Republicans Are Facing a Generational Rift

By Kate Plummer

Senior US News Reporter

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Republicans are facing a generational rift as younger members of the party move further to the right of politics.

While older members of the GOP favor establishment principles and are more willing to engage in international issues, there is evidence that newer generations have adopted more populist and isolationist views and have more radical takes on a number of issues including immigration.

No mother-son duo exemplify this trend more than Nikki Haley, the former GOP Governor of South Carolina who challenged President Donald Trump in the primary before the 2024 presidential election, and her 24-year-old son, Nalin Haley, who recently appeared on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson's show to share his political views.

While the older Haley represents a more moderate wing of the party, her son recently spoke out against immigration and American foreign policy, exemplifying the clash between the older and newer wings of the movement.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Haley by email to comment on this story.

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Why It Matters

Young people tend to swing toward the Democrats in elections, but a conservative shift among Gen Z voters proved key to Trump's success in the November 2024 elections.

According to AP VoteCast, voters ages 18 to 29 supported then Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump by 51 percent to 47 percent. This was a narrower margin than in 2020, when Joe Biden carried the same age group by 61 percent to Trump's 36 percent.

Because they are an important voting bloc, if more young people move to the right, they will influence the GOP and its policy offering as it heads into future elections, including the November 2026 midterms.

What To Know

At 53-years-old Nikki Haley, represents a more traditional brand of Republican Party politics. She is pro-Israel and supports American intervention in foreign conflicts and issues and has also supported immigration when it is legal and merit-based.

For instance, in a March 2017 speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, she declared that "the days of Israel-bashing are over" at the U.N.

Her son, however, has called to stop legal immigration altogether and has purported views that are more sympathetic to isolationism. Speaking to Carlson on Wednesday night, he said foreign students should be restricted from American universities and that naturalized citizens "should not be able to hold public office." He also criticized the concept of dual citizenship.

He also said the U.S. should stop all foreign aid to Israel and other countries. "That's part of America first," he said.

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This clash of ideas is not confined to a feuding mother and son. Indeed, a specific foreign policy area that has caused Republicans in general to butt heads is Israel. While the U.S. has traditionally supported Israel financially and militarily, some younger Republicans, have come out against doing so.

According to a March survey by the Pew Research Center, 48 percent of people have a positive view of Israel, a 15 percent decrease from 2022 when 63 percent of Republicans held this view.

Meanwhile, some figures associated with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have spoken out against Israel amid its actions in Gaza, though these figures have come from other age groups too.

For some, this criticism of Israel has gone too far. On Tuesday, right-wing commentator Laura Loomer said on X that "The GOP has a Nazi problem."

"People can get mad at me for saying this, but it’s true," she wrote, adding that while she has "no problem with people criticizing Israel" some of the commentary among Republican figures has glorified Hitler and "will cost us the midterms.

Meanwhile, Calvin Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University in Texas told Newsweek: "There is a generational rift within both political parties."

"The rift has its origins in the changing media landscape," he said. "The generation to which [Chuck] Schumer and [Mitch] McConnell belong developed their political style and worldview out of books, newspapers, and the evening news, a shared reality to which most of their generation was attuned, while the rising generation including [Zohran] Mamdani and [Nick] Fuentes learned theirs in the hothouse nether reaches of social media. It is little wonder that the older generation seems more grounded but less able to predictably reach and hold younger and irregular voters."

What People Are Saying

Nalin Haley said on Carlson's podcast: "Naturalized citizens should not be able to hold office. Growing up in America is the biggest part of understanding the country."

What Happens Next

Whether generational splits in the GOP continue in the months and years to come remains to be seen. In future election cycles, it will be the younger wing of the party vying to represent constituents, so tracking their evolving views will remain interesting for analysts and pundits.

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