In a week marked by tragedy and reflection, the killing of Charlie Kirk—the far-right activist and founder of Turning Point USA—at Utah Valley University has cast a fresh spotlight on the deep and growing divides among America’s youngest adults. While Kirk’s death has shaken the conservative movement and university communities alike, a new NBC News Decision Desk poll of Gen Z adults, published just days before the incident, reveals a generation fractured not only along political lines but also by gender, especially when it comes to defining success, family, and the future of American society.
Kirk, who was 31 at the time of his death, never completed his college degree—a point he often wielded as both a badge of honor and a weapon against what he saw as the elitism of higher education. According to The Guardian, Kirk told California governor Gavin Newsom earlier this year, "I didn't even graduate community college. I represent most of the country. Actually, still, the majority of the country does not have a college degree and if I may, you know, bluntly critique the Democratic party, you guys have become so college-credentialed and educated that you guys snobbishly look on the muscular class of this country."
From his parents’ garage in suburban Chicago, Kirk launched Turning Point USA in 2012, quickly building it into a conservative juggernaut with more than 900 chapters nationwide. The group, which calls itself the nation’s largest youth movement, became notorious for its aggressive campus activism, including the creation of a “professor watchlist” and a relentless campaign against diversity initiatives and what Kirk called “woke indoctrination.” As The Guardian reports, Kirk’s style was unapologetically combative—he saw faculty and students with opposing views as "enemies to be defeated," according to Isaac Kamola, a political science professor at Trinity College.
Kirk’s murder, which occurred during a campus event, has left many on edge. Katie Gaddini, a Stanford University history professor, observed, "There is now proof in the minds of a lot of young conservatives that they are persecuted for their views on college campuses." The loss is felt not only by those who agreed with Kirk’s politics, but also by those who worry that such violence will deepen existing rifts and chill the already fraught environment for teaching and learning. "Even if we disagree, the project of teaching and learning, and pursuing knowledge, is fundamentally threatened by violence," Kamola emphasized.
Yet, even before Kirk’s death, the NBC News poll was highlighting just how divided Gen Z has become. The survey, which focused on adults aged 18 to 29, found that young men and women—especially when filtered by political affiliation—are charting dramatically different courses in life. Among young men who voted for Donald Trump, "having children" topped the list of what they saw as personal success. In stark contrast, for young women who voted for Kamala Harris, having children ranked 12th out of 13 possible choices, just above "fame and influence" and just below "being married."
These differences are not simply a matter of preference but reflect a broader realignment of values. Twenty-six percent of Trump-voting women and 34 percent of Trump-voting men listed "having children" as a key success marker, compared to just 6 percent of Harris-voting women and 9 percent of Harris-voting men. For liberal young people, the gap is much narrower: both men and women who voted for Harris prioritized career fulfillment, financial stability, helping others, and emotional maturity as central to their definitions of success.
But while the poll revealed that only about one in five young women say they do not want children, nearly half do, and about a third remain unsure. The real story, according to Slate, is not a wholesale rejection of family but a shift in what parenthood and marriage mean to young adults—especially women. For many, especially those on the political left, children and marriage are seen as components of a good life, but not as achievements that define personal success.
Interestingly, the poll’s data suggests that it is conservative men who are the outliers, placing a premium on traditional markers like marriage and children, even as conservative women appear to prioritize professional and financial stability. Among Trump-voting young women, 40 percent selected "financial independence" as important to their definition of success; the next most popular choice—having a fulfilling job or career—was chosen by just 32 percent. Home ownership and spiritual grounding also ranked higher than marriage and children for these women.
This mismatch is already having real-world consequences. Gen Z Republicans are predominantly male, with men outnumbering women by nearly two to one—the widest partisan gender gap of any age group. As Slate points out, conservative men looking for marriage and children face a shrinking pool of potential partners, both because there are fewer young right-wing women and because many liberal women are wary of men who may not support their independence or reproductive rights.
Underlying these trends is a broader cultural battle—one that Kirk himself helped fuel. Turning Point USA, under his leadership, not only targeted what it saw as leftist overreach on campus, but also sought to mobilize young conservatives around a vision of American life that is increasingly at odds with the values of their peers. Matthew Boedy, a professor of English at the University of North Georgia, told The Guardian, "What Turning Point did was take the traditional, old ways of conservatives fighting the culture war and translated it into millennial speak." The group now boasts more high school chapters than college ones and has "incubated" more than 350 right-wing influencers, expanding its reach well beyond the university setting and even into international arenas.
Yet, the consequences of these ideological and gender divides are not limited to politics. The NBC News poll and related research highlight that college-educated fathers—who tend to be more liberal—spend an average of 3.7 hours per week on necessary caregiving, compared to just 1.9 hours for fathers without a college degree. Moreover, only 10 percent of college-educated dads live apart from their children, versus 27 percent of those without degrees. These disparities reflect not only differences in values but also in the lived realities of family life, stability, and involvement.
As the dust settles on a tumultuous week, the intertwined stories of Charlie Kirk’s rise and fall and the generational divide over life’s priorities paint a portrait of a country at a crossroads. The challenge ahead, for both the left and the right, may not be simply to win arguments or elections, but to find common ground in the values and aspirations that will shape the next chapter of American life.
