Throughout the year, Navigator dove into some of the biggest generational divides. Navigator took a look at how news awareness differed for Gen Z (those born between 1998 and 2008) and baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) to suss out how different, if at all, these different generations see the news.

How Gen Z and Boomers Get Their News

Gen Z and baby boomers get their news differently. Gen Z is evenly split between active and passive news consumers, while two-thirds of baby boomers (66%) are active news consumers.

When it comes to where Gen Z and baby boomers get their news, more than half of baby boomers (51%) get their news from local television compared to just 22% of Gen Z. However, Gen Z is more likely to get their news from social media (51%) and content creators (32%) than baby boomers (26% and 7%, respectively).

Iran Was the Top Trump Story of the Year for Gen Z and Baby Boomers

Throughout the year, Navigator asked Americans to describe the news they’ve heard about Trump. The top answer over the past year for both Gen Z and baby boomers was Iran.

While majorities across both generations reported hearing about the Iran war, across multiple surveys, baby boomers were at least 10-points more likely to have heard “a lot” or “some” about the conflict than Gen Z Americans.

There is an even bigger divide in net approval of President Trump’s foreign policy between generations. Trump’s handling of foreign policy has a net approval of -36 among Gen Z and -13 among baby boomers.

Gen Z is More Plugged In on The Epstein Files, And More Likely to Disapprove of Trump’s Handling of the Files

Another standout story of 2026 was the Epstein files. Nearly identical portions of Gen Z and baby boomers reported hearing about the Epstein files back in February. However, there was a nine-point gap between Gen Z Americans and baby boomers who said they were hearing “a lot” about the files (46% – 37%).

The gap in net approval of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files is even wider across generations, sitting at -52 among Gen Z and -26 among baby boomers.

Gen Z Heard More About the World Cup while Baby Boomers Heard More About the Knicks

This summer, Gen Z was slightly more engaged in the World Cup than baby boomers.

However, Baby Boomers heard more about the Knicks’ NBA Championship.