Four months have gone by since the election that shaped the America we live in today. It was a tense campaign with twists and turns (and the inevitable final tumble), but throughout it all, the most crucial voter group was overlooked: male voters. The Democratic Party’s reach among young men has plummeted in recent years. In the last election, voter turnout for Republican men was 57% among men under 30, leading people to wonder: why is this issue occurring?
On the Democrat’s website, a promise of inclusion is displayed with a list of personal identities Democrats vow to put their best foot forward to serve. Reading down the list, you can see virtually every group except for men. Granted, the left recognizes that these groups have been marginalized and setback for years, leading to more attention being granted to them. However, the average male will not perceive it this way. Instead, it will serve as another reminder of how their struggles are frequently left behind and unheard. Actions like these dissuade men from voting blue. Most men are never told what can be done for them, but rather what they should do for others. To men, the Democratic party has continuously downplayed the obstacles they believe they face. When pushed away, one will be led to where they are told they are important. Unfortunately, the place where they are important is in the right-wing manosphere.
The right-wing manosphere is a collection of internet subcultures centered around men and how they are “the prize.” It feeds on the false notion that female empowerment must equal male disempowerment, and the idea that men are the actual marginalized group in modern America. With popular creators in this sphere, such as Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan, endorsing Trump in the recent election, it was no surprise that Trump did exceptionally well with male voters. To an unfortunate number of men in America, Andrew Tate is the pinnacle of true masculinity: wealthy, outspoken and brimming with testosterone. He gets their every thought and understands just how hard it must be to be a “traditional man” in an increasingly degenerate country. Men are misled to think that it is the manly decision to vote Red because Republicans are the only party who can empathize with men. This is why Democrats have been searching for their own “Joe Rogan of the Left”—someone young men can look up to and strive to be like. However, there is a bigger issue that Democrats face, which isn’t just the lack of their own Joe Rogan. To young viewers, the Left has become increasingly uncool.
Democrats have an unappealing air of moral superiority. Rarely do they accept that people can change from bigoted past views and instead they choose to hold it against them for the rest of their lives. A recent example of this is when DNC member Harry Sisson was “accused” of exchanging nudes with women despite telling them they were the only one. His close colleague Dean Withers went live to publicly disavow his actions and distance himself from Sisson. What Sisson did was nothing short of average immature behavior you would expect from a 20-year-old, yet there was a deeper argument that could have been made. Yes, Sisson’s actions were deplorable; but to alienate him for these actions only shows young male voters that this is what the Democratic Party stands for. It seems that Democrats think that if you have ever participated in modern casual dating practices, you should be shamed and booed off the internet. How do we think we will garner more male votes if we continuously force this “holier than thou” energy?
To increase male Democratic turnout, the party must re-evaluate how they campaign moving forward. We do not need to center men in the way the right-wing does; after all, we live in reality, and in reality, men are more privileged. But I do believe that we should take another tone when talking to men. Instead of talking down to men about what they can do for us, we should occasionally ask what we can do for them. People do not live in a monolith of their identities. Instead of pushing people away by responding, “It’s not my job to educate you; you should learn to be less ignorant yourself,” we should lead them to the resources that will best equip them to make insightful decisions. It is only once Democrats change their treatment of young men in America that we will be able to take a step in the right direction and progress for 2028.