLE study had a margin of error of 2.5 points and surveyed 5,549 adults between the ages 18 and 29

Cashing out: Is Gen Z opting for sports betting as a form of investing?

Some Gen Zers appear to be using sports betting platforms as an investment strategy.

The legalization and growing accessibility of sports betting has made it easier than ever to download sportsbooks like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM, alongside prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket.

Sports betting has expanded from a $400 million industry in 2018 into a nearly $17 billion industry in 2026, and a large slice of that is Gen Z.

According to a survey from personal finance platform Betterment, 52 percent of Gen Z sports bettors are putting money intended for investing into sportsbooks, a 21-percentage point lead over millennials and 42-percentage point lead over Gen Xers.

Betterment’s survey was conducted between March 27 and April 3, 2026, interviewing a total of 1,000 U.S. respondents evenly split between Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and boomers.

About 1 in 8 investors say sports betting is part of their long-term investment strategy, which includes 26 percent of Gen Z. Thirty-six percent of Gen Z doesn’t participate in sports betting at all.

The reason why a large chunk of Gen Z is locked in on betting as an investment strategy is that young adults want a way to accelerate money made for long-term investing, or a “shortcut,” as CNBC calls it .

The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has identified trends in advertising, accessibility and Gen Z’s “hustle culture” that keep the generation hooked on making bets.

“When it comes to sports betting, the key items we’re identifying is responsiveness to advertising participation by mobile devices,” said Julia Brunson, communications manager for the NCPG.

“Sports betting is gambling, it’s not investing, and our position is that sports betting should only be done as entertainment, not as a strategy for making money or building wealth,” Brunson continued.

Brunson points out that Gen Z’s fixation on sports betting will most likely have an impact on Generation Alpha as well.

“[Gen Alpha] is currently interacting with sports betting products and prediction markets, they’re watching their older siblings do these things, they’re watching the games with them, you know, they’re engaging passively with advertising,” Brunson told The Hill.

Leaders in the sportsbook industry have also emphasized that placing money on sporting events is supposed to be fun, not an investment strategy.

“This is not confined to Gen Z or any other generation, sports betting is a form of entertainment,” a leader in the online gaming industry told The Hill. “It’s not a wealth creation vehicle, so the adults that decide to engage with wagering or gaming, or, you know, casino play, are doing this within a predetermined entertainment budget, and should not be doing it with money that is either needed for savings or for any other essential expense.”

In last week’s edition of The Feed, we reported on Gen Z’s growing reliance on and trust in crypto.

There’s a parallel between crypto and sports betting. In both cases, Gen Z is looking to easily accessible platforms to make some quick money or develop hobbies.

“All types of industries are trying to meet the small net with these generations that are basically born as digital natives, and so accessibility is an important component of that,” the online gaming industry leader said about the parallels sports betting has with other platforms.

Need support for gambling? Call or text 1-800-MY-RESET.

One last thing: The emojis you use may show your age 💯

You may be speaking a different language from people outside of your generation. That is, your emoji use might be aging you.

According to a study from The New York Times , different generations use different emojis for the same reaction. For example, 😭, 🤣 and 😂 were three of the most used emojis in 2025, but 😭 skyrocketed, particularly among teenage girls. In comparison, it was the least used among Gen X.

Although there are 24 other available heart emojis, Gen Alpha has adopted 🫰, and the symbol’s use has grown 109 percent in a year. (Look closely — the heart is at the cross in the fingers.)

The New York Times acquired the data from Reddit’s Academic Torrents , which published combined data from Pushshift and Arctic Shift by subreddit. Data was taken from November 2024 to January 2025 and November 2025 to January 2026.

Emoji use data was collected with Google’s Federated Analytics , capturing anonymous use of the GBoard (the default keyboard on stock Android devices like Google Pixel).

The Feed is a weekly scoop on Generation Z put together by three Generation Z editors at The Hill. We’re working to understand the ins and outs of our generation’s politics. Send tips or comments to awalker@thehill.com, jfeldstein@thehill.com or cleibowitz@thehill.com.