After the US election nights in 2016 and 2024, my peers had the same reaction: Donald Trump could never win here in Singapore. Many of us joked about the state of American politics and their education system. But are these jokes masking a deeper complacency?
While it’s easy to dismiss the possibility of a Singaporean “Trump”, the role Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — played in Trump’s return to the White House should give us pause.
There was a time when there was much optimism surrounding America’s Gen Z. A 2018 Pew Research Center study found the group to be as socially liberal, if not more, than Millennials.
Thirty-five percent of Gen Zs said that they personally knew someone who preferred gender-neutral pronouns, compared to 25 percent of Millennials.
Nationwide, 62 percent of Gen Zs said that increasing racial and ethnic diversity is a good thing, one percentage point higher than Millennials.
Even Gen Z Republicans — a party known to be more socially conservative — were more likely than older generations to acknowledge racial biases against Black Americans.
Given these findings, one would expect that when it came to the 2024 election, Gen Z voters will oppose Trump, whose populist rhetoric and socially conservative policies starkly contrast these values.
Source: Axios
Yet, in the 2024 election, Trump performed better than expected. While Kamala Harris did beat him by six points among the 18–29 age group, exit polls showed that 56 percent of young men in this group voted for Trump.
Even among young women, support for Trump rose from 33 percent in 2020 to 40 percent in 2024.
Political scientist Melissa Deckman attributed this shift to two factors: the Democrats not having a convincing economic message and Trump direct engagement with young voters, such as through his appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, whose audience is overwhelmingly young and male.
Economic concerns also played a decisive role on why he gained ground overall with Gen Zs.
Exit polls from NBC News showed that the economy was the top issue for young voters, and those who ranked it as such voted overwhelmingly for Trump, citing his economic policies as more convincing.
America’s 2024 election thus sent a message: even though Gen Zs might be socially liberal, their views can be set aside when economic worries dominate — even if Trump’s populist agenda often does more harm than good.
Bread-and-butter issues matter, even to the so-called “woke” generation.
Populist policies like Trump’s resonate with the masses by addressing widespread and pressing issues faced by the ‘common people’ rather than the ‘elite few’. However, such policies are often impractical and potentially damaging in the long run.
In classic populist style, Trump simply told people what they wanted to hear, and economically vulnerable Gen Z voters propelled him back to the White House.
We might think that populism would not take root here, and for good reason.
Populist policies tend to be better received by people who do not trust their political system and government, and the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer showed that while Americans distrust their government, Singaporeans generally do.
His remarks were aimed at the Workers’ Party (WP), though WP leader Pritam Singh defended his party’s proposals as responsible policymaking while agreeing with the risks of populism.
These concerns are not unfounded.
In a poll conducted by Answers.sg, 65 percent of 3,057 respondents indicated they would have voted for Donald Trump if given the chance.
Conversely, only 20 percent said they would have voted for Democrat candidate Kamala Harris.
Source: Answers.sg
Some rumblings in the form of anti-immigrant sentiment have also begun to show themselves.
For instance, Progress Singapore Party’s Leong Mun Wai, a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, questioned the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, claiming it allowed Indian professionals to displace Singaporean workers.
He stressed that his party wanted to protect “Singapore’s jobs and livelihoods”. While not explicitly so, such anti-immigrant messaging — which suggests negatively impacted Singaporeans’ economic opportunities — has parallels with populism in the West.
Gen Z here has generally shown more positive attitudes toward immigrants. An Institute of Policy Studies report highlighted younger Singaporeans’ openness to foreigners.
However, Trump’s victory in 2024 shows how quickly economic anxiety can override these values — and we are already seeing signs of such uncertainty.
PM Wong appears to recognise this.
In the wake of Trump’s win, he addressed Singaporeans’ concerns over rising costs and pledged action in Budget 2025.
If these measures fail to successfully inspire confidence, there’s a risk that public trust in the government could erode, opening the door for a populist leader to gain traction, even with the Gen Z population.
Source: Lawrence Wong on Facebook
This isn’t to suggest that only our mainstream political parties know what is right for Singapore, or that any politician claiming to have the policies benefitting the everyday Singaporean is a populist lying through their teeth.
Gen Zs here also differ from their American counterparts in a multitude of ways.
Still, global economic uncertainty makes it unwise to assume that Singapore’s Gen Z is immune to populist messaging.
A silver-tongued populist with a crack media team could find his way into the economically worried hearts and minds of the ever-valuable ‘youth vote’.
Engaging Gen Zs through an app, social media, or appealing to their socially liberal values alone won’t be enough. Our politicians must focus on bread-and-butter issues, even with the progressive Gen Zs.
Maximilian Oh is a fourth-year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore reading political science and philosophy.
Also read: Commentary: Trump 2.0 won’t be that bad for S’pore — here’s why
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Featured image adapted from Axios and Lawrence Wong on Facebook for illustration purposes only.
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