By Sam Fortier
Look, politicians have tried to meet young men where they are for years and years.
Shock-jockin’, pickup-truckin’, trend-hoppin’ or video-game-streamin’ — they’re willing to do almost anything to reach them, even if it means pretending to know ball (because let’s face it, they do not). So when the political class again looked out and wondered where the young men were and how to get them to vote, the consultants knew just what to do: go to a conference.
The second annual Symposium on Young American Men took place in late September in a bright penthouse near Union Station in Washington. The top sponsors of the event were fraternities. A few panels were broadcast live on C-SPAN. Organizations tabling outside gave away baby-blue buttons (“Gender Equality for Men”), magazines featuring women in lingerie (“the conservative Cosmo”) and sheets stuffed with charts and data tables (“12 Areas of Male Disadvantage”).
Over two days, intellectuals and elected leaders discussed the issues fueling the “crisis among young men” — education, the economy, mental health and lack of community. A pollster laid out new data: Young male voters are back up for grabs! Pay attention to them!
Young men probably won’t play a huge role in the midterm elections, several political operatives said, because they are, as a group, a relatively small and unreliable voting bloc. But they could have outsize influence in a bigger election with smaller margins.
President Donald Trump made massive gains among young men in 2024 — a 15-point swing from 2020 — because they believed he would improve the economy and their job prospects, according to a Tufts University analysis.
But those gains have disappeared, according to a new Cygnal poll released alongside the symposium. More young men now view the GOP unfavorably (49%) than favorably (40%), and among those who say they’re determined to vote, Democrats have a sizable lead (57% to 40%).
Now, Vice President JD Vance is embracing a 22-year-old evangelical with over a million followers on young men’s favorite internet platform (YouTube). And every Democrat potentially vying for the 2028 nomination is trying to do something.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has enacted male-friendly policies; Maryland Gov. Wes Moore cozied up to sports teams; and Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Andy Beshear of Kentucky did podcasts with thought leaders such as the author Richard V. Reeves and NYU professor Scott Galloway on the struggles facing men and boys.
And Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) stopped by the symposium to discuss jobs and “making space for men.”
“Back in the day, I was like the only one,” Gallego said of Democrats concerned about young male voters. “Now it seems everyone every week is coming up with a new position, new idea, which is great.”
Republicans lost their 2024 gains among young men because the economy didn’t get better and the Trump administration’s foreign policy approach in Iran and Venezuela has been unpopular, in part because it has raised gas prices, according to lead Cygnal pollster Alex Tarascio.
During focus groups, Tarascio showed older Republicans data on the systemic problems facing younger Americans.
“They’ll say, ‘Totally, I see this, this is real,’” he said. Sometimes, their own children had delayed moving out of the house or having kids because it was too expensive. But at some point in every conversation, Tarascio said, they would revert to the avocado-toast ideology: “Well, you know, they just need to save their money a little bit more, and then they can afford a downpayment.”
The older Republican set didn’t “actually believe things are worse now,” he said.
The conversations reminded Tarascio of another finding: Even young men who identify as Republican believe the federal government should do more to help young people.
“For the Republican Party, they’re going to have an awakening at some point as these older, small-government ideological people die and the new cohort comes up,” he said. (…)
Read the full article on The Washington Sun.