Young Men Rejecting Democratic Party, Study Shows Why

The Democratic Party is gradually realizing that they have lost touch with the young men of the United States, especially after many of them shifted toward Donald Trump in the 2024 election. To turn things around, Democrats have launched a new $20 million project caled Speaking with American Men (SAM). Knewz.com has learned that the two-year project focuses on studying young men and how the Democratic Party can reach them—and possibly win back these voters.

Only 46% of young men voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. “The losses tracked across every racial group, and the most pronounced hemorrhaging came among Latinos and Black men,” reports have mentioned. Founded by Ilyse Hogue, John Della Volpe, a pollster who specializes in Gen Z voters, and former Texas Rep. Colin Allred, the Speaking with American Men project is pitching itself to donors and officials as a hub for research and paid advertising and influencer outreach focused on young men. Notably, Della Volpe had already warned Democrats ahead of the 2024 election about their weakness with young men.

The project conducted an initial round of research to gather insights, which entailed 30 focus groups and a national media consumption survey. According to reports, participants of the focus group described the Democratic Party as overly scripted and cautious, while Republicans were seen as confident, strong and “unafraid to offend.” The focus group also showed that many young Americans feel ignored by both the major choices on the ballot. “Democrats are seen as weak, whereas Republicans are seen as strong,” said Hogue, who co-founded the Speaking with American Men project. “Young men also spoke of being invisible to the Democratic coalition, and so you’ve got this weak problem and then you’ve got this, ‘I don’t think they care about me’ problem, and I think the combination is kind of a killer,” Hogue added.

The focus groups also found that the young men feel like they are in a crisis and feel pressured by society’s mixed messages about what it means to be a man. An Asian American professional described Democrats as embracing “the fluid masculinity of being, like, empathetic and sensitive,” while “Republicans are more like, the traditional masculinity of a provider, strong and the machismo type,” reports mentioned. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened their social and emotional well-being, leaving them feeling isolated and socially disconnected. On top of that, the research found that they feel an insurmountable economic anxiety as traditional milestones like buying a house and saving up for college feel out of reach. “The degree to which those economic concerns are also impacting how they think about themselves and quote-unquote success of being a man, and living up to their own expectations or the expectations of their family or society… there’s another layer of economic anxiety that I don’t think I fully saw until now,” said pollster Della Volpe. The research suggests that the young men’s feelings of crisis are linked to their gradual exodus from the Democratic Party. To fix the problem of connecting with the young men of America, Hogue suggests Democratic candidates should use non-traditional digital advertising, especially on YouTube, in-game digital ads and sports and gaming podcasts. “Democrats can’t win these folks over if they’re not speaking the language that young men are speaking,” Hogue said. However, critics have pointed out that the problem does not lie with messaging alone but the fact that men do not feel respected or liked by the Democratic party. Ross Morales Rocketto, a Democratic strategist who is also focused on researching men but isn’t involved in the project, noted, “The Democratic Party is missing that we’re not going to be able to message our way out of these deep problems men are facing, starting with the fact that they know the Democratic Party doesn’t really like or respect them. … It’s really easy for Republicans to play off the politics of grievance.”

The national survey conducted by the SAM project found that only 27% of young men viewed the Democratic Party favorably, while 43% of them favored the Republican Party. A Latino man from Las Vegas pointed out that, during her 2024 campaign, Harris focused more on, “Oh, I got Beyonce on stage with me. Oh, I got Lady Gaga on stage,” which felt like it has no relevance to the problems voters face. “It just kind of felt like, what does that have to do with me? I’m trying to move up in life,” the man said. “Trump’s over here like, ‘If we’re able to get a surplus in our budget, then we’re going to have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime.’ It’s going to take a while to get to that point, but at least he’s saying … ‘Oh, this is what I’m going to do,’” he added.

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