GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said it’s a “mistake” that the Republican Party has, in her words, ignored Gen Z voters.
During a Feb. 18 Fox News town hall in her home state of South Carolina ahead of the state’s Feb. 24 primary, in response to a question about why the GOP has ignored Gen Z voters and what she would do to hear their voices, Ms. Haley said “it’s a mistake” for her party to not appeal to that demographic.
“And the only reason people don’t vote is when they think no one’s listening. And that’s a problem,” said Ms. Haley, a mother of two Gen Z kids.
Ms. Haley went on to remark that Gen Z is different in how they think, that they do not value money as much as older generations, “but they care about being something bigger than themselves.”
For example, she said, the GOP should listen to Gen Z when it comes to the issue of the environment.
“They don’t want this government debt that’s been pushed down on them. They don’t want to see wars happen. And they want to know that they’re going to be able to afford a home and get a job like anyone else,” she said.
“So my goal is to make sure that everything we do is to make you feel empowered,” she continued. “For you to feel heard, for you to feel like that you’re not working for government but that government is going to be serving you. And the only way we can do that is to include you in the conversation, not put you out of the conversation.”
At the end of the day, Ms. Haley said, we need to go to them, “not wait for them to go to us. And that goes back to the Republican Party.”
Ms. Haley reiterated a statistic she has constantly noted on the campaign trail: that the GOP has lost seven of the past eight popular votes for president.
The town hall’s moderator, Fox News anchor John Roberts, noted that President Joe Biden’s campaign has been using TikTok, even though the CCP-connected app is banned on federal devices, in his efforts to appeal to Gen Z voters. Mr. Roberts asked if Republican candidates should join TikTok to appeal to that demographic, which consists of those born between 1997 and 2012.
Ms. Haley said no.
“We should have banned it from the very beginning. It’s incredibly dangerous,” she said. “And even if it is helpful in elections, I think that the tone at the top and the leadership of what you show matters.
“If I were to go and jump on TikTok or Republicans were to jump on TikTok that’s not showing anyone why they shouldn’t be on it.”
Ms. Haley went on to cite the dangers behind the app such as it allows China to access your finances and contacts.
“America can’t be the last country to ban Tiktok,” she said. “Let’s end it now and stop it so it doesn’t hurt our children any further.”
Countries that have banned TikTok include India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Taiwan.
Other topics covered during the one-hour town hall included entitlement reform, illegal immigration, abortion, crime in cities nationwide, the lack of civility in America, and foreign policy.
On foreign policy, Ms. Haley most notably continued to slam former President Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner, for his recent comments bashing NATO.
While Ms. Haley agreed with President Trump’s sentiment that more NATO members need to pay their fair share, it is an issue that should be dealt with behind closed doors as opposed to publicly where America’s adversaries can hear the discontent.
Polls show President Trump comfortably ahead of Ms. Haley in South Carolina.
