Barron Trump help fuel conservative youth shift: report
While he doesn't seek the political spotlight, Barron Trump has captivated the public with his quiet charisma.
Without any conscious effort on his part, the youngest child of President-elect Donald Trump is making conservatism cool - with a surge in recruitment among college-aged Republicans being credited to his cultural influence.
Students at New York University, where Barron is studying business, say Barron's presence on campus has fueled interest in the Republican Club, the New York Post reported.
Barron fueling MAGA shift
While Barron is not a member of the club, the 6'9" freshman is "hard to miss" on campus, Kaya Walker, president of NYU’s College Republican Club, said.
“Interest was piqued initially by the fact that Barron Trump had matriculated as a student at our business school, but the election motivated a lot of people to act,” Walker said.
A source told People that Barron is "popular with the ladies" at NYU and even liberal students are fans.
Barron has already won praise for his low-key role in securing his father's re-election with an innovative podcasting strategy that helped President-elect Trump bridge a gap with Generation Z.
With talk of a "vibe shift" and the end of the woke era, college-aged Trump supporters say they feel more encouraged to show their support, as Trump's historic re-election unleashes a wave of optimism on the right.
“There is definitely an increase in pro-Republican sentiment, like we even had kids walking around with MAGA hats in the library," the president of Babson College Republicans, Neko Kady, said.
The Trump vibe shift
Barron's father recently notched a positive favorability rating for the first time, in another sign of an apparent pro-Trump cultural shift.
Among young people, there has been a shift towards Trump partly because of the experience of being locked down during the COVID pandemic, vice president of Penn State College Republicans Tristin Kilgore told The Post.
Republican membership in his club doubled this year to 200 members.
"The amount of people who are willing to go out there and support President Trump and to be vocal about being a conservative in general is so much higher," Kilgore said.
“We were in high school, and it was a really tough time,” said Kilgore, 20. “We’re not supporting the people who were in favor of keeping us away from our friends and away from our schools and setting us back in life.”