Democrats believe they’re making progress after Trump’s gains with young men helped him win in 2024. Republicans say they’re focused on ensuring those inconsistent voters turn out.
Winning the hearts and minds of young men has been at the center of politics over the past year. Republicans sought to cement Donald Trump’s gains, while Democrats, fearing they could lose an increasingly disaffected segment of the electorate for a generation, launched a series of initiatives to prevent that.
Ahead of next year’s midterms, some Democrats say the momentum is shifting. High-profile Democrats running in last month’s elections — Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Zohran Mamdani in New York City — improved on the party’s poor performance among young men one year before.
Some 2028 Democratic presidential contenders launched policy initiatives aimed at men and boys. And in Trump’s first year in office, many young men say they feel a continued economic and social malaise, cutting into his support with that key group.
Friend’s brother was like this during the 2016 elections, he absolutely would have voted for Bernie, but after the DNC prioritizing Hillary, he either didn’t vote, or voted from Trump, not sure which. There is truth to the contrarian angle to this. If they feel they’re being manipulated one way too hard, they’ll vote the other way out of spite, or not vote out of spite. And they don’t care about the effects, they’ll take an accerationist angle, stating the whole system has to come down, so it might as well happen sooner than later.