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Merlin Strategy’s exclusive polling reveals a growing gender divide among under-30s
By Scarlett Maguire
The prevailing narrative is that young men, under the influence of the manosphere and enchanted by men’s rights activists and misogynists such as Andrew Tate, are being politically radicalised faster and in greater numbers than young women. The result is a gulf in political sensibility between young British women and men, who are now dramatically inclined to the populist right compared with other parts of the population.
It’s a compelling story, but it isn’t completely accurate. Instead, it is young women moving to the radical left that is widening the political gender gap among the under-30s. Merlin Strategy has surveyed, exclusively for the New Statesman, 2,000 British 18- to 30-year-olds to explore this phenomenon in more detail.
Related
This article appears in the 15 Apr 2026 issue of the New Statesman, Angry Young Women
