“Young people will change the world,” we often hear. And the implied change is always the same: a leftward shift. Youth are naturally rebellious, we’re told, and they’re bound to cast aside hidebound conservative ways. This has generally been true for Western and Central European youth, who have tended to lean left. The French coalition of far-left parties known as the New Popular Front got nearly half the 18- to 24-year-old vote and 38 percent of the 25- to 34-year-old vote in the last election, and the German Green Party would hold a majority today if only 18- to 34-year-olds voted. But now youth voting patterns seem to be changing. The surge of right-wing parties in recent European elections won significant support from people of all ages. And we can expect the proportion of right-wing youth to grow as liberal and left-wing parties get crazier. Indeed, this is what has happened in Canada.
