For sophomore Christian Powell, traditional conservative values guide his politics. 

“I would consider myself a traditional conservative. I’m very open-minded and I have some libertarian values. I don’t call myself a Republican because I believe both sides have corruption. (Some issues I care about) are abortion, the problems in our healthcare system, the excessive amount of government spending, and just too much single motherhood,” Powell said. “My number one value is faith, my faith is very important, (but) I’m not going to sit here and force that upon anybody. Secondly, family is important. Everything starts at home and starts with family. (It impacts) how you’re raised, you need a mother and a father.. I’m also a big believer in the Constitution and freedom of speech.” 

Sophomore Mason Messmer said he also identifies as a conservative and has values in alignment with Powell’s. 

“(I’m a) conservative. I care about the second amendment, freedom of speech and protecting the Constitution. God and my parents (guide my values),” Messmer said. 

Increase In Conservative Views 

Powell and Messmer aren’t alone in their conservative views. According to a 2024 study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, the percentage of Americans who identify as conservative/Republican has increased from 22% in 2013 to 29% in 2024. It is important to note that the increase in Republican identification varies by gender and racial background. In fact, the gender political gap is most pronounced in the 18 to 29 age group, with 26% of young men identifying as Republican compared to 17% of young women. Specifically, young white men have shown increasing identification with the GOP, increasing from 26% affiliation in 2013 to 36% in 2024. Hispanic young men have also seen a 6% increase in Republican identification since 2021. These stats showcase that an increase in Republican identification often follows gender and racial lines. 

Social studies teacher Michael O’Toole said a reason behind the increase in conservative affiliation is the influx of conservative influencers, specifically podcasters. 

“There is a recent belief that conservatism is kind of cool,” he said. “You have these podcasters who are filling a void of people who feel neglected, who feel like their piece of the pie is being taken from them. So they find guys like Joe Rogan because people like to have opinions and people like when supposed authorities agree with those opinions, they feel validated that way. It’s almost like ‘here’s this guy who has millions of followers, he must be right, therefore I am too.” 

Political Violence

Powell said recent political violence has also increased conservative alignment. 

“I think all of the political assassinations are terrible,” he said. “I don’t think there is any justification for any of it. I still am learning more about it, but the Charlie Kirk shooting was devastating. It’s somebody who I looked up to for the way he’d go out and try to speak to everybody. Political violence is how bad things happen. We’ve seen it throughout history, political violence is usually followed by dictatorships and corrupt governments, and I really don’t want to see America fall into that. (As a result of the assassination), Turning Point (USA) has grossed about 100,000 more chapters,” he added. “There have been more people going to church lately and I love the statement that ‘you never know how big a tree is until it falls’ and his dying has sparked a lot of people to come out and speak up for their beliefs.” 

Messmer said he agreed with Powell and said the assassination allowed more people to come together. 

“It gave kids the ability to tell other people that they are conservative or be able to express their opinions and have discourse with people who may or may not agree with their opinions,” he said. 

O’Toole said he has seen a range of reactions to recent political violence. 

“I’ve seen good human empathy reactions and I’ve seen political weaponization of said events. I’ve seen performative reactions. I think the average American reacted in a fairly empathetic way and the media definitely grabs the more extreme reactions,” O’Toole said. “Opinion polls have supported that at least amongst certain age groups, people who were centrist or slightly conservative have shifted more conservative (because of the recent political violence).”

Turning Point Carmel 

Messmer said the Turning Point Carmel chapter was created after Kirk’s death to give conservative students an outlet to express opinions. 

“I think (Turning Point USA) gives young conservatives the ability to express themselves and find friends with similar ideals and beliefs,” Messmer said. “(Turning Point Carmel) was started to give students here at Carmel the ability to talk to other conservatives and be able to discuss topics with people with similar and dissimilar beliefs and ideas.” 

Powell said community and conversation were major goals of Turning Point Carmel. 

“I think community is a really important thing to have as a human being. We’re social people and need to be able to connect with others. Secondly, just talking to others is good for you,” Powell said. “I think teenagers are much smarter than we realize and I think people undermine that a lot because we can’t vote or are seen as uneducated. I think that we should be able to express our opinions and hopefully either learn something or understand someone else’s point of view and have respectful disagreements. Also, we want to expand faith and make some fundraisers.”

Misconceptions About Conservatism

Messmer said that conservatives face a lot of misconceptions.

“I think people think (conservatives) are close-minded or sometimes they’ll call us fascists,” Messmer said. “I think we just want to protect our rights and allow everyone to have their opinions whether they are the same or different.” 

Powell said he agrees with Messmer and said conservatives aren’t hateful and are trying to have constructive conversations. 

“I think people will say that we’re hateful or that we’re biased and not open-minded. People will say we’re fascists and things like that. We’re very much the opposite, we want freedom of speech, we want people to come talk to us and we’re not hateful,” Powell said. “A lot of it is the media. I don’t blame it on the people, I blame it on the media because they are saying we are hateful and want to tear the country down. When all we really want is to bring people together, bring families together, and have constructive conversations.”