Letters to the Editor: Gen Z didn't vote for centrism. It voted against Republicans

SANTA ANA, CA - OCTOBER 13: Caitlin Harjes, of Orange, places her ballot inside an official Orange County Registrar of Voters ballot Drop Box for the 2020 Presidential General Election at Carl Thornton Park in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A voter places her ballot in a drop box at Carl Thornton Park in Santa Ana on Oct. 13, 2020. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Political scientist Samuel J. Abrams' cautious celebration of what he perceives to be the centrist orientation of Gen Z voters is based on a flawed assumption.

What Abrams assumes is a centrist position that lacks party affiliation is better characterized as simple opposition to right-wing extremist positions.

As Abrams is a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, his analysis may involve a level of wishful thinking that this particular constituency could be persuaded to embrace a conservative political agenda. Thus, they might provide a kind of ideological balance that would somehow mediate the prevailing political polarization.

In holding this opinion, Abrams promotes the mistaken notion that the Republican Party actually has a rational platform from which to craft constructive social and economic policies. There is no evidence to support that belief. In fact, the incoming House majority appears keen on creating political chaos that only undermines democratic norms.

Andrew Spathis, Los Angeles

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.