Canada’s Conservatives Are Attracting Gen Z Voters. What Can Republicans Learn from Them?

The Republican party lags far behind the Democrats in attracting young voters.  What is the Canadian Conservative Party doing right and the Republican Party doing wrong? 

Polling data from Canada shows that the Conservative Party has a significant lead among Gen Zs and Millennials over Justin Trudeau’s ruling Liberal Party. 

A June 2023 Ipsos poll puts Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives at 37 percent overall compared top 32 percent for the Liberal Party. 

Importantly, Conservatives are ahead among Canadians of every generation. 

Conservatives have an 18 point lead over the Liberal Party among Gen Z and a 1 point lead among Millennials. 

This is enough for a huge swing in Canadian politics.  Like the United States, Canada has a first past-the-post electoral system control requires only winning the most seats, not a majority of the overall vote since Canada has a multiparty system.  Trudeau’s ruling Liberals only got 33 percent in the last Canadian federal election but that was sufficient to form a governing coalition.   

Contrast that with the United States.  Sixty-five percent of voters 30 and younger voted for the Democrats in 2022, up from 62 percent in 2020. 

Young voters were the key to the Democrats maintaining control of the U.S. Senate in 2022.  Were it not for younger voters, Republicans would now control both houses of Congress. 

Young people are fed up with Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and the relics governing our country.  A New York Times survey found that only one percent of 18 to 29 year-olds strongly approve of the job that Joe Biden’s been doing.  That’s one percent. 

Yet the Republican Party badly trails among younger voters and has no identifiable plans or strategy for outreach to twenty- and thirty-somethings. 

For a glimpse at what Canadian Conservatives are doing right, here’s Jordan Peterson’s interview with Pierre Poilievre

Lesson 1: Communicate.  Notice how clearly and calmly Poilievre speaks.  Contrast that with Joe Biden’s mumblings or Kamala Harris’s word salads.  Bureaucratic speak and empty talking point won’t do it.  Younger voters want leaders that communicate in language the average person can understand. 

Lesson 2: Have principles.  Poilievre’s statement on the importance of the free market is more forthright than anything that’s come from a Republican politician since Ronald Reagan.  The Republican Party needs candidates that can speak to free market economics or other conservative ideals with the same passion as Mr. Poilievre. 

Lesson 3: Be for change.  Poilievre clearly contrasts the Conservative agenda with the of the ruling Liberals.  Young Americans are looking for change too.  Surveys show that more than 90 percent of young Americans are either angry or frustrated with the federal government. 

Lesson 4: Have an agenda for younger voters.  Notice how Poilievre talks about housing costs and job opportunity—two issues of core concern for younger voters.  being against won’t do it.  The Republican Party needs an agenda that speaks specifically to the concerns of twenty- and thirty-year-old Americans. 

Republican politicians and operatives should look to Canada as a model on how to broaden the base by brining younger voters into the coalition.  If not, Republicans will find itself in the political wilderness, unable to win elections or influence the future direction of the