Young Man, There’s No Need to Feel Down

To understand how much work Democrats have to do to reverse their slide among young men, a key factor in President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, look no further than the “Who We Serve” section of the Democratic Party’s website.

Five of the 16 designated priority categories are specifically of nonwhite voters, plus a sixth, catchall group of “ethnic Americans”—not to mention “Democrats abroad,” “LGBTQ+ community, ” “small business community,” “faith community,” and “women,” among others. Nowhere to be found? “Men.” Pointing that out might strike some Democrats as nitpicking. But their absence from this list symbolizes a lack of focus, concern, or both that men ages 18 to 29 took to heart when they voted in November, according to party operatives, political analysts, and demographic specialists who spoke to The Dispatch.

It underscores how, nearly four months since Trump defeated now-former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party still lacks a strategy for recovering lost ground among young men—a group that until 2024 had reliably supported Democrats in White House contests for most of this century. Indeed, there isn’t even a consensus among Democrats that they should bother formulating a plan, with some continuing to believe that men broadly, regardless of age, don’t need the special attention the party gives to other demographics.

“The left struggles to articulate a fact that men have problems because they’re wrapped in the idea that men are the problem,” Richard Reeves, president of the nonpartisan think tank American Institute for Boys and Men, said in an interview with The Dispatch.  “The right has done a much better job of just, sort of, signaling to men: Yeah, we get it; we see you; we like you—we’re, kind of, on your side—we’ve got your back. And, in politics, that’s incredibly powerful.”

“If the Democrats approach this with the question in the back of their minds—or in the front of their mind—‘What’s wrong with these guys?’ They’re in real trouble,” Reeves added. Ilyse Hogue, a veteran Democratic operative who focuses on gender differences in politics, worries the party is, in effect, not heeding Reeves’ warning.

“A handful of Democrats have expressed surprise and concern about the drift of young men towards Trump. But many have not and remain focused on groups they believe have been underserved. Mostly, young men don’t rank in the hierarchy of concern and therefore feel—and often are—invisible in Democratic appeals,” Hogue, a fellow at New America, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C., said in an email exchange with The Dispatch. 

Hogue, former president of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America—now Reproductive Freedom for All—said winning back young male voters is imperative if Democrats hope to improve their competitiveness in future elections. “Forfeiting an entire generation of men to the right wing is political suicide, especially one as young and significant as Gen Z,” she said. “Gen Z is almost 20 percent of the overall population in the U.S. and they are just launching their political and civic lives. They’re likely to be voting for another 50 years.”

The Democratic National Committee on Tuesday did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Trump defeated Harris narrowly, 49.8 percent to 48.3 percent, losing among voters ages 18 to 29 by just 11 percentage points, 54 percent to 43 percent, according to national exit polling from CNN. That was a remarkable improvement over Trump’s performance with younger voters four years earlier, when he lost this demographic to future President Joe Biden by 24 points, 60 percent to 36 percent (a margin greater than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s healthy advantage in 2016 and on par with the strong backing then-President Barack Obama received in 2012.) 

Trump’s numbers with young women improved somewhat in 2024 compared to 2020, going from a deficit of 35 percent with Biden to a gap of 23 percent with Harris.

But it’s Trump’s increased support among men ages 18 to 29 that powered his crucial jump with younger voters broadly compared to 2020 and played a critical role in his comeback victory over Harris. For instance: This past November, Trump outpaced Harris among young men, who accounted for 7 percent of the electorate, by 1 percentage point, 49 percent to 48 percent—after losing these voters to Biden 52 percent to 41 percent (11 points) in 2020. Many factors explain Trump’s improvement, but it was a difference-maker all the same, pollster John Della Volpe told The Dispatch in a telephone interview.

Della Volpe, a Democratic pollster who specializes in younger voters and advised Biden’s 2020 campaign, said younger male voters gravitated away from the Democrats and toward Trump for visceral reasons unexplained simply by resistance to supporting a woman for president. Men in their late teens and early 20s have been rocked by massive social upheaval that has left them discouraged about their future, both economically and even romantically—terrorist attacks, a financial meltdown and a pandemic.

Trump’s candidacy spoke to those anxieties and offered them hope, or at least a sense that he understands their plight and aims to provide relief. The president did this partly by just being who he is: bombastic, unapologetic, self-assured. He made sure to appeal to young men where they spend their time—on podcasts, at sporting events, for example. “There’s a greater lack of confidence in their own future which is weighing on them,” said Della Volpe, polling director at the Harvard Institute of Politics, which tracks the public opinion of young adults. He added that Trump and other figures on the populist right “are kind of tapping into” the social insecurity roiling young men. 

“It makes sense,” he explained. “You’re looking for someone who’s stronger or can explain to you why you’re having these issues, right? It’s because the system isn’t working.”

“Most of them are nice people,” Della Volpe continued. “I don’t think they are misogynists, largely speaking. … I just think they’re trying to catch a break and don’t know where to go. And broadly speaking, they don’t feel like they get a lot of support from their parents. … I hear that a lot, that they don’t feel understood.”

The growing-up years for Gen Z, people born from 1997 to 2010, have been markedly different from generations that came of age in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. Their upbringing has been marked by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; the economically devastating Great Recession; the deadly coronavirus pandemic; an increasingly dysfunctional federal government; and a country seemingly continually divided. Those factors conspired to produce 18- to 29-year-olds who see a future that is limited, less prosperous than that enjoyed by their parents, and unstable, both at home and abroad, explained Gen Z experts.  

These feelings are particularly acute for voters ages 18 to 24 who had not yet reached legal adulthood when the pandemic hit in 2020, emphasized Rachel Janfaza, 27, a writer and consultant who tracks Gen Z sentiment and advises clients how to appeal to this cohort. She told The Dispatch she divides Gen Z into two subgroups. 

Gen Z 1.0, or those who were young adults prior to COVID, might have communicated using an old-school cell phone before acquiring a smart phone, and consumed media in a more traditional fashion. Gen Z 2.0, or those who were in middle school or high school at the onset of the pandemic, have only used smart phones, communicate with peers via applications like Snapchat and Discord, and consume media via Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and podcasts. Within this second group, the men—many of whom were first-time voters in 2024—were particularly open to Trump’s message and provocative style. In the 45th and now 47th president, they found a politician who validated their masculinity and reflected their exasperation with the political establishment.

“They were frustrated that they couldn’t be around their friends—that they were isolated to their homes during such an important time in their upbringing. I think they have a lot of pent up resentment and frustration that has translated into their politics and into some of the anti-establishment, anti-authority ethos. That’s part of why Trump resonates with them,” Janfaza said.

“MAGA and Trump in some ways became the counterculture during that time,” she added, referring to the shorthand hashtag moniker for the president’s “Make America Great Again” political base of support. “There are a lot of young men who voted for Trump who don’t necessarily consider themselves to be conservative or a Republican but definitely consider themselves to be part of the MAGA movement.” (It’s no wonder then, that according to exit poll data reviewed by Della Volpe, young men ages 18 to 24 moved to Trump by roughly 20 points in 2024 compared to how this group voted four years earlier.)

Joe Jacobson, a 30-year-old liberal activist in Los Angeles who runs Progress Action Fund, a super PAC that supports Democratic candidates and causes, concedes that Trump was the more charismatic figure during the 2024 campaign, compared with either Biden or Harris, and remains so when stacked against most of his party’s major elected officials. 

Jacobson made clear that he doesn’t find Trump appealing, nor is he convinced young men like him have any reason to complain about their position in American society. But at the moment, there does not appear to be a prominent Democrat as comfortable as Trump holding lengthy conversations about culture and sports with popular non-political male podcasters like Joe Rogan or the gang at Barstool Sports. The president’s regular attendance at Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts matches is another key aspect of his appeal with young men, Jacobson said.

“We 100 percent have a problem,” Jacobson said, discussing the phenomenon of male voters ages 18-29 flocking to Trump. “For most voters, who would you rather have a beer with, if you’re at the UFC fight or during your average day activities if you’re a young man? Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? Donald Trump clearly wins that one.” The president’s decision to partner with billionaire technology innovator Elon Musk since assuming office has only bolstered this appealing image among young men, other Gen Z analysts said.

In his third presidential campaign in eight years, Trump saw an opening to gain substantial support among young male voters and concentrated heavily on wooing them, especially sporadic participants in politics. Appearing on podcasts was a major component of this strategy. According to a partial list of the president’s appearances provided in October to The Dispatch by the Republican National Committee, he appeared on nine podcasts from April to through the end of August.

Only one was hosted by a woman (Monica Crowley). The rest were hosted by men, among them Tim Pool, Logan Paul, and Theo Von. All told, Trump reached a collective audience of millions of potential voters. Harris did appear on some podcasts, including a few geared toward men. But on this front, she did not compete toe-to-toe with Trump. Regardless, showing up is just half the battle Democrats face. What their candidates say in these forums matter, and while some Democrats recognize the need to make inroads with Gen Z men, their message seems to be lacking.

A great start, said Reeves, who leads the American Institute for Boys and Men, would be ditching the term “toxic masculinity.” Ironically, he noted, that phrase entered the lexicon during Trump’s first campaign in 2016. Reeves and the other experts The Dispatch spoke with maintain young men aren’t reflexively liberal or conservative—they’re up for grabs. But they’re tired of being put down for, from their point of view, simply being men. The headline of this post-election article from Janfaza illustrates this viewpoint: “More on young men … who are done feeling ashamed.” 

So do remarks offered by Vice President J.D. Vance during an appearance last week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. “My message to young men is don’t allow this broken culture to send you a message that you’re a bad person because you’re a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends, or because you’re competitive,” he said. “We want you guys to thrive as young men.” 

Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster who helped conduct focus groups for the New York Times during and after the 2024 campaign, ran into this sentiment over and over again in conversations with male voters of all ages.

So what should Democrats do to reconnect with men, especially in the Gen Z demographic? At the very least, Anderson said, stop dismissing the concerns men have about their lives, let alone mocking the notion that men might be falling behind as a group and need assistance—or as Vance also said in his CPAC remarks, “help” via “public policy.” Democrats may not be naturally inclined to do so, but they can at least show up and pitch young men on policy catered to the problems they face. Otherwise, these men could effectively be lost to the party for the next several years, if not decades.

“Millennials—we’re now old, but we’re a generation that grew up in the Obama era and still, to this day, we’re a little more left leaning than you might expect otherwise,” Anderson said. “The events that shape your political life when you’re younger can shape your life longterm.”