Why Gen Z are turning to the political right across Europe…

Far-right parties are surging across Europe and a new generation of young supporters are starting to stand with them.

In Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany and Finland younger voters are increasingly turning to parties with anti-immigration and anti-establishment policies, according to research on young people’s political preferences.

Young people showed their support in both European and national elections back in June for far-right parties such as Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany, Rassemblement National (National Rally) in France, Vox in Spain, the Brothers of Italy, Chega (Enough) in Portugal, Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) in Belgium and the Finns party in Finland.

This is a stark difference to the 2019 EU elections where young people voted overwhelmingly for the Green parties.

UK

Although the majority of younger voters backed the Labour Party in the 2024 General Election, many young people were seen moving to the Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage.

More voters under the age of 30 voted for Reform UK than the Conservatives in July, according to a YouGov poll.

The poll of 35,000 voters suggested that 9.5 per cent of 18 to 30-year-olds support Nigel Farage’s party while only 8 per cent voted for the Tories.

The research also suggests Reform was the third most popular party among voters aged 30 and under at the election, behind Labour and the Green Party.

Nigel Farage said “something very big” is happening among Gen Z voters who are different from the previous generation of Millennials.

Farage said: “The youth thing is really interesting. Something very big is happening. Gen Z are completely different to the Millennials.

“A large chunk of Gen Z want to get on- they want good jobs, they want to buy houses, they want to do stuff that their parents and grandparents were able to do.

“They’re quite frustrated actually. In many cases it appears to be beyond their fingertips to achieve those things.”

Farage has also garnered support from TikTok, whose user base is predominantly Gen Z and millennials, by presenting himself as a figure of fun.

On his TikTok account, Farage has garnered 915.5k followers and over 15.9 million likes.

During the election campaign Farage posted a TikTok singing the lyrics to Eminem’s rap: “Guess who’s back, back again?”

The video earned over 1 million likes and over 17k comments as users praised the candidate’s sense of humour.

France

In France, the far-right National Rally led by 28-year-old Jordan Bardella saw a rise in support from Gen Z voters.

In an Ifop poll from April, it found 32 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds said they would vote for the National Rally if elections were held the following week.

Much of this support could be attributed to Bardella’s strong presence on TikTok, with pollsters finding a third of young people said they relied on the app to follow the election campaign.

The successor to Le Pen boasts over two million followers on the social media platform and has secured over 49.2 million likes.

However, it’s important to note that Bardella is not well-liked across the board as the young MEP emerged as both the second-best liked and the second-most disliked candidate among France’s youngest voters.

Germany

The extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is using similar social media techniques to secure young voters.

Laura-Kristine Krause, the executive director of the More in Common think tank in Germany said in the lead-up to the European elections: “If you look at TikTok, the AfD has more reach than all the other parties combined.”

A “Youth in Germany” study also found a shift in the favourite party of the country’s 14 to 29-year-olds as 14.5 per cent said they would vote for the AfD.

There was also a clear gender divide with young women leaning left, and young men tending to favour right-wing parties.

Finland

The anti-immigration right-wing Finns Party came second place in Finland’s 2023 general election securing 20 per cent of the vote.

According to an analysis by Åbo Akademi University, the party was the most popular in all but the oldest age bracket.

Older voters stayed loyal to centrist parties such as the social democrats, the liberal-conservative KOK and the liberal Center Party.

As in Germany, researchers noted that the right-leaning party performed miles ahead of other parties among younger men, while young women favoured left-leaning parties and the Greens.

In Belgium, the trend is similar with the anti-immigration and separatist Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) party counting on the vote of young men.

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So, why are young people turning to the right?

Young people across the world are growing increasingly restless, frustrated and miserable.

According to the World Happiness Report 2024, young people are unhappier than older generations due to a combination of social, economic, technological and ecological pressures.

Young people are facing a steeper climb to economic prosperity than previous generations with a combination of increasing living costs and a competitive job market.

Andrea Gerosa, founder of Think Young explained “Today’s youth are unhappier than older generations,” because of the perception that “mainstream parties have failed to deliver on social issues.”

Gerosa said: “Across all EU member states, more than seven out of 10 are concerned about the cost of living; 82 per cent are worried about the threat of poverty and inequality.”

This explains “why young people are channelling these same concerns through far-right alternatives,” he said.

Furthermore, some right-wing party policies proved attractive to younger voters across Europe.

For example, Marine Le Pen’s 2022 manifesto promised to scrap taxes for the under 30s and provide financial assistance to student workers and boost student housing.

Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom in the Netherlands campaigned last year on investing in healthcare and housing.

Similarly, in Reform UK’s “contract with the people” during the 2024 General Election, Farage pledged to scrap interest on student loans and lift the income tax threshold to £20k.

Finally, social media has proved a key tool for politicians to directly communicate with younger generations, which many right-wing politicians have successfully managed.

Gerosa explained that the AFG party managed to strike a “chord with young voters with easy-to-understand messages” and the party now “reaches as many young Germans on TikTok as all the other parties put together.”

However, Gerosa stressed that it is too early to view European youth as reactionary and, instead, this should be seen as a “wake-up call that young people across Europe believe that mainstream parties are not providing good enough answers and solutions to their problems.”