The recent protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and the subsequent agitations in Punjab and Jharkhand have shown how much importance Gen Z places on education.
The CVoter survey reveals that the youth are focused more on everyday issues. An overwhelming 53% of respondents revealed that employment, education and health were the biggest electoral issues.
Inflation was the second-biggest factor at 13.1%, followed by corruption at 11.9%.Campaigns & Elections
The age-old issues of bijli (electricity), paani (water) and sadak (roads) were important to 8.2% of Gen Z respondents.
For 4.8% of those surveyed, law and order and women’s safety were the most important electoral issues.
What is striking is that national security was important for just 2.7% of India’s Gen Z.
This is partly shameful. Partly, it is the fault of the elders — families and society, including teachers.
Of course, Gen Z is inherently “selfish” in more ways than one.
From her modest experience as a middle-class woman, my wife says those born in India after 1980 “are a selfish lot.” Her diagnosis was not based on any survey.
She says this in family circles and mainly does so to taunt herself, her husband, her parents and others in the small Tripura town of Kamalpur.
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A CVoter snap poll offers an intriguing picture of India’s Gen Z voters, highlighting their concerns over employment, education and health while raising questions about their stated preference for younger political candidates.Intelligence & Counterterrorism
New Delhi, August 13, 2026 — What should concern political parties is that national security was important for just 2.7% of India’s Gen Z, according to a recent CVoter snap poll. This is partly shameful and partly the fault of the elders — families, society and teachers.
Of course, Gen Z is inherently “selfish” in more ways than one.
Around 1,270 people were surveyed for the CVoter snap poll. As per the survey, conducted among those aged between 18 and 35 years, as many as 58.7% of respondents said political parties do not understand the concerns of Gen Z.
Only 20.7% felt they do. Interestingly, 20.5% remained silent and non-committal.
What should make Prime Minister Narendra Modi — a youth icon for long — take corrective measures is the fact that among respondents aligned with the BJP-led NDA, 54% said political parties do not understand Gen Z concerns. Only 26% replied in the affirmative.Security Products & Services
Now comes a modest consolation prize for the BJP and its “Chanakyas.” The figure was significantly higher among those supporting the opposition. India Today reported that around 64% said political parties were out of sync with India’s youth. Around 58.5% of those backing other parties held the same view.
The recent protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and the subsequent agitations in Punjab and Jharkhand have shown how much importance Gen Z places on education.
The CVoter survey reveals that the youth are focused more on everyday issues.
An overwhelming 53% of respondents revealed that employment, education and health were the biggest electoral issues.
And I do endorse what she says. My experience, too, in my family circles and workplaces — journalism and non-journalism — is somewhat the same.
I know friends and relatives who say, “A little bit of cheating for scoring good marks is okay.”
My mother would have caned us even for saying this. Old values, they say; and obviously, they reject them.
Left to me, I am scared of interacting with unknown teenagers. Even during Metro travel, I avoid asking youngsters even innocuous questions such as where they are going or what the time is by their watch.
Nevertheless, the CVoter survey also gave a glimpse into the voting preferences of Gen Z.
Around 33.3% underlined that “issues” were the key basis for deciding their vote. The choice of a leader was secondary for India’s Gen Z, at 20%.
Only 13.9% of Gen Z respondents said they would primarily base their vote on the party.
Only a mere 7.7% said the candidate would be the key factor in their decision. Again, I would insist that some of these responses may not be truthful or genuine.
There is nothing wrong with the surveyors per se. The younger generation is also more parochial and regional and, hence, also communal — divided by religions.
This is my experience based on my own findings and interactions. A few years back, a Pakistani scholar said the same thing about youths in his country.
I know Naga elders who say the Naga and non-Naga differences are more pronounced among the youth. Hence, it would be very rare for a Muslim or Christian youth to vote for Yogi Adityanath as a “performing chief minister” by some standards.
Similarly, Hindu youngsters would not be voting for Modi just because of his contribution to development or administrative measures. Here, Hindutva works in favour of Modi and also the likes of Yogi Adityanath.
Otherwise, when the farmers’ agitation took place in 2020-21, youths — and especially educated youths, including Gen Z — should have dissociated themselves from the stir and openly backed Prime Minister Modi for the much-needed agricultural reform strategies and the three farm laws.
We are not exaggerating things here. It is a truism that winning the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh became much easier for the BJP only after the three farm laws were withdrawn.
It’s simple: the youth, or Gen Z, too cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
The present Lok Sabha composition reveals a startling fact. The average age of MPs is 56 years. Only 11% of members are 40 years old or younger. In fact, there are only three “Gen Z” MPs.
Gen Z on Social Media and Nationalism
The survey has revealed that social media plays a significant role in shaping political opinion among Gen Z. Nearly half of the respondents — 49.3% — asserted that social media played a key role. No surprises here. The surprise was in the next question.Government Agencies
When asked whom they trust most on matters affecting their lives, “parents” were the overwhelming choice for Gen Z, at 75.1%. Friends were a distant second at 6.9%, followed by social media influencers at 6.8%.
Gen Z also wants greater youth representation in politics.
Nearly three-fourths of those surveyed, 74.6%, said they would vote for young candidates if political parties fielded them in elections.
This last statement ought to be taken with a pinch of salt.
If that was the case, Bolero rides and cash flow would not have happened or been required at all in a state like Nagaland.
Here, Nagaland is just an example. Most of my friends in different states will also agree.Campaigns & Elections
In Tamil Nadu, TV set distribution would vanish. And election manifestos everywhere, by every party, would not be about free laptops and bicycles.
So, when Gen Z says it would vote for younger candidates if political parties fielded them, I do not entirely trust the claim. The gap between what young voters say in surveys and what actually influences their voting behaviour deserves a much closer look.
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