Gen Z is Falling in Love With George Bush | NFL Sports

They’re looking so far back in fact, that they’ve reached the presidency of George W. Bush, and have anointed the former president as the new it boy du jour, with #BushTok and #BushCore having exploded all over Gen Z’s digital watering hole, TikTok.

As nostalgia for the Bush presidency sweeps the internet, Newsweek spoke to the experts about why Gen Z is falling in love with Bush.

Newsweek has reached out to a media representative for Bush via email for comment.

Gen Z’s Political Leanings

Gen Z occupies a unique space politically, and political polarization is a native tongue for the tech-raised generation.

There is a significant gender divide when it comes to America’s youngest adult generation: an October poll from the New York Times and Siena College showed a striking 51-point gender divide among Gen Z voters. Women aged 18 to 29 favored former former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump by 38 points, while men in this group favored Trump by 13 points.

This is the widest gap among any generation. Gen Z’s political affiliations, though, can be slippery. Much has been made of how Gen Z men are tilting toward the right, but Trump has largely surrendered all the gains he made with male Gen Z voters in the 2024 election. A CBS News/YouGov survey published in July found that Trump’s net approval among 18- to 29-year-olds had all but collapsed—from 55 percent in February to just 28 percent by July.

At the same time though, the way Gen Z engages with politics is unconventional compared with previous generations. While the first few months of the Trump presidency have been marked by continuous protests against him and the administration, Gen Z has been noticeably absent from this activism.

George Bush’s Online Revival

One video edit of Bush, comprised of different clips of him, has been viewed 1.6 million times. Another edit, which has the text overlay “George W. Bush Mentality,” and features clips of him speaking, has been viewed 1 million times, and, a clip of the former president talking about the 2001 film Shrek, has been viewed over 2 million times.

Gen Z’s fondness for Bush takes different forms. Many videos of him are humorous, with Gen Zers sharing edits of Bush as some kind of inadvertent comedy icon. One clip of Bush speaking to late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, followed by a video edit of the former president, has been viewed over 3 million times, and is captioned “Funniest Prez?”

In other edits, Bush is positioned with fondness as a sort of lovable grandpa. Other TikToks though, have taken to fully romanticizing the former president.

One TikTok, from the account @theclairenecessities, taps Bush for a viral trend about calling off your marriage. The trend involves a clip from the TV show Gossip Girl, where the character Chuck Bass (played by Ed Westwick), tells the character Blair Waldorf (played by Leighton Meester), not to go through with her wedding. In the edit, Westwick saying “Don’t Marry Him,” can be heard over the Gracie Abrams song, I Love You, I’m Sorry.

The @theclairenecessities TikTok has the text overlay, “when I’m about to walk down the aisle but George W Bush when he found out about 9/11 shows up,” and is captioned “In another timeline it was never Laura,” in a reference to Bush’s wife and former first lady, Laura Bush. The top comment on that video, which was liked more than 3000 times reads, “I’ve always loved him.”

Newsweek spoke with Lama Mohammed, a tech policy fellow and researcher at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics Policy about the trend.

“In a time where Y2K is back and even trendy among Gen Z, their new fascination with George W. Bush is likely our generation’s yearning for ‘simpler times,’ despite being too young or not alive to remember 9/11 or the Iraq War,” Mohammed said.

“Clips going viral on TikTok with Bush saying, ‘now watch this drive’ or ‘fool me once, shame on, shame on you,’ resurface the former president as an endearing, goofy grandfatherly figure whose ‘Bushisms’ provide entertainment and even an escape from the current political climate,” Mohammed added.

Newsweek also spoke about the trend with Sarah Burnham, a postdoctoral scholar at Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

“Young people have always been creative in their digital expression, and media creation is an important part of how they approach politics,” Burnham said. “It can be a great way for young people to find community, be exposed to different perspectives and experiences, and make their voices heard. It can also serve as an entry point to other forms of political action.”

“The fact that youth are looking to the past may be a sign of their dissatisfaction with the present: our research has found that only 16 percent of young people believe democracy is working well for them,” Burnham added.

And there’s a nostalgia at play here for an entirely different era of politics.

“Many comments on videos tagged as #Bushcore use past moments to contrast the current administration,” Mohammed said. “Users are saying, ‘These were like Bush’s lowest moments. Somehow they tower over Trump’s best,’ or ‘I would’ve NEVER thought 20 years ago…I wish he could be president again…I miss him,’ representing how unhappy Gen Zers are with contemporary politics.”

“A recent YouGov/Economist poll shows that President Trump continues to have a significantly low approval rating among young voters—61 percent disapprove. They use Bush’s persona as relief, reminiscent of times when there was supposedly more empathy and community in politics,” she added.

This nostalgia isn’t necessarily new for Gen Z either. Following the 2024 presidential election, edits comparing debates past and present became popular, with some social media users lamenting how the tone of political debates had changed.

And it definitely plays into the fondness for Bush. One TikTok edit, which has been viewed over 800,000 times is solely dedicated to clips of Bush and former first lady Michelle Obama and is captioned “Love their friendship sm,” celebrating their positive relationship that existed across party lines.

“In another viral TikTok, Bush discusses sharing values with Mexican Americans—the caption read, “Back when they had empathy.” Mohammed told Newsweek. “Although a Republican, Gen Z has seemed to develop an appreciation for Bush, viewing him as someone sympathetic towards immigrants.”

The Post-Presidency Legacy Shift

Beyond nostalgia, there is another interesting factor at play here: how the popularity of presidents changes after their presidency ends and evolves as the years pass.

According to the American Presidency Project, Bush’s final presidential approval rating was 34 percent. Former President Jimmy Carter held the exact same final presidential approval rating.

In a YouGov ranking of the most popular U.S. presidents for Q2 of 2025, Carter ranks at number 7 with a popularity score of 62 percent, and Bush ranks at 20, with a popularity score of 41 percent. Former President Joe Biden sits just above Bush at 19, with a popularity score of 42 percent. Trump ranks at 25 on that list, with a popularity ranking of 37.

“Those who lived through Bush’s presidency likely associate him with the drastic financial and human costs of the Iraq War, the Great Recession following his administration, and his failures to address Hurricane Katrina,” Mohammed told Newsweek.

The trend notably comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Many Americans remember the mayhem when Katrina made landfall off Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Nearly 20 years later and the storm has been memorialized as a “man made disaster.” Many Gen Zers though, will be too young to remember.

“Repackaging Bush as nostalgia is less about their understanding of his policies and more about their discontent with the current state of American politics. The effect of this dissatisfaction is already taking effect,” Mohammed said.