The Great Gen Z Divide

I am on my way to Houston to speak to 100 CEOs tonight at a Russell Reynolds leadership dinner. The topic is Trust, the Descent into Grievance, based on our stunning 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer report that we issued in January. The killing of Charlie Kirk last week has appalled the nation and the world. Tonight, I want to explain this incident in the context of young people—the anger that plagues them, the disinformation that incites them, and the isolation that provokes them.

The Edelman Trust Institute and Edelman Gen Z lab have just released a report on The Great Gen Z Divide that sheds light on a new reality, the emergence of two separate Gen Z cohorts, Gen Z 1.0 ages 23-29 and Gen Z 2.0 ages 13-22. The age split was first identified by Gen Z journalist Rachel Janfaza, who runs The Up and Up. She said, “Our generation has been bifurcated into sub-groups, those who graduated high school and were young adults pre-Covid (Gen Z 1.0) and those who grew up during Covid (Gen Z 2.0).

Here are the key findings of the special report which focuses on the U.S.:

1. Gen Z 1.0 came of age during the Trump presidency, and were eager leaders of the Trump-backlash, including Covid-era progressive movements such as BLM and climate strikes. They are frustrated with the status quo but want to partner with institutions to create change. They trust until proven wrong. Their key platforms are Instagram and X. They are participatory and community oriented. They are values led and eager for action.
2. Gen Z 2.0 came of age during the Biden presidency, and were disillusioned by Covid-19 restrictions, inflation, and accelerated social change. They are frustrated with the status quo and disillusioned by institutions, often opting out of social movements. They are skeptical until proven otherwise. Their key platforms are TikTok and Discord, with frequent Reddit usage. They are individualistic, tone-sensitive, meme-native, and quick to disengage.
3. The political leanings of the sub-groups have moved in different directions. The Gen Z 1.0 group favors Democrats. Sixty percent, globally, trust government to do the right thing. In sharp contrast, Gen Z 2.0 favors Republicans by 12 points; this is especially true of white men under 20. And less than half, globally, (47 percent) trust government to do the right thing.
4. Gen Z 2.0 is more skeptical of sources to give accurate information about a brand, at least 6 points less trusting in a ‘customer like me’, customer reviews, journalists, and a Brand’s CEO, than their older Gen Z 1.0 counterparts. A key example of this is what they think about journalists: trusted 67 percent by Gen Z 1.0 and only 56 percent by Gen Z 2.0 to give them accurate information about a brand.
5. Gen Z 2.0 is doing platform-preferred learning. More than half of college students say they learn more from TikTok than they do in school, signifying a reliance on video content over traditional experts. Gen Z 2.0 is also using Peer Processing, interpreting online information together, aligning with concurrent, more extreme viewpoints that emerge in their feeds.
6. There are gender divides as well. Gen Z has the largest gender gap on equality, with Gen Z men 21 points less likely to support feminism than Gen Z women. This is partly attributable to media platform choices, with the TikTok algorithm funneling teen boys to anti-feminist content within nine minutes of scrolling through the app, according to Dublin City University.
7. The context for this discontent is deep financial insecurity, with nearly three quarters of Gen Z reporting difficulty in paying bills and keeping up with inflation — and significant increases in stress about this situation since 2023. According to Bank of America, over half of Gen Z spend zero money on dating. For many, diplomas are no longer the dream, with 77 percent of Gen Z saying the college path is outdated and half of Gen Z men now considering trade careers instead of college.

We need to do a reset with this generation. That means listening harder, proving trust in action and addressing the economic realities they face. It also means creating space for optimism and engaging younger generations in building a world they want to live in. There is hope in the findings around Gen Alpha, those born between 2010 and 2024. Sixty percent of Gen Alpha prefers to go to the movies instead of streaming content at home. The same percentage of Gen Alpha say that they prefer to discover something new in person. And Gen Alpha is 30 percent less likely to share content or opinions online, even as they scroll and consume at a higher rate. Utah Governor Spencer Cox had it exactly right in his comments over the weekend: “Get out and feel the grass under your feet.”

Richard Edelman is CEO.