...some disaffected portion of whom form much of...

[Eichie]

I believe I understood this phrase, but that bold part sounds too advanced for me.

"But the polarization that permeates American politics—stemming, in part, from a sense that extreme measures are necessary to render our world livable—is especially evident among millennials, some disaffected portion of whom form much of the racist alt-right, while a larger swath has adopted the leftist politics shared by Harris."

First of all: what this "some" really means?
Second: "+ of whom form" has twisted my mind.
Third: what about that "swath"? @_@

Thanks for helping!

 

[grassy]

Some of those millennials form much of the racist alt-right.

 

[lingobingo]

The "some" means an unspecified number of…

some disaffected portion of whom…… = [among millennials,] the disaffected ones who……

Swath (spelt swathe in BE) literally means a wide strip of an area, but here it's used figuratively to mean a [larger] number of millennials

 

[Eichie]

First of all, thank you both for aiding me.

Would you tell me a synonym to "some" in that phrase?

Could "of whom" be substitude for "which"?

This whole phrase sounds too formal to me; a bit difficult to digest.

 

[lingobingo]

Would you tell me a synonym to "some" in that phrase?

Could "of whom" be substitude for "which"?

This whole phrase sounds too formal to me; a bit difficult to digest.

Instead of "some", you can just say "a". It's not important.

You can't really say "which" instead of "whom", because they're people, not things.

You're not the only one who finds the sentence unnecessarily complicated!

 

[Eichie]

Oh, god! I never-ever-never-ever imagined that "which" could only be used to things, not beings! After 15 years of english studies! :OOO
Thanks for that, you can barely imagine how grateful I am!

Ps: What a relief, hahaha... for us, foreigners, as we see a phrase like this (with simple words) and we don't get it, we feel like we have failed really hard as learners... it's a bit depressing, hahaha!

 

[lingobingo]

You seem to me to be doing pretty well! English is not only arguably the most illogical of languages, but it's spoken really quite differently from one country to another.