I'm around your age so maybe I could talk about what conservatives think since I live in a far more conservative area than NYC - a suburban bedroom community in western Pennsylvania.
I've often found in school, many of my liberal friends talk about large issues like climate change and economic inequality in very pessimistic and looming terms, whereas conservatives tend to be less attached to political issues. For Conservatives, it's almost like an "ignorance is bliss" situation.
Well, for many young Conservatives - "conservatism" is the counterculture to what people see as liberal hypocrisy and out of touch elitism being forced onto them.
Conservatives are more likely to come from a distinct religious or cultural community that gives them greater default friend/family/support circles. Anecdotal again, but in my NYC high school, I found most Conservative kids were part of a clear ethnic/religious enclave like Jewish, Italian, Muslim, or specific Asian ethnicity that set them up with a very distinct and close-knit friend friend group and life activities outside of school. Since many liberal whites are non-religious and don't strongly associate with an ethnic faction, they don't have that default community and are less likely to have a close friend group and stuff. I think liberal whites tending to live in large cities further exasperates this, cause a smaller neighborhood can provide a distinct community that a large city doesn't really have.
Yeah I can see the importance of "community" leading someone to more conservative as the conservatives I know tend to be more religious than the few liberals I know who are religiously apathetic or don't talk about religion. Also, for people our age - I notice that those who participate in sports - typically are more conservative than someone who doesn't participate in any sports - there is this sort of a "sports culture" which is conservative.
4. This is sort of the complement of point 2, but people who live worse lives and struggle with issues like poverty, extreme discrimination, health issues, ect are more likely to vote Dem because the Dem Party offers them help. On the flip side, the Republican Party advocates for minimal government intervention, so of course people who feel they are doing fine or good in life are more likely to vibe with that messaging.
Also, the idea that the Democratic Party is enforcing stuff upon them - like the idea of the Democratic Party being politically correct and forcing their agenda on everyone. Also people I know think that Biden/Fetterman is mentally incapable and the like and the Democratic Party is forcing them to serve in office.
Either way, I've noticed there's a looming sort of pessimism amongst many younger liberals in the way they discuss different issues that I don't think is healthy. I think many try to attach themselves too deeply to these large structural problems, and don’t do the hard work of actually brainstorming realistic and creative solutions to these serious problems so it's just a doom circle. I also think in some cases, liberals have normalized discussing mental health too much to the point where every little issue someone has is validated, and there's less emphasis on trying to fix your own problems.
Yeah I agree with you, there should be more positivity in our lives and people should realize that they live good lives which many can only dream of and about the positives of life.
On the Conservative side, I think there needs to be more acceptance that mental health exists, especially amongst conservative men. I do agree with the idea many conservatives have that in general, men address their issues differently, and most of the mental health/therapy systems we have in place are geared more for women, but I haven't seen a lot of action by Conservatives advocating for different ways to address mental health in men. Also, some Conservatives need to stop talking down to people who have mental health issues cause they are typically genuine; depression doesn't have to be "justified" by life circumstances to be legitimate.
Yeah I agree with you on this but it is hard to address mental health in men when mental health is directed to women and part of it is sort of on the person.
In a weird way, I’m unhappy that things such as social media, modern schooling, increasingly competitive college admissions, and so on, have made kids so much more politically engaged and involved from such a young age. Generally, political involvement is a good thing, but I think in many cases, it contributes to my generations poor mental health and relative lack of independence, especially since most teenagers understanding of political issue is going to be pretty superficial reguardless. I know for myself, as young as 6 grade we were constantly discussing modern American political issues in class, but it’s only recently I’ve had the mental capabilities to create more nuanced positions.
Well in my experience I didn't really talk politics aside from superficial "oh I support X for President" until the past year (9th grade), and I think maybe this could be because you live in New York City and I live in a suburban bedroom community in Western Pennsylvania in a mostly Republican area.
