(LifeSiteNews) — Gen Z male Trump supporters view “having children” as the most important indicator of “success,” according to a new poll from SurveyMonkey and NBC News.
The survey of nearly 3,000 young adults age 18-29 asked a series of questions about politics, work, and life goals.
In particular, the question about what it means to have success highlighted differences not just between liberal female voters and male conservatives but also between young male Republicans and young female Republicans.
Respondents were able to pick their top three choices from a list of 13 measures of success. “Where the cultural differences between Gen Z men and women get particularly stark is when the breakdown includes who they voted for in the 2024 election,” NBC News noted in an analysis article.
Female Harris voters picked “having a job or career you find fulfilling,” the most, followed by “having enough money to do the things you want to do,” and finally, “having emotional stability.” Note the survey included a separate option, “achieving financial independence” which is similar to “having enough money do the things you want to do.”
Among their least chosen answers were “being married” and “having children.”
Male Trump supporters also picked this option and “having a job or career you find fulfilling.”
However, female Trump supporters did not rank having children, and thus a family, as high as their male counterparts. Rather, they sometimes answered the questions more like liberal females than male conservatives.
Our NBC News Decision Desk poll asked Gen Z adults (18-29 years old) what they consider important to a successful life. The combination of gender and politics produced two very different sets of priorities: pic.twitter.com/xvm0t4IKaT
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) September 8, 2025
The top six answers for female Trump supporters were: “Achieving financial independence,” “having a job or career you find fulfilling,” “owning your own home,” “being spiritually grounded,” and “having enough money to do the things you want to do.” Last among the top six was “having children,” highlighting a split even between conservative Gen Z’ers.
Notably, the results undercut previous claims that Gen Z is too focused on social media and becoming a YouTube star or other social media “influencer.” The one thing all four groups agree on is that “fame and influence” is the lowest measure of success among the 13 options.
Women also selected “emotional stability” as an important measure of success, which shows another divide between men and women.
“In general, how often do you feel anxious or worried about the future,” the poll asked.
Among all men, 19% said “all the time” and 33% of women picked this option. Another 33% of women picked “most of the time,” meaning two-thirds of women are usually anxious about the future.
Meanwhile, 39% of men said they are “sometimes” anxious about the future.
‘Tells you everything you need to know’
Social media commentators weighed in on the results with a variety of thoughts, although most focused on the lack of interest among young female liberals, or women in general, in having kids.
“Having children was the most important thing to men,” Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh wrote on X. “It was least important to women. Tells you everything you need to know.”
“Harris voting women are literally what’s wrong with America,” conservative commentator Marc Thiessen wrote.
But another conservative pointed out it’s not just “Harris voting women.”
“Interesting that children were still considerably lower on the list, behind financial stability etc, for women who voted for Trump,” Inez Stepman with the Independent Women’s Forum wrote on X.
Interesting that children were still considerably lower on the list, behind financial stability etc, for women who voted for Trump pic.twitter.com/JuDqkmJwXI
— Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) September 8, 2025
Other commentators have previously offered their own thoughts on why young men are becoming more conservative.
“These guys spent their formative years navigating an unprecedented social experiment — COVID lockdowns; DEI struggle sessions; pronouns, micro-aggressions, land acknowledgements, intersectional justice — and, as a demographic, they simply snapped,” Robert Sterling wrote, commenting on research this summer that found young men are shifting to the political right.
“They stopped fearing cancellation, they realized black marks on social credit scores don’t leave permanent stains, and they started owning — rather than futilely trying to defend against — the accusations of villainy they had suffered since a young age.”
