Is there a GenZ 2.0?

I've seen quite a few reports on the internet observing (or lamenting) the fact that young Americans can no longer be expected to adopt a liberal/progressive viewpoint.  Lots of reasons have been proposed, with no concrete data to explain the phenomenon.

The current issue of Harvard Magazine has an article entitled How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard:
Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.  Herewith some salient excerpts:

Harvard, like many American universities, has long been seen as a bastion of liberalism. In its attacks on the University, the Trump administration has often pointed to a lack of ideological diversity on campus—a charge that even Harvard’s own leadership has conceded, at least in part, by launching formal efforts to address it.

But whatever you think you know about the politics of Harvard’s faculty, its student body is an increasingly different story—one that reflects a broader shift in Gen Z politics. In poll after poll, the youngest members of Gen Z have shown a surprising conservative tilt. In the last presidential election, a Democratic polling group found, white men under 20 voted for Trump at higher rates than those in their late-20s—and at higher rates than white baby boomer men. And the latest Yale Youth Poll revealed a whopping 18-point partisan gap between voters aged 18 to 21—who leaned Republican by 11.7 points—and those aged 22 to 29, who leaned Democrat by 6.4 points.

In April, a theory about this shift went viral on X.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again,” Rachel Janfaza ’20, an analyst focused on youth politics, wrote. “There really are two Gen Zs.” Her post included a graphic contrasting “Gen Z 1.0,” the liberal-leaning older cohort, with “Gen Z 2.0,” their younger, more conservative peers.

According to Janfaza, the pandemic marked a dividing line. Older Gen Zers were in college when it hit, able to quarantine with roommates and friends; younger ones were still in high school, isolated at home. The two cohorts also came of age in different political climates: Gen Z 1.0 came up during Trump’s first presidency, when resistance meant protesting at the Women’s March or walking out of school for climate action. Gen Z 2.0 grew up under President Joe Biden—disillusioned with institutions, skeptical of pandemic rules, and more likely to lean into contrarian conservatism.

Now, Gen Z 2.0 is filling college campuses around the country, including at Harvard. They’re revitalizing conservative institutions, shifting the boundaries of campus discourse, and getting ready to shape national politics.

Much more at the link.  Please at least browse it before waxing eloquent in the Comments with your own theories.