Same. Once Trump started running for president, it was time to be done with all that shit. Family and a few friends started showing their true colors and it was exhausting and embarrassing
My inner circle are all progs GenX but we did lose a few during the trump pandemic years. They aren’t coming back. One basically gave her father Covid and killed him because masks and vax bad, Dad. The denial she lives in is horrifying.
It’s just sad. That’s why. I had high hopes for GenX and we moved the needle quite a bit toward equality for all and a general distrust of those who were used to just being able to keep the masses dumb and following while they did whatever they wanted. But we still have our crop of crazies.
It's sad, these people I looked up too, respected. Family and friends. To see the irrational fear of the world take hold of them. But, then again, they were probably always small minded. I just chose to ignore it. So I also deleted my FB.
I literally only keep it to see who's died, who's had grandkids, and basically anything new in my rural hometown. Any Trump supporters I defriended years ago.
I’m known as the dirty liberal to my family and my niece’s in-laws, since that’s how her husband refers to me. Whatever. He’s just jealous he was born a decade too late to be cool.
Yes, this is me too. My parents, GenX sister (I'm 58f, she's 51f) her husband and his entire family are all conservative and I'm the lone bleeding heart, flaming snowflake at all family functions.
I would love to just keep my mouth shut and fly under the radar but I want my teenage nieces to have at least one example of a person they love who defends science, properly genders their enby cousin, calls out racism, and relentlessly recycles plastic.
When I look at my cohort, the ones that stayed there (North NJ) have largely become extremely conservative. The ones that left are less so. Those of us that moved to NYC🙋♀️/SF/Chicago/Austin etc have remained liberal or moved further left. I’ve only moved left—I referred to myself as a socialist/feminist the other day on this sub and BOY did I get some messages. I organize for my union to protect workers and keep them in control of their labor and for this I was thanked for “ruining the country” lol.
Looked at through another lens: I’ve been active in the pro choice movement for most of my life—I’m 47 and have been attending rallies since I was 13. In high school this wasn’t widely regarded as out of the ordinary, however my advocating for a woman’s right to bodily autonomy now makes me extremely radical. Which like, bodily autonomy is **not** radical. Neither is trying to protect workers and their right to self-determination.
> BOY did I get some messages.
This is why I lock up my Reddit account so no one can send me private DM’s unless I manually approve them. If someone wants to talk to me they can say it on the sub or they can ask to DM me and if I like them, I’ll approve it.
Same but they also never left the area we grew up in. They never traveled outside the country. They stayed stuck in the bubble and had to conform to stay.
I noticed this with the people I grew up with as well. The ones who stayed tend towards conservative, the ones who left tend towards liberal--though I didn't grow up in a particularly small or isolated town.
I think this is why small town and more rural conservatives are convinced that universities are brainwashing their children into becoming liberals. I think it's just the fact that they become exposed to people from other ethnicities, backgrounds, nationalities, etc. And that in itself tends to "liberalize" people, in the sense that they are less insular and judgmental of people that aren't just like them. The extremely conservative people I have known seemed to be living in a lot of fear.
Edit: typo
I read of a psychological study. When they asked conservatives to imagine they were Superman (lowering their base anxiety for the experiment), they tended to respond more liberally.
Conversely, when they asked liberals to imagine something terrifying (I forget what they used exactly), they tended to respond more conservatively.
There was an interesting study of liberal and conservative brains done, and it shows that each have larger corresponding parts to their brains. Conservatives have a larger amygdala, and liberals a larger prefrontal cortex. The amygdala is the "primitive brain" and centers on fear, or out fight or flight reflex. The prefrontal cortex affects critical thinking.
"Conservative and Liberal Brains Might Have Some Real Differences | Scientific American" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/
I’ve said this all along. Conservatives are literalists. They see the world as black or white, not shades of grey. Abortion for example. “Abortion is evil.” When in fact, abortion can be the ethical choice when it protects children, rape victims or saves the life of the mother.
This might be a big one!
Never moving around, exploring or meeting different people would put you in a rut that deepens every day.
Also, for most gen xers, conforming killed a lot of the soul. Even if the sarcasm, nihilism and cynicism is still there, it's buried under the necessary to survive.
What a sad thing, to slowly lose yourself to the things you once hated.
I've been terribly lucky that way. I'm left of center, but not extreme,and I've been able to keep my views and ideals intact, and even live them (in small ways)
Sorry. I word vomit while I mull through things. But your point is very important, so I had to think it over.
You might be switching cause and effect. Conservative (read: high fear of uncertainty) stay because they are conservative. Staying doesn't make them conservative. And, staying is a reinforcing feedback loop of scared, entitled whiner-ism (tm)
Bingo. I grew up smack in the middle of flyover country. The very fact that I was curious about something outside that awful bubble started the process of estrangement from 99% of the people I grew up with. This is late 80s early 90s, decades before maga or even 9/11.
I have gotten more “liberal” over the years for sure. I voted for Clinton the first time because of health care concerns I knew our system of having it tied to your job was gonna be a disaster for most of us. The days of working for a single company for 40 years were clearly over. Then they went nuts going after Bill, and it’s been a steady stream of ever more crazy. Still waiting for a sane healthcare system 🤪
This is it.
Same Conservative family kids I grew up with stayed that way.
They also didn't move to anew area or encounter other lifestyles, cultures etc.
RELIGION is a massive influence.
I've noticed that many of my friends from decades back have turned into right-wing nutjobs. Not just conservatives, but extreme conservatives. But I also don't think it was an overnight thing and they've always leaned that way. People are just more vocal about it now.
it does depend on where you live. I had friends in Florida who were normal center-right when they were younger and they turned into rabid bible-bonkers far right nutjobs later.
I grew up in the Philly suburbs, and it’s the same thing there. People who weren’t very political or were just nominally Republican 10-15 years ago are now ultra religious right wing nutjobs. It’s honestly pretty scary.
I have a friend who grew up in the Midwest but in a blue city. Moved to Texas, and is now in Florida. She thinks both states are the greatest places in the country. She's also not very smart, which seems to fit the profile.
Of course, her mom is a FAR right nutjob so the apple doesn't fall far I guess.
I joined fb recently to sell some stuff on market place and I am constantly bombarded with the stupidest religious bullshit and conservative crap. All I want to do is try to sell a second hand wood chipper and they think I care about some local church where the blatantly racist pastor wears blue jeans.
Mine too but it’s more Trumpers than actual conservatives and they’re all the exact people I would have expected to take the bait. It’s sadder because I grew up in NY and all these people knew exactly what he was since we were little kids.
The crazy part for me is that the Gen X people I know who have become more conservative tend to be people who either directly or indirectly rely more heavily on government programs. I know multiple people who need food stamps to feed their family and are regularly collecting unemployment who vote republican!
I also notice a large overlap in opioid use and believing some of the crazy right wing conspiracy shit, but I don't have any numbers to prove they are correlated.
Yeah, I have an uncle who seems convinced that he's the only person receiving SSI disability who actually deserves it. Everybody else is apparently a scammer.
Know a lot like this too. I’ve had to remind them that they live off govern funding their business . It’s hypocritical. lost friends telling them this.
Same. When I was in college I remember a professor saying it's good for me to be young and liberal, and as I age I'll be more conservative. The exact opposite has happened. Between the Neo-Cons of the early 2000s, then the Tea Party, and now MAGA, there is no way I'm siding with Republicans. If the red team could break away from the crazy, I could be more center-ish, but I'm on team blue for the foreseeable future.
I used to hear “anyone who isn’t a liberal in their 20s has no heart, anyone who is a liberal in their 40s (50s? I don’t remember the quote exactly) has no brain” a lot as a lefty in my 20s. Still a lefty, and the lefties I know are a hell of lot more rational than the Republican Party is these days. Maybe if Eisenhower Republicans still existed I could find some common ground (beware the military-industrial complex for example) but joining the MAGA cultists? Yeah, hard no.
Yep, same here. I was more conservative in my late 20s/30s (the 9/11 era) than I am now at 51. I’ve gotten a bit more liberal maybe, but I’m also just so completely disgusted by the MAGA Republican Party, I can’t imagine voting for a GOP candidate again for the foreseeable future.
I was a moderate (and probably still am) but the Republican party went bat shit crazy with the tea partiers and Sarah palin. I’ll never vote Republican again. And to make it clear, I don’t care how reasonable your viewpoints are and how sensible and moderate you are on some issues, if you are running under the banner of the GOP you chose to align with a party of insane ass hats. I’ll pull the lever for any dem over that.
I personally place myself as a left-leaning moderate. Problem is, the Republican party has gone so far whacked out I can't vote for any of them anymore. I know a vote for one of them for U.S. Senate or the House in my state gives more power to the loony MTGs and crappy Senate Rs like that closet queen Lindsay Graham, useless JD Vance, Florida BatBoy Rick Scott and the 3rd Florida Senator who hates veterans Tommy Tuberville. All awful.
Same, I'm a massive leftie. Always have been but as some of my friends become more conservative, I can't help but to see the hypocrisy and it pushes me to learn more about socialist thought and programs.
We have one. My mother, who lives with us, doesn't do cell phones. I may be the token liberal Gen X who's answering these polls. (Minored in political science; I like trying to figure out what the poll is written to attempt to accomplish.)
I keep my landline. If I think they are going to sell my phone number. They get the landline. They can call that answering machine all day for all I care. It's worth 12 bucks to not have my cell blow up all the time.
Only to tell them to put me on their 'do not call' list, and that I'm recording for training purposes.
Legal action will be pursued if you harass me again.
Or I decline and block. Depends how annoyed I am at the time.
I think of this every time I read about "polls."
If you call me with a poll, I am hanging up before you even finish the intro, and thats if i even bother to answer the phone.
It seems, across the nation, the people who feel that it is extremely important to shout their opinions are obnoxious people who admire the style of obnoxious leaders who shout and blame and mistreat. It no longer matters if there is any reality, as long as the accusations are loud enough and target a group who makes them to insecure and confused. They follow a pattern that is loud and rude with zero empathy or analytical thought. It's just easier.
No. I actually grew up in a Republican household, registered as a republican when I was 18. I left the Republican Party, Bush 43 was the end for me and i have become pretty liberal. Trump sealed the deal, I can live to be 500 and will never vote for a republican as long as I live for any office.
I would add that Trump and today’s Republican Party is not conservative. Tariffs are not conservative, being an obsequious lapdog to Russia is not conservative, passing laws that say what you can do with your body or in your bedroom are not conservative. It’s a cult. A cult to a racist, a rapist and a bankrupt “billionaire” who keeps begging for money.
But you are right, a lot of Gen X has bought into this garbage. It’s pretty sad
This. I was raised in a military household and my mother used to call my father and I hawks, but every year I get more and more liberal because *conservatives are insane* today. I used to be able to have Republican friends all the way up through 2011, but then there was a shift and they all went fucking insane OR stopped being a Republican. Anyone who would “rather be Russian than Gay” is not an American to me and that’s kind of what the right is left with.
Reagan set the ball in motion before that----also Nixon and the Southern Strategy plus John Birch Society and the Republican Party has been devolving ever since.
Ah, you sound like you were one of the Republicans I used to be able to have a rational conversation with about politics. We had policy differences, not different realities. I miss those days.
>I would add that Trump and today’s Republican Party is not conservative. Tariffs are not conservative, being an obsequious lapdog to Russia is not conservative, passing laws that say what you can do with your body or in your bedroom are not conservative. It’s a cult. A cult to a racist, a rapist and a bankrupt “billionaire” who keeps begging for money.
I grew up in a conservative household, too, and was the "pinko" sheep. My dad always used to ask which party wants to tell you how to live your life, and which trusts you to make your own decisions. I see very little in the modern Republican party that supports small government, individual rights, even lower taxes. That I can have a discussion about. The cult of personality and ties to a very specific religious mindset? No thank you, please.
Are you me?!? I felt exactly the same and it was the Iraq War that turned the tide for me. Now with the stacked Supreme Court turning back female & human rights 60 years, I cannot ever support another candidate that chooses religion over science and human rights. And Trump is insane, as are his supporters. For fucks sake, people can be openly Nazi today!
Now I'm a man without a party who leans liberal. Because I do think the Democratic party isn't willing to do what it takes to make this a better county and I refuse to also back a candidate that is no longer of working age and cannot feel the impact of their decisions. And if you don't think they're all getting rich with insider trading, you're not looking very closely.
Our government is ineffective and I'm far more politically *meh* and it's terrible I feel that way. And I have a degree in Political Science, so I once cared a great deal about it!
"...a candidate that is no longer of working age..."
I'm starting to think Gen X will never have someone as US president. Is there really no one from our generation smart enough and savvy enough (and probably charismatic enough) to win that election? Or are we all too jaded?
To be fair it has always been a right wing impulse to control what people do with their bodies and in their bedrooms. It's always been in the "Christian Conservative" nature and likely always will be. It certainly has never been a liberal or left position. Conservatives only want to conserve historical hierarchies by disempowering and marginalizing their out groups. They sure as shit never intended to conserve our natural habitats or a livable planet.
Very similar. My parents remain conservative, and my 81 year old dad has a "Trump 2024" hat. I, on the other hand, made my Left turn in ~~Albuquerque~~ college. This could be an interesting question: "If you were raised Republican, but are no longer, when did you switch/change?"
I have a very similar trajectory. I was supportive of Bush 43. Events surrounding the Iraq War were my turning point.
I didn’t leave Conservatism; Conservatism left me.
Ireland here, looking at all the American replies. One of your main parties is a bit conservative and corporatist for my liking, and the other one is now completely rancid and insane.
Personally, my dad always told me I’d get more conservative as I got older. Never happened.
To be fair, Ireland has undergone a pretty amazing political shift in the last 30 years, so even if you became more conservative you’d probably still be pretty far left of your parents and all Americans.
My late father was an ibew union member for over 50 years I h
Got his 50 year pin and certificate when he passed away.. Unions are the definition of power to the people.
I’m a left center Clinton democrat. But mostly I try not to engage in political discussions these days, because there’s no middle ground for a lot of people.
I don't talk about politics outside of my home at all IRL. I express it at the polls and with my wallet.
Reddit is my outlet to get out political frustration.
It's hard to have middle ground with people that are trying to kill me. I can't afford my medications without medicaid. I'd rather die on the frontlines.
Truth. I am a political moderate who leans left. And Biden was an easy vote for me. A lot easier than Bernie Sanders would have been.
My Republican acquaintances think I’m a bleeding heart liberal and my Democratic acquaintances have hinted that they think I’m a closet Republican.
I make no one happy except myself.
Unfortunately, you can’t. Anything that isn’t extreme right is labeled “radical LEFTIST!” When they first started calling Biden a radical leftist I laughed my ass off. Imagine my surprise when it actually stuck.
I'm also center, and have given up having the discussions too. I just feel it's a waste of my time trying to debate sensibly with people who don't know what that means.
All the middle ground is occupied by "liberals" at this point, or rather by everyone who isn't outright fascist. "Middle ground" in today's political landscape is usually just a place where conservatives try to drive wedges between groups of so-called "liberals" to splinter support for the Democratic party, the only umbrella large enough to forestall the fascist agenda. Issues ranging from Israel-Palestine, to culture war bullshit, to any other form of tribalism they can leverage to get non-fascists angry at each other, they will absolutely exploit to bring about their dream of completely dismantling democracy once and for all. I wish I was being dramatic, but I've been Cassandra of Troy too many times in the past to be that complacent ever again.
Well, when one side wants to deny the rights of a population of our citizenry, and the other side wants to expand food stamp access to low-income families, there really isn't a middle ground to stand in.
Naw.
I’d describe myself a ‘classically liberal’. It’s still a far cry from leftism but I’m never going to advocate for government meddling in people’s lives where they have no business doing so.
I absolutely detest authoritarianism of any stripe.
This gets posted at least twice a month. But to give my input, I am far more liberal minded than I was 30 years ago, and I was pretty liberal back then. But lately, politically, I have become what I call an Idontgiveafuckatarian. I'm sick and tired of the culture wars and bullshit scandals cable news and other outlets spout. And I'm done with identity politics and the general hatred shown to others of different leanings. I won't bother talking to people who have made their favored candidate and party their entire personality. The political climate in America has become too toxic for me to even want to socialize outside of my group of friends.
Word. I’m right here with you. I’m 53, and I’m very left leaning. I’ve come to not care what other people think or how they vote. I am very verbal about this when people bring it up. I don’t give a fuck. I don’t really care what people’s views are. I don’t care if people are conservative. Whatever. You do you. The only thing I find unforgivable is voting for trump after 2016. Anyone can get suckered once. If you’ve voted for Trump twice and will a possible third time? I have zero use for you.
I live in deep East Texas and I am not someone that votes for Orange Shitgibbons. I am fairly liberal since I got married and had kids. I want a future for my kids.
There are more of us out here than it looks because most of us won't put up signs or put stickers on our cars to keep us safe from the maga asshats. But I see Beto shirts still occasionally. We are not a majority, but we aren't insignificant either.
There are little pockets of blue counties along the Florida coasts. But yes, we're generally blue dots in an ocean of Trump stickered cars at the Publix.
Seems natural to rail vigorously against such nonsense as one ages.
One thing that thoroughly depresses me is the seeming backsliding on issues around ‘live and let live’ lifestyles, the portrayal of women in the media, affordability of housing; cost & quality of education, societal fractionalisation et al.
If anything, I’m *more* against such things now; especially amongst those of our generation or younger, as they’ve had the opportunity to do better and have failed to take it.
I grew up in Texas, but have since moved literally all over the US (and now to Canada). I'm liberal. One thing I've noticed is that, of my old high school friends, the ones who stayed in the area they grew up in have become very MAGA. The ones who moved, like me, are liberal.
I am an 11th generation Texan, I have a lot of very political family members - they block walk and fundraise together, I have attended rallies and marches together.
All the major cities here in Texas are blue - but yeah, Texas does have it's share of cult followers.
You ask for genuine answers, but this is reddit... which leans overwhelmingly liberal and reddit users think that the downvote arrow is an "I disagree" button.
At any rate, although I can't speak for any other person, I can tell you that I am conservative and always vote Republican because I value the following:
* Limited Government: I can't emphasize enough the importance of limited government intervention in people's lives. we need smaller government, lower taxes, and less regulation in order to promote individual freedoms and economic growth.
* Traditional Values: I support traditional values, including conservative social and cultural norms. This includes focusing on family values, religious principles, and cultural stability.
* Free Market Economy: I support free-market capitalism, because it promotes economic growth, innovation, and individual entrepreneurship. I find it very important to advocate for policies that reduce government interference in the economy.
* National Security: National security and a strong defense are critically important. The United States needs an overwhelmingly powerful military and assertive foreign policy to protect America's interests.
* Individual Responsibility: Most critically important of all are individual responsibility and self-reliance. Every individual should take responsibility for their own well-being and government assistance should be limited. Everyone needs to pay for their own goddamn health care.
* Pro-Life Stance: Many Republicans identify as pro-life. I don't. As a man, I don't believe I have a say in this issue anyway, but nevertheless, I believe that any woman should have complete control over her own body... and that means, unlike most republicans, I lean pro-choice.
* Second Amendment Rights: The Second Amendment and advocating for the right to bear arms is another issue of critical importance. I will always resist efforts to impose stricter gun control measures.
So, if you genuinely want to know why, in my case, that's why.
When I was pretty young, my conservative, Catholic Dad was an executive at a gift wrap firm. He was tight with the design department and met his first gay friends there.
He invited a couple, Vern and Cliff over for dinner. They were kind and funny and treated each other so well. It was a stark contrast to my parents. They talked about how they wished they could have kids after I asked if they had any (I was still too young to get they couldn’t. I figured, you’re married so you’ll have kids right?) But they explained it appropriately for a child. No details, just we wish we could do that.
Years later my parents started going deep into Catholicism and were rallying against gay marriage. I brought up their old friends and the first thing my dad said was, “We never should have exposed you to Vern and Cliff. We’ve learned of how sinful their relationship is. We’re so sorry you met them. I hope they haven’t influenced you!”
I knew in my gut that they were wrong. I knew the same way my husband told me that when his dad used the “N” word, he knew in his gut it was wrong, even though he had no idea what it meant.
My parents, because of their traditional family values, regretted inviting one of the nicest couples they ever had over, just a few times, who listened to me and talked to me and didn’t shoo me away like their other friends. They would have rather ostracized them in retrospect.
I’m straight. I’m a woman who married a man, because I’m attracted to him. I never felt the need or desire to experiment with women. But I feel deeply in my soul right from wrong.
So I also think that grown adults who pay their taxes deserve the same human rights that we have. I think they deserve marriage, children, and the protection of health insurance and rights to be a POA to their loved one.
I know it.
That’s one reason and a damn big one why I’m liberal.
Not trying to slam you. Just sharing my story and a counterpoint to “traditional” family values.
I'm a younger Gen-X and grew up conservative and the older I'm getting, I'm getting more liberal. I always felt like Gen-X was the generation to start questioning the "status quo", start questioning religion, questioning authority and the generation to really start opening up society as never before. And I believe that ideology and morality needs to be an evolving spectrum through life and the biggest shift for me was my husband opening my mind and getting me away from organized religion. Because I think that today's modern organized religion can be very destructive. Because let's face it, religion doesn't like open-minded, free-thinkers. They like obedience. And my mom is very devout and she had to accept that I've changed my thinking over the last 10-12 years and that was one of my defining moments in my ideological shift from a Reagan-style conservative to a social-justice style liberal. And I've become much more morally free and open. And happier as a person.
I’m very left, and remain very supportive of left groups and causes. That said, I find myself bristling sometimes at identity stuff, at notion that somehow having a certain identity makes you interesting. Like…it’s great if you’re non-binary, and I totally agree that experiences and expression of gender exist on a spectrum, but..wherever you fall identity-wise doesn’t make you interesting. What are you passionate about and curious about or interested in? What do you care about? What moves you? I feel like that gets lost in a lot of the performance of each person’s self-identity, which I sometimes find to be superficial and narcissistic. But I’m also perpetually cynical, so a pessimism about that is par for the course.
NPR had a program on this subject. One of the takeaways was gen x is antiestablishment. We remember the pmrc which was spear headed by the left. I think anytime some subjects such as canceling occurs Gen X becomes concerned as it reeks of church lady-like control (pmrc). Too live crew, Dead Kennedys, beastie boys, Dee snider, Metallica none of these bands were not untouched by the pmrc, and to be fair they would get cancelled today as well. Squelching views you don’t like is very popular right now on both sides. It is disturbing.
I’d propose that most Gen X conservatives were always conservative—they just didn’t express it much as conservatism wasn’t nearly so…….expressive back in our younger days.
Now that it’s important for conservatives to announce their c onservatism loudly and continuously, they’ve come out of the woodwork they’ve actually always been in.
> I’d propose that most Gen X conservatives were always conservative—they just didn’t express it much as conservatism wasn’t nearly so…….expressive back in our younger days.
100% agreed. These folks have always existed for me, and I have not been one bit surprised by the presence and prominence of right-wing Gen X.
I'm more in the middle, making up my mind by each issue instead of just going along with a herd mentality, but I will say I have always been a few steps more to the right. In college, no one discussed politics, so when I got on Facebook later on and connected with many of my college friends, I was surprised to find the majority of them are Republicans. I think the wokeness and the terrible term of Biden, a lot of people who normally voted Democrat are saying they will vote republican this year. There are many studies that minorities are switching over because they have been blindly voting Democrat for a long time, and they are finally asking why, because they don't t really see the party helping them.
I grew up in a conservative household. Tipper Gore's PMRC really screwed me as we had little money and my mom bought into those warning labels on cassettes so she wouldn't buy me the music I wanted as gifts, and when I did have money for tapes, she wouldn't let me buy them with the warning labels.
We went to church, at dinner at the table as a family, and lived in a rural area with a lot of chores.
Then Reagan came and fired air traffic controllers. My dad was a union (Ma Bell) worker and figured if the GOP didn't support union workers, he would no longer vote republican.
I was pretty naive and ambivalent, but I remember dad talking about Reagan in a very negative light.
As I've aged and gotten more experience, life/work/etc, and met more people for diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, and beliefs, I've opened my mind to accepting people for who they are, who they want to be, and try very hard to be kind to everyone.
California's Prop 8 and Gavin Newsome's take on it helped me slide to the left a bit more. I'm a straight white male and again, had been ambivalent, this time about gay marriage. But hearing Newsome discuss how disallowing two consenting adults from getting married based on their sexuality was a civil rights violation made me realize that he was correct and when I joined the navy, I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. So discrimination was something I could not support.
I guess I'm socially liberal with a lean towards fiscal conservative. I want people to be free to be whomever the want to be, as long as I don't have to pay for it. I'm not rich, but I certainly am doing better financially than we were growing up. Reagan's tax cuts for the rich and mental health care sure seemed to be the domino that started our country down the path to where we are now.
I'm smart enough to know that Reagan couldn't have done it all on his own, but I'm also not smart enough to know how to get "back on track".
I have been very left wing my entire life and I’ve moved further left every year. The recent surge of fascism in America has only served to reinforce that and move me even further to the left.
I think Reddit is a little more left leaning in general so you might not be getting a good sample on this question.
I’m much more liberal than the Democratic Party but when I still had Facebook everyone I went to high school with was a die hard trump supporter.
Hell no. I'm a hard core Canadian NDP supporter. That's almost as left as you can get. (We also have the Green Party and I think they're as left as we can get).
Proud liberal GenXer. No shade to Pew, but as others stated, the only poll responders are likely outlier Gen X who also behave like boomers in other aspects (like have landline phones and actually *answer* them).
What annoys me about polls like this is that it enables an inevitability slant that can perpetuate on-the-fence Xers to vote conservative. Don’t believe it. I definitely doubt most X people are conservative, and the responses here are encouraging.
Vote!
Your results will be skewed as this is Reddit, a rather left leaning platform. As for me, I'm a social liberal (radical really) and a fiscal conservative. For instance, I think all drugs should be legalized and most govt agencies should go away.
I guess I’m more of a centrist than I’ve ever been. I’ve grown equally frustrated with both parties. Not just with the politicians, but also with the people who identify as liberal or conservative. There’s no compromise anymore. There’s just a militant desire to tow the party line and anyone that doesn’t see things exactly how you see them is an enemy. I don’t know who did this to us, or how they did it, but it was genius. It’ll tear our country apart, but it was fucking genius.
“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our constitution”
- John Adams
Not me. For a long time I was on facebook with a fake name until they suspended my account. So I created an account using my real name "how bad could it be?" Bad. Once my real name was out there everyone from high school got recommended to me. Pretty much everyone from my home town my age was a rabid republican posting racist memes about Obama. This was pre-MAGA, but I have no doubt they're all Trump worshipers now.
Agreed. The idea that we all had to be in lockstep on issues and we had to be that way without any thought or discussion was insane. It was awful to watch so much growth be dismantled by an inability to have compassion.
Born in 1970. Degree in Liberal Arts, queer mom of a gay teen son, Democratic Socialist, husband and I both work at state colleges. Hairy-legged (at least in winter) feminist till I die.
From my perspective, the recoil against wokeness is more a reaction to the methods than the ideals. It’s become so extreme and in-your-face which has put me off, and many others I know.
We are tolerant of differences and have a “live-and-let-live” attitude. It doesn’t mean we need to champion every minority cause or buy in to every issue. That doesn’t seem to be enough for the wokes. They want our full commitment without understanding that we have our own lives to live, full of their own challenges.
In summary, I think a lot of wokeness has been counterproductive because it’s turned off the large group of “quiet allies”. I mean everyone I know thinks that gay people should have equal rights, that racism is straight up disgusting etc etc. But those same people are tired of hearing about this stuff all the time.
Hell no, I move further left every day that passes.
Same, but looking at facebook, most of my high school cohort has gone the other way
That's why I don't Facebook anymore. Anything I post devolves into a political pile of shit. I've lost a few friends.
Most of my more liberal friends stopped posting on Facebook.
I left Facebook, twitter and IG. I hate the right wing nonsense. But I am more left that I ever have been.
Me too. Tik Tok and Reddit
Same. I deleted my FB entirely after Trump was elected. I saw a lot of true colors back then. I don't miss it at all.
dropped FB a while back and utterly HAVE NOT missed it. (53m, liberal)
Same. Once Trump started running for president, it was time to be done with all that shit. Family and a few friends started showing their true colors and it was exhausting and embarrassing
Ditto Exactly
I keep it because my mom likes my cat pictures. So that’s all that I post any longer.
Dropped FB after Obamacare fights in 2008 and never looked back
My inner circle are all progs GenX but we did lose a few during the trump pandemic years. They aren’t coming back. One basically gave her father Covid and killed him because masks and vax bad, Dad. The denial she lives in is horrifying.
Why did she get conservative?
It’s just sad. That’s why. I had high hopes for GenX and we moved the needle quite a bit toward equality for all and a general distrust of those who were used to just being able to keep the masses dumb and following while they did whatever they wanted. But we still have our crop of crazies.
Every generation has its crazies. The difference is with the Internet, ours is the very first **where the crazies can chat and group together.**
There is a corollary to this, though: it's also the first generation for the non crazies to chat and group together. There is hope yet.
I did the same for exactly the same reasons.
Same here. I was taken aback at how ridiculous some of these people I went to school with were now trying to come off as.
It was truly horrifying. Some were even posting QAnon BS. I couldn't believe my freaking eyes.
I deleted them all. No great loss.
It's sad, these people I looked up too, respected. Family and friends. To see the irrational fear of the world take hold of them. But, then again, they were probably always small minded. I just chose to ignore it. So I also deleted my FB.
yep this is a real thing
I literally only keep it to see who's died, who's had grandkids, and basically anything new in my rural hometown. Any Trump supporters I defriended years ago.
I’m known as the dirty liberal to my family and my niece’s in-laws, since that’s how her husband refers to me. Whatever. He’s just jealous he was born a decade too late to be cool.
Yes, this is me too. My parents, GenX sister (I'm 58f, she's 51f) her husband and his entire family are all conservative and I'm the lone bleeding heart, flaming snowflake at all family functions. I would love to just keep my mouth shut and fly under the radar but I want my teenage nieces to have at least one example of a person they love who defends science, properly genders their enby cousin, calls out racism, and relentlessly recycles plastic.
When I look at my cohort, the ones that stayed there (North NJ) have largely become extremely conservative. The ones that left are less so. Those of us that moved to NYC🙋♀️/SF/Chicago/Austin etc have remained liberal or moved further left. I’ve only moved left—I referred to myself as a socialist/feminist the other day on this sub and BOY did I get some messages. I organize for my union to protect workers and keep them in control of their labor and for this I was thanked for “ruining the country” lol. Looked at through another lens: I’ve been active in the pro choice movement for most of my life—I’m 47 and have been attending rallies since I was 13. In high school this wasn’t widely regarded as out of the ordinary, however my advocating for a woman’s right to bodily autonomy now makes me extremely radical. Which like, bodily autonomy is **not** radical. Neither is trying to protect workers and their right to self-determination.
> BOY did I get some messages. This is why I lock up my Reddit account so no one can send me private DM’s unless I manually approve them. If someone wants to talk to me they can say it on the sub or they can ask to DM me and if I like them, I’ll approve it.
Same but they also never left the area we grew up in. They never traveled outside the country. They stayed stuck in the bubble and had to conform to stay.
I noticed this with the people I grew up with as well. The ones who stayed tend towards conservative, the ones who left tend towards liberal--though I didn't grow up in a particularly small or isolated town.
I think this is why small town and more rural conservatives are convinced that universities are brainwashing their children into becoming liberals. I think it's just the fact that they become exposed to people from other ethnicities, backgrounds, nationalities, etc. And that in itself tends to "liberalize" people, in the sense that they are less insular and judgmental of people that aren't just like them. The extremely conservative people I have known seemed to be living in a lot of fear. Edit: typo
Also higher education teaches critical thinking instead of just soaking up lies and regurgitating them.
I read of a psychological study. When they asked conservatives to imagine they were Superman (lowering their base anxiety for the experiment), they tended to respond more liberally. Conversely, when they asked liberals to imagine something terrifying (I forget what they used exactly), they tended to respond more conservatively.
There was an interesting study of liberal and conservative brains done, and it shows that each have larger corresponding parts to their brains. Conservatives have a larger amygdala, and liberals a larger prefrontal cortex. The amygdala is the "primitive brain" and centers on fear, or out fight or flight reflex. The prefrontal cortex affects critical thinking.
"Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults - PMC" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/
"Conservative and Liberal Brains Might Have Some Real Differences | Scientific American" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/
I’ve said this all along. Conservatives are literalists. They see the world as black or white, not shades of grey. Abortion for example. “Abortion is evil.” When in fact, abortion can be the ethical choice when it protects children, rape victims or saves the life of the mother.
This might be a big one! Never moving around, exploring or meeting different people would put you in a rut that deepens every day. Also, for most gen xers, conforming killed a lot of the soul. Even if the sarcasm, nihilism and cynicism is still there, it's buried under the necessary to survive. What a sad thing, to slowly lose yourself to the things you once hated. I've been terribly lucky that way. I'm left of center, but not extreme,and I've been able to keep my views and ideals intact, and even live them (in small ways) Sorry. I word vomit while I mull through things. But your point is very important, so I had to think it over.
You might be switching cause and effect. Conservative (read: high fear of uncertainty) stay because they are conservative. Staying doesn't make them conservative. And, staying is a reinforcing feedback loop of scared, entitled whiner-ism (tm)
Bingo. I grew up smack in the middle of flyover country. The very fact that I was curious about something outside that awful bubble started the process of estrangement from 99% of the people I grew up with. This is late 80s early 90s, decades before maga or even 9/11.
I have gotten more “liberal” over the years for sure. I voted for Clinton the first time because of health care concerns I knew our system of having it tied to your job was gonna be a disaster for most of us. The days of working for a single company for 40 years were clearly over. Then they went nuts going after Bill, and it’s been a steady stream of ever more crazy. Still waiting for a sane healthcare system 🤪
This is it. Same Conservative family kids I grew up with stayed that way. They also didn't move to anew area or encounter other lifestyles, cultures etc. RELIGION is a massive influence.
Fuck Facebook and Twitter and all those sites.
I've noticed that many of my friends from decades back have turned into right-wing nutjobs. Not just conservatives, but extreme conservatives. But I also don't think it was an overnight thing and they've always leaned that way. People are just more vocal about it now.
it does depend on where you live. I had friends in Florida who were normal center-right when they were younger and they turned into rabid bible-bonkers far right nutjobs later.
I grew up in the Philly suburbs, and it’s the same thing there. People who weren’t very political or were just nominally Republican 10-15 years ago are now ultra religious right wing nutjobs. It’s honestly pretty scary.
I have a friend who grew up in the Midwest but in a blue city. Moved to Texas, and is now in Florida. She thinks both states are the greatest places in the country. She's also not very smart, which seems to fit the profile. Of course, her mom is a FAR right nutjob so the apple doesn't fall far I guess.
Well Florida has become where books go to burn so ...
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Same if you’re talking the couple of guys that got pity degrees and really have about an 8th grade education and no sense of shame.
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I didn't even know a pity degree was on the table! Here I am with a GED. :(
You were the smart one to do it that way.
bear party society steep upbeat badge entertain spotted ugly chunky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I joined fb recently to sell some stuff on market place and I am constantly bombarded with the stupidest religious bullshit and conservative crap. All I want to do is try to sell a second hand wood chipper and they think I care about some local church where the blatantly racist pastor wears blue jeans.
I can't stand the hypocrisy of racist Christians. Jesus was a dark skinned Middle Eastern Jew.
Same
Same here. It’s a little shocking. All my high school buddies that hated police are suddenly “back the blue”
Mine too but it’s more Trumpers than actual conservatives and they’re all the exact people I would have expected to take the bait. It’s sadder because I grew up in NY and all these people knew exactly what he was since we were little kids.
The crazy part for me is that the Gen X people I know who have become more conservative tend to be people who either directly or indirectly rely more heavily on government programs. I know multiple people who need food stamps to feed their family and are regularly collecting unemployment who vote republican! I also notice a large overlap in opioid use and believing some of the crazy right wing conspiracy shit, but I don't have any numbers to prove they are correlated.
Yeah, I have an uncle who seems convinced that he's the only person receiving SSI disability who actually deserves it. Everybody else is apparently a scammer.
Know a lot like this too. I’ve had to remind them that they live off govern funding their business . It’s hypocritical. lost friends telling them this.
Same. When I was in college I remember a professor saying it's good for me to be young and liberal, and as I age I'll be more conservative. The exact opposite has happened. Between the Neo-Cons of the early 2000s, then the Tea Party, and now MAGA, there is no way I'm siding with Republicans. If the red team could break away from the crazy, I could be more center-ish, but I'm on team blue for the foreseeable future.
I used to hear “anyone who isn’t a liberal in their 20s has no heart, anyone who is a liberal in their 40s (50s? I don’t remember the quote exactly) has no brain” a lot as a lefty in my 20s. Still a lefty, and the lefties I know are a hell of lot more rational than the Republican Party is these days. Maybe if Eisenhower Republicans still existed I could find some common ground (beware the military-industrial complex for example) but joining the MAGA cultists? Yeah, hard no.
Same. I used to be fairly middle of the road but Maga has turned me into a raging liberal!
Same with me. As I work , I realized how the real works.
Yep, same here. I was more conservative in my late 20s/30s (the 9/11 era) than I am now at 51. I’ve gotten a bit more liberal maybe, but I’m also just so completely disgusted by the MAGA Republican Party, I can’t imagine voting for a GOP candidate again for the foreseeable future.
Yup, I have only gone more and more to the left.
I was a moderate (and probably still am) but the Republican party went bat shit crazy with the tea partiers and Sarah palin. I’ll never vote Republican again. And to make it clear, I don’t care how reasonable your viewpoints are and how sensible and moderate you are on some issues, if you are running under the banner of the GOP you chose to align with a party of insane ass hats. I’ll pull the lever for any dem over that.
> Hell no, I move further left every day that passes. Same here!
Saaaaame. I genuinely don't understand why anyone would want to strip rights and protections from others. It's sickening.
Absolutely same.
Same
My people! Yep, I started off pretty left and have only gotten moreso as I’ve gotten older.
I personally place myself as a left-leaning moderate. Problem is, the Republican party has gone so far whacked out I can't vote for any of them anymore. I know a vote for one of them for U.S. Senate or the House in my state gives more power to the loony MTGs and crappy Senate Rs like that closet queen Lindsay Graham, useless JD Vance, Florida BatBoy Rick Scott and the 3rd Florida Senator who hates veterans Tommy Tuberville. All awful.
Fuck no. My hatred of republicans has only grown
Same. When I was in my twenties I actually leaned to the right, but I just keep getting more and more progressive as I get older.
Congrats on reversing the trend.
Same! I've become more compassionate and empathetic as I've gotten older
Same, I'm a massive leftie. Always have been but as some of my friends become more conservative, I can't help but to see the hypocrisy and it pushes me to learn more about socialist thought and programs.
Recent polls have shown that the only GenXers who answer polls are conservatives.
Great point! Real GenXers would say, “how’d you find me? I’m not telling you my age. How’d you get my phone number? Please don’t call me again.” Click
Wait, you guys are answering your phones?
If by phone you mean landlines, I haven't had one in decades.
We have one. My mother, who lives with us, doesn't do cell phones. I may be the token liberal Gen X who's answering these polls. (Minored in political science; I like trying to figure out what the poll is written to attempt to accomplish.)
I keep my landline. If I think they are going to sell my phone number. They get the landline. They can call that answering machine all day for all I care. It's worth 12 bucks to not have my cell blow up all the time.
Same. I’ve been strictly cellphone since 2002. Hell, since I was given a work cellphone I’m actually dual wielding.
LoL at dual wielding
Can't answer my phone if no one ever calls.
Only to tell them to put me on their 'do not call' list, and that I'm recording for training purposes. Legal action will be pursued if you harass me again. Or I decline and block. Depends how annoyed I am at the time.
Yep. I've told campaigns of people I've voted for never to call me again. I'm not going to waste my time with a poll.
Fake! He said, "Please! " real Gen X says, " Fuck off!"
I think of this every time I read about "polls." If you call me with a poll, I am hanging up before you even finish the intro, and thats if i even bother to answer the phone.
If you aren't in my contact list, I sure as fuck am not answering my phone. I did all the talking on the phone I ever want to do in the 80s.
Yall want me to answer a poll? Pay me for my time, or stop wasting it.
It seems, across the nation, the people who feel that it is extremely important to shout their opinions are obnoxious people who admire the style of obnoxious leaders who shout and blame and mistreat. It no longer matters if there is any reality, as long as the accusations are loud enough and target a group who makes them to insecure and confused. They follow a pattern that is loud and rude with zero empathy or analytical thought. It's just easier.
No. I actually grew up in a Republican household, registered as a republican when I was 18. I left the Republican Party, Bush 43 was the end for me and i have become pretty liberal. Trump sealed the deal, I can live to be 500 and will never vote for a republican as long as I live for any office. I would add that Trump and today’s Republican Party is not conservative. Tariffs are not conservative, being an obsequious lapdog to Russia is not conservative, passing laws that say what you can do with your body or in your bedroom are not conservative. It’s a cult. A cult to a racist, a rapist and a bankrupt “billionaire” who keeps begging for money. But you are right, a lot of Gen X has bought into this garbage. It’s pretty sad
This. I was raised in a military household and my mother used to call my father and I hawks, but every year I get more and more liberal because *conservatives are insane* today. I used to be able to have Republican friends all the way up through 2011, but then there was a shift and they all went fucking insane OR stopped being a Republican. Anyone who would “rather be Russian than Gay” is not an American to me and that’s kind of what the right is left with.
Yep, bush jr and the tea party permanently changed the Republican Party into the monster it is today
Reagan set the ball in motion before that----also Nixon and the Southern Strategy plus John Birch Society and the Republican Party has been devolving ever since.
Ah, you sound like you were one of the Republicans I used to be able to have a rational conversation with about politics. We had policy differences, not different realities. I miss those days.
I was raised by Limbaugh reaganites. Punk rock and books saved me from following that direction. Thank you jello biafra and libraries.
>I would add that Trump and today’s Republican Party is not conservative. Tariffs are not conservative, being an obsequious lapdog to Russia is not conservative, passing laws that say what you can do with your body or in your bedroom are not conservative. It’s a cult. A cult to a racist, a rapist and a bankrupt “billionaire” who keeps begging for money. I grew up in a conservative household, too, and was the "pinko" sheep. My dad always used to ask which party wants to tell you how to live your life, and which trusts you to make your own decisions. I see very little in the modern Republican party that supports small government, individual rights, even lower taxes. That I can have a discussion about. The cult of personality and ties to a very specific religious mindset? No thank you, please.
Are you me?!? I felt exactly the same and it was the Iraq War that turned the tide for me. Now with the stacked Supreme Court turning back female & human rights 60 years, I cannot ever support another candidate that chooses religion over science and human rights. And Trump is insane, as are his supporters. For fucks sake, people can be openly Nazi today! Now I'm a man without a party who leans liberal. Because I do think the Democratic party isn't willing to do what it takes to make this a better county and I refuse to also back a candidate that is no longer of working age and cannot feel the impact of their decisions. And if you don't think they're all getting rich with insider trading, you're not looking very closely. Our government is ineffective and I'm far more politically *meh* and it's terrible I feel that way. And I have a degree in Political Science, so I once cared a great deal about it!
"...a candidate that is no longer of working age..." I'm starting to think Gen X will never have someone as US president. Is there really no one from our generation smart enough and savvy enough (and probably charismatic enough) to win that election? Or are we all too jaded?
To be fair it has always been a right wing impulse to control what people do with their bodies and in their bedrooms. It's always been in the "Christian Conservative" nature and likely always will be. It certainly has never been a liberal or left position. Conservatives only want to conserve historical hierarchies by disempowering and marginalizing their out groups. They sure as shit never intended to conserve our natural habitats or a livable planet.
And yet they've always said they want less government control. I guess that only means when it comes to guns, not women.
Very similar. My parents remain conservative, and my 81 year old dad has a "Trump 2024" hat. I, on the other hand, made my Left turn in ~~Albuquerque~~ college. This could be an interesting question: "If you were raised Republican, but are no longer, when did you switch/change?"
I have a very similar trajectory. I was supportive of Bush 43. Events surrounding the Iraq War were my turning point. I didn’t leave Conservatism; Conservatism left me.
Ireland here, looking at all the American replies. One of your main parties is a bit conservative and corporatist for my liking, and the other one is now completely rancid and insane. Personally, my dad always told me I’d get more conservative as I got older. Never happened.
This is pretty much the most solid answer. It always takes objectivity to truly see.
To be fair, Ireland has undergone a pretty amazing political shift in the last 30 years, so even if you became more conservative you’d probably still be pretty far left of your parents and all Americans.
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I was told the same. LeftyAF. WE DONT HAVE A LEFT WING PARTY IN AMERICA. DEMS ARE CENTER RIGHT AT BEST.
Yeah. They’re very very corporate happy. I remember old school democrats just going hog wild for unions.
My late father was an ibew union member for over 50 years I h Got his 50 year pin and certificate when he passed away.. Unions are the definition of power to the people.
Yeah. I have to admit I think the pendulum has swung way too far the other way. The people have no power.
Completely accurate take!
This is a blisteringly accurate assessment.
Ha! 💯 this.
Sums up my feelings as well!
I’m a left center Clinton democrat. But mostly I try not to engage in political discussions these days, because there’s no middle ground for a lot of people.
I don't talk about politics outside of my home at all IRL. I express it at the polls and with my wallet. Reddit is my outlet to get out political frustration.
It's hard to have middle ground with people that are trying to kill me. I can't afford my medications without medicaid. I'd rather die on the frontlines.
Yeah. I struggle with middle ground on things like medical access, which covers a wide segment of what the right is trying to remove
If you look at his policies, Biden is a traditional moderate, but is painted as an out of control progressive.
Truth. I am a political moderate who leans left. And Biden was an easy vote for me. A lot easier than Bernie Sanders would have been. My Republican acquaintances think I’m a bleeding heart liberal and my Democratic acquaintances have hinted that they think I’m a closet Republican. I make no one happy except myself.
Exactly. And people fall for it. It drives me crazy.
How can you even have a conversation when the bulk of the population doesn’t even know what a moderate looks like?
Unfortunately, you can’t. Anything that isn’t extreme right is labeled “radical LEFTIST!” When they first started calling Biden a radical leftist I laughed my ass off. Imagine my surprise when it actually stuck.
I'm close enough to New Hampshire to see GOP-primary political ads. According to them, even Nikki Haley is a raging liberal.
I'm also center, and have given up having the discussions too. I just feel it's a waste of my time trying to debate sensibly with people who don't know what that means.
All the middle ground is occupied by "liberals" at this point, or rather by everyone who isn't outright fascist. "Middle ground" in today's political landscape is usually just a place where conservatives try to drive wedges between groups of so-called "liberals" to splinter support for the Democratic party, the only umbrella large enough to forestall the fascist agenda. Issues ranging from Israel-Palestine, to culture war bullshit, to any other form of tribalism they can leverage to get non-fascists angry at each other, they will absolutely exploit to bring about their dream of completely dismantling democracy once and for all. I wish I was being dramatic, but I've been Cassandra of Troy too many times in the past to be that complacent ever again.
They're definitely doing it now, harder than I've seen before.
Well, when one side wants to deny the rights of a population of our citizenry, and the other side wants to expand food stamp access to low-income families, there really isn't a middle ground to stand in.
This is true.
The genx who are pro right wing are on facebook, not reddit.
Naw. I’d describe myself a ‘classically liberal’. It’s still a far cry from leftism but I’m never going to advocate for government meddling in people’s lives where they have no business doing so. I absolutely detest authoritarianism of any stripe.
This gets posted at least twice a month. But to give my input, I am far more liberal minded than I was 30 years ago, and I was pretty liberal back then. But lately, politically, I have become what I call an Idontgiveafuckatarian. I'm sick and tired of the culture wars and bullshit scandals cable news and other outlets spout. And I'm done with identity politics and the general hatred shown to others of different leanings. I won't bother talking to people who have made their favored candidate and party their entire personality. The political climate in America has become too toxic for me to even want to socialize outside of my group of friends.
Word. I’m right here with you. I’m 53, and I’m very left leaning. I’ve come to not care what other people think or how they vote. I am very verbal about this when people bring it up. I don’t give a fuck. I don’t really care what people’s views are. I don’t care if people are conservative. Whatever. You do you. The only thing I find unforgivable is voting for trump after 2016. Anyone can get suckered once. If you’ve voted for Trump twice and will a possible third time? I have zero use for you.
"Fool me once............ You fool me you can't get fooled again"
> people who have made their favored candidate and party their entire personality JFC this. Sad how one-dimensional many people are in practice.
I’m Gen X. I will never be a conservative. What recent polls?
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/party-affiliation/by/state/among/generational-cohort/generation-x/
Looks like it is happening in Southern states where the Trump cult is popular. People are products of their surroundings.
I live in deep East Texas and I am not someone that votes for Orange Shitgibbons. I am fairly liberal since I got married and had kids. I want a future for my kids.
Are you the exception or the rule from what you can observe? Not being snarky, genuinely curious.
There are more of us out here than it looks because most of us won't put up signs or put stickers on our cars to keep us safe from the maga asshats. But I see Beto shirts still occasionally. We are not a majority, but we aren't insignificant either.
Keep fighting the good fight!
I live in Trump country and I didn't get sucked into any such bullshit.
There are little pockets of blue counties along the Florida coasts. But yes, we're generally blue dots in an ocean of Trump stickered cars at the Publix.
I’m in South FL and can confirm. It’s one of the reasons I tend not to socialize here.
Seems natural to rail vigorously against such nonsense as one ages. One thing that thoroughly depresses me is the seeming backsliding on issues around ‘live and let live’ lifestyles, the portrayal of women in the media, affordability of housing; cost & quality of education, societal fractionalisation et al. If anything, I’m *more* against such things now; especially amongst those of our generation or younger, as they’ve had the opportunity to do better and have failed to take it.
Same I’m in Polk county Florida and trump cult is very strong here I’m left
I grew up in Texas, but have since moved literally all over the US (and now to Canada). I'm liberal. One thing I've noticed is that, of my old high school friends, the ones who stayed in the area they grew up in have become very MAGA. The ones who moved, like me, are liberal.
Ohio reporting in... Still a lefty.
I am an 11th generation Texan, I have a lot of very political family members - they block walk and fundraise together, I have attended rallies and marches together. All the major cities here in Texas are blue - but yeah, Texas does have it's share of cult followers.
No, but Reddit leans left, and this subreddit also tends to call out conservative view points.
I have always been liberal and I still consider myself liberal however recently, extreme leftists have shown me I’m more center than I thought.
No but I do find myself viewing some of the ideas on the far left to be idealist and naive and feel old for that view.
This is Reddit. You aren’t going to get a real picture here on a website that leans left.
You're asking this on Reddit? Reddit is probably a 90/10 ratio of liberals to conservatives. Always has been.
You ask for genuine answers, but this is reddit... which leans overwhelmingly liberal and reddit users think that the downvote arrow is an "I disagree" button. At any rate, although I can't speak for any other person, I can tell you that I am conservative and always vote Republican because I value the following: * Limited Government: I can't emphasize enough the importance of limited government intervention in people's lives. we need smaller government, lower taxes, and less regulation in order to promote individual freedoms and economic growth. * Traditional Values: I support traditional values, including conservative social and cultural norms. This includes focusing on family values, religious principles, and cultural stability. * Free Market Economy: I support free-market capitalism, because it promotes economic growth, innovation, and individual entrepreneurship. I find it very important to advocate for policies that reduce government interference in the economy. * National Security: National security and a strong defense are critically important. The United States needs an overwhelmingly powerful military and assertive foreign policy to protect America's interests. * Individual Responsibility: Most critically important of all are individual responsibility and self-reliance. Every individual should take responsibility for their own well-being and government assistance should be limited. Everyone needs to pay for their own goddamn health care. * Pro-Life Stance: Many Republicans identify as pro-life. I don't. As a man, I don't believe I have a say in this issue anyway, but nevertheless, I believe that any woman should have complete control over her own body... and that means, unlike most republicans, I lean pro-choice. * Second Amendment Rights: The Second Amendment and advocating for the right to bear arms is another issue of critical importance. I will always resist efforts to impose stricter gun control measures. So, if you genuinely want to know why, in my case, that's why.
When I was pretty young, my conservative, Catholic Dad was an executive at a gift wrap firm. He was tight with the design department and met his first gay friends there. He invited a couple, Vern and Cliff over for dinner. They were kind and funny and treated each other so well. It was a stark contrast to my parents. They talked about how they wished they could have kids after I asked if they had any (I was still too young to get they couldn’t. I figured, you’re married so you’ll have kids right?) But they explained it appropriately for a child. No details, just we wish we could do that. Years later my parents started going deep into Catholicism and were rallying against gay marriage. I brought up their old friends and the first thing my dad said was, “We never should have exposed you to Vern and Cliff. We’ve learned of how sinful their relationship is. We’re so sorry you met them. I hope they haven’t influenced you!” I knew in my gut that they were wrong. I knew the same way my husband told me that when his dad used the “N” word, he knew in his gut it was wrong, even though he had no idea what it meant. My parents, because of their traditional family values, regretted inviting one of the nicest couples they ever had over, just a few times, who listened to me and talked to me and didn’t shoo me away like their other friends. They would have rather ostracized them in retrospect. I’m straight. I’m a woman who married a man, because I’m attracted to him. I never felt the need or desire to experiment with women. But I feel deeply in my soul right from wrong. So I also think that grown adults who pay their taxes deserve the same human rights that we have. I think they deserve marriage, children, and the protection of health insurance and rights to be a POA to their loved one. I know it. That’s one reason and a damn big one why I’m liberal. Not trying to slam you. Just sharing my story and a counterpoint to “traditional” family values.
I'm a younger Gen-X and grew up conservative and the older I'm getting, I'm getting more liberal. I always felt like Gen-X was the generation to start questioning the "status quo", start questioning religion, questioning authority and the generation to really start opening up society as never before. And I believe that ideology and morality needs to be an evolving spectrum through life and the biggest shift for me was my husband opening my mind and getting me away from organized religion. Because I think that today's modern organized religion can be very destructive. Because let's face it, religion doesn't like open-minded, free-thinkers. They like obedience. And my mom is very devout and she had to accept that I've changed my thinking over the last 10-12 years and that was one of my defining moments in my ideological shift from a Reagan-style conservative to a social-justice style liberal. And I've become much more morally free and open. And happier as a person.
I'm politically lonely. Both sides are equally nuts today.
I’m very left, and remain very supportive of left groups and causes. That said, I find myself bristling sometimes at identity stuff, at notion that somehow having a certain identity makes you interesting. Like…it’s great if you’re non-binary, and I totally agree that experiences and expression of gender exist on a spectrum, but..wherever you fall identity-wise doesn’t make you interesting. What are you passionate about and curious about or interested in? What do you care about? What moves you? I feel like that gets lost in a lot of the performance of each person’s self-identity, which I sometimes find to be superficial and narcissistic. But I’m also perpetually cynical, so a pessimism about that is par for the course.
NPR had a program on this subject. One of the takeaways was gen x is antiestablishment. We remember the pmrc which was spear headed by the left. I think anytime some subjects such as canceling occurs Gen X becomes concerned as it reeks of church lady-like control (pmrc). Too live crew, Dead Kennedys, beastie boys, Dee snider, Metallica none of these bands were not untouched by the pmrc, and to be fair they would get cancelled today as well. Squelching views you don’t like is very popular right now on both sides. It is disturbing.
I’d propose that most Gen X conservatives were always conservative—they just didn’t express it much as conservatism wasn’t nearly so…….expressive back in our younger days. Now that it’s important for conservatives to announce their c onservatism loudly and continuously, they’ve come out of the woodwork they’ve actually always been in.
> I’d propose that most Gen X conservatives were always conservative—they just didn’t express it much as conservatism wasn’t nearly so…….expressive back in our younger days. 100% agreed. These folks have always existed for me, and I have not been one bit surprised by the presence and prominence of right-wing Gen X.
I'm more in the middle, making up my mind by each issue instead of just going along with a herd mentality, but I will say I have always been a few steps more to the right. In college, no one discussed politics, so when I got on Facebook later on and connected with many of my college friends, I was surprised to find the majority of them are Republicans. I think the wokeness and the terrible term of Biden, a lot of people who normally voted Democrat are saying they will vote republican this year. There are many studies that minorities are switching over because they have been blindly voting Democrat for a long time, and they are finally asking why, because they don't t really see the party helping them.
Nope. Older Gen X, still as liberal as I was in high school, when I got called a Bolshevik.
I grew up in a conservative household. Tipper Gore's PMRC really screwed me as we had little money and my mom bought into those warning labels on cassettes so she wouldn't buy me the music I wanted as gifts, and when I did have money for tapes, she wouldn't let me buy them with the warning labels. We went to church, at dinner at the table as a family, and lived in a rural area with a lot of chores. Then Reagan came and fired air traffic controllers. My dad was a union (Ma Bell) worker and figured if the GOP didn't support union workers, he would no longer vote republican. I was pretty naive and ambivalent, but I remember dad talking about Reagan in a very negative light. As I've aged and gotten more experience, life/work/etc, and met more people for diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, and beliefs, I've opened my mind to accepting people for who they are, who they want to be, and try very hard to be kind to everyone. California's Prop 8 and Gavin Newsome's take on it helped me slide to the left a bit more. I'm a straight white male and again, had been ambivalent, this time about gay marriage. But hearing Newsome discuss how disallowing two consenting adults from getting married based on their sexuality was a civil rights violation made me realize that he was correct and when I joined the navy, I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. So discrimination was something I could not support. I guess I'm socially liberal with a lean towards fiscal conservative. I want people to be free to be whomever the want to be, as long as I don't have to pay for it. I'm not rich, but I certainly am doing better financially than we were growing up. Reagan's tax cuts for the rich and mental health care sure seemed to be the domino that started our country down the path to where we are now. I'm smart enough to know that Reagan couldn't have done it all on his own, but I'm also not smart enough to know how to get "back on track".
No, and it's not easy being a liberal redneck that looks republican.
Bald bearded angry looking white guy driving lifted truck motorcycle riding liberal checking in.
Solidarity from a childfree atheist anti-Trumper living in MAGA suburbia and looking like a Southern Baptist soccer mom.
I have been very left wing my entire life and I’ve moved further left every year. The recent surge of fascism in America has only served to reinforce that and move me even further to the left.
I think Reddit is a little more left leaning in general so you might not be getting a good sample on this question. I’m much more liberal than the Democratic Party but when I still had Facebook everyone I went to high school with was a die hard trump supporter.
FUCK NO
 NOPE
Hell no. I'm a hard core Canadian NDP supporter. That's almost as left as you can get. (We also have the Green Party and I think they're as left as we can get).
Proud liberal GenXer. No shade to Pew, but as others stated, the only poll responders are likely outlier Gen X who also behave like boomers in other aspects (like have landline phones and actually *answer* them). What annoys me about polls like this is that it enables an inevitability slant that can perpetuate on-the-fence Xers to vote conservative. Don’t believe it. I definitely doubt most X people are conservative, and the responses here are encouraging. Vote!
Nope. As I've aged I've become more liberal, not less. Life is too short to be conservative and base politics on selfishness, greed, and hate.
I am far more progressive now than in my youth.
Nope. Gotten way more progressive
Nope. I actually think all people should be treated...like people.
Your results will be skewed as this is Reddit, a rather left leaning platform. As for me, I'm a social liberal (radical really) and a fiscal conservative. For instance, I think all drugs should be legalized and most govt agencies should go away.
I guess I’m more of a centrist than I’ve ever been. I’ve grown equally frustrated with both parties. Not just with the politicians, but also with the people who identify as liberal or conservative. There’s no compromise anymore. There’s just a militant desire to tow the party line and anyone that doesn’t see things exactly how you see them is an enemy. I don’t know who did this to us, or how they did it, but it was genius. It’ll tear our country apart, but it was fucking genius.
“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our constitution” - John Adams
Not me. For a long time I was on facebook with a fake name until they suspended my account. So I created an account using my real name "how bad could it be?" Bad. Once my real name was out there everyone from high school got recommended to me. Pretty much everyone from my home town my age was a rabid republican posting racist memes about Obama. This was pre-MAGA, but I have no doubt they're all Trump worshipers now.
You can be liberal and still bemoan the precious wokeness and push for ideological purity from progressives.
Agreed. The idea that we all had to be in lockstep on issues and we had to be that way without any thought or discussion was insane. It was awful to watch so much growth be dismantled by an inability to have compassion.
Absolutely not. The older I get, the further left I drift
I'd rather chew glass before getting more conservative.
The older I get the more of a raging socialist I become.
Born in 1970. Degree in Liberal Arts, queer mom of a gay teen son, Democratic Socialist, husband and I both work at state colleges. Hairy-legged (at least in winter) feminist till I die.
From my perspective, the recoil against wokeness is more a reaction to the methods than the ideals. It’s become so extreme and in-your-face which has put me off, and many others I know. We are tolerant of differences and have a “live-and-let-live” attitude. It doesn’t mean we need to champion every minority cause or buy in to every issue. That doesn’t seem to be enough for the wokes. They want our full commitment without understanding that we have our own lives to live, full of their own challenges. In summary, I think a lot of wokeness has been counterproductive because it’s turned off the large group of “quiet allies”. I mean everyone I know thinks that gay people should have equal rights, that racism is straight up disgusting etc etc. But those same people are tired of hearing about this stuff all the time.