During the last election, BBC claimed Conservatives gained 44% more votes among Canadians aged 18-34 than the Liberals, which was a higher gain compared to Canadians aged 34+. This has shown a larger trend of younger folks becoming more right wing than their parents were, at the same age. A question is asked of why this trend is happening, and why it seems to be a global phenomenon.
The first factor to look at is the status quo. Many countries are facing economic hardship with signs of recession. This is causing many people to lose trust in their leaders as they blame them for the hard times they face and are desperate for a change. Since most countries were liberal during the Covid-19 era, this led to right-wing powers gaining influence worldwide as they blame the leftists for the recession. However, this is more of a general trend of people voting for opposite parties rather than voting for a right-wing party. This is evident since in the last election cycle, all governing parties were voted out. In the USA, the Republicans beat the Democrats; in the UK, Labour beat the Conservatives; and in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) beat the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Exceptions can be seen in Canada and Australia which kept the governing parties due to resentment of Donald Trump, causing a surge in left-wing activity. However, before Trump got elected into power, it was clear that the left-wing party in both countries would be replaced by right-wing parties instead. This desperate need for change is likely the largest reason for an increase in right-wing activity, but there are more.
I firmly believe another culprit is the rise in populism. Populism is a political approach to rally the public against what is considered the establishment. When Trump was shot, he ignored that the shooter was also right-wing, and instead framed himself to be seen as being a radical who will change America and that those in power are evil, and will kill him to stop him. He even posed after getting shot to act as a symbol of liberty– even if he really wasn’t.
Another example is Marine Le Pen, who was banned from running office in France during the 2027 election due to embezzling European Union funds, a crime which everyone in the EU has committed. Her party has made a martyr out of her, and sentimentality to her party has grown as people are convinced her party is being silenced for speaking out. This populism has created a sense of radicalism and change in these right-wing parties that attract the youth who are desperate for change.
One last factor to consider is how the decrease of university and college degrees has led to a right-wing boom. The more educated a person is, the more left-leaning they tend to be, with university and college students tending to be majority left-leaning. However, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Britain and the Michigan Journal of Economics (MJE) in America, university enrollment rates are going down. This decrease in university enrollment is due to the economic stress of paying for tuition, and how a degree is perceived as being less valuable than before. Education leads to people being more open about multiculturalism as well as gaining better critical thinking skills, allowing them to be less swayed by populism and other such tactics used by right-wing parties.
Overall, while I personally am left-leaning myself, I believe there are a wide variety of reasons as to why right-wing sentiments are surging in popularity right now, ranging from the status quo, populism, to education. I hope that in the future a new surge of left-wing sentimentality occurs and this phase of global politics shifts.
Photo Credits: Bal D.
THE NORTH STAR 