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Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk tells Gen Z voters 'Trump is going to deliver for you'

Co-founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk speaks following the inauguration of President Trump during an event at Capital One Arena.
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Co-founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk speaks following the inauguration of President Trump during an event at Capital One Arena.

In short remarks at Capital One Arena, far-right millennial activist Charlie Kirk singled out young voters, a group that Democrats lost serious ground with last fall.

"To all the young people of America and Gen Z, I want you to know President Trump is going to deliver for you. So that you could be able to own a home, have big families, believe in this country," he said.

"The American Dream that your parents once had, you will also be able to enjoy," he added.

Kirk runs Turning Point USA — which focuses on getting young people involved with conservative politics. The action wing of Turning Point also helped run Trump's on-the-ground organizing strategy during the campaign.

Kirk's remarks come at an interesting time for youth politics. While Trump did not win a majority of those under 30 last fall, he did make noticeable gains compared to 2020 and 2016.

It's a voting bloc that has been seen as a solid, albeit historically unreliable, part of the Democratic base. That said, during the campaign, some young people told NPR they were feeling dissatisfied with the Democratic party.

The 2024 exit polls highlighted the striking changes among young voters. In 2020, Joe Biden won young voters by a 24-point margin. This past year, former Vice President Harris secured the vote by just eight points.

Trump made even larger gains in some swing states, particularly Michigan, where he narrowly won a majority of the under-30 vote. (Four years earlier, he lost young voters in Michigan by more than 20 points.)

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Elena Moore is a production assistant for the NPR Politics Podcast. She also fills in as a reporter for the NewsDesk. Moore previously worked as a production assistant for Morning Edition. During the 2020 presidential campaign, she worked for the Washington Desk as an editorial assistant, doing both research and reporting. Before coming to NPR, Moore worked at NBC News. She is a graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and is originally and proudly from Brooklyn, N.Y.