Catherine Rampell

Why Gen Z men love Trump’s reign of destruction

Trump’s appeal to the demographic might not have to do with his policies.

February 21, 2025 at 8:13 a.m. EST

Many Americans are disturbed by President Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution and nuking of the federal government. But one group seems to love what Trump is doing: young men.

New survey data show that support for Trump among this demographic has surged since the election.

In November, men ages 18 to 29 voted for Trump by a 14-point margin (56 percent to 42 percent). It was the first time a GOP presidential candidate claimed an outright majority of the group since 1988 (when George H.W. Bush swept most age and gender combinations in a landslide victory, unlike Trump’s slim popular-vote win).

Democrats have conducted many postmortems since November examining how they could reclaim the Gen Z “bro vote.” But they haven’t stemmed the losses so far.

In a YouGov survey conducted this week, young men gave Trump a “net favorability” rating (the share of who approve of Trump’s performance as president minus those who don’t) of +20. The numbers are noisy week to week, because this is a small subset of the overall population. But even monthly trends with larger sample sizes show Trump comfortably above water among young men since the election. In February thus far, they give him +8. For context, for most of his political career, Trump has been more disliked than liked by the general public.

Older men like Trump on net, too, though young men’s approval has been stronger on average over the past few months. And relative to women their own age, young men’s affection for Trump is especially striking — that is, the gender gap is much greater among the young.

Why? Theories abound.

Young men have been up for up for grabs politically for years, argues Richard B. Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. Endless white papers and activist groups have tackled the challenges facing girls and women. Social movements have championed feminist causes (the Women’s March, #MeToo). Meanwhile the economic, social and psychological problems affecting men have been largely neglected — sometimes even mocked — by progressives.

“A lot of young men had the sense that the Democrats didn’t see them as having problems,” Reeves said. “They saw them as being the problem.”

Yet in many ways, men are faring worse than their female peers. Young men have lower academic achievement. They’re more likely to still live with their parents. They suffer more deaths caused by opioid overdoses and suicide. Younger White men from low-income households in particular are worse off than their fathers on most economic and social measures.

Men today have also become more isolated. Americans across the board spend more time alone than was the case 20 years ago — but this is especially true for young men.

Smartphones, which enable consumers to sort into their own polarized echo chambers, might help explain why a political gender divide appears to be emerging among youths globally, says scholar Alice Evans. She notes that young women worldwide have also become much more progressive over time, which has in turn fed a backlash that alt-right podcasters and influencers tap into.

That’s arguably how Trump won over young men, too — less with his policies and more with his macho affect and his ability to help isolated young men feel welcome and liked. After all, Trump’s agenda has done little to address the economic and mental health challenges young men face. Indeed, Reeves says American men’s policy preferences haven’t changed much in recent years.

What about Trump’s policy choices since coming into office?

Some seem tailored to appeal to stereotypical right-wing bros, such as his war on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The administration has also advocated on behalf of self-proclaimed “misogynist” influencer Andrew Tate, who faces criminal charges in Romania related to human trafficking, sexual misconduct and money laundering.

On other Trump moves, the verdict is still out. The most recent monthly YouGov data show a dip in young men’s net approval for the president, though it’s still positive. A separate Post-Ipsos survey instead finds young men are roughly neutral on the president now.

On some level, the very things that disturb fussy establishment pundits like me —Trump’s strongman tendencies; his propensity to arbitrarily fire people and break stuff without regard to consequences — might appeal most to young male populists frustrated by a system they believe has abandoned them. These actions are certainly consistent with the “high-energy, edgy, almost transgressive” rhetoric that won young male voters over in November, Reeves surmises.

On the other hand, outcomes presumably matter, regardless of age and gender. If Trump’s agenda results in, say, more economic stress (higher prices, fewer jobs) and less access to mental health or substance-abuse care — both outcomes that seem likely — young men will suffer, too. Maybe their affection for Trump will curdle.

Ultimately, the key to winning young men back — whether you’re a politician, concerned parent or potential partner — is to stop “pathologizing” them, Reeves admonishes. Instead, start listening.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682014)

Yeah, duh. You've known that. You've known that the whole time. You just can't do shit about it because your entire coalition is dependent upon demonizing this subgroup. Now you're realizing that you can't win elections without picking some of these dudes off and you're panicking because you don't want to. So you're trying to figure out some half-hearted way to sucker enough Gen-Z men into voting Dem so you can go back to demonizing them as a subgroup.

Good luck!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682026)

"Ultimately, the key to winning young men back — whether you’re a politician, concerned parent or potential partner — is to stop “pathologizing” them, Reeves admonishes. Instead, start listening."

sure, that author will be the first to really listen to young men. you can count on it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682183)

any white dude that can be persuaded to trust libs after that is too stupid to vote in the first place

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682203)

What do you do when you reach an impasse like this? Wither away or go out trying to demonize white men with your final breath?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682397)

fortunately for us, libs have no principles and see politics as a path to personal power and enrichment. if they had principles they wouldn't even think about flipping. so, the same libs will hold onto power until they croak and bleat about how they totally love white dudes now to an electorate that will never believe them.

the need some transformative energy like how MAGA swept out the establishment neocons. but it doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. libs deify their leaders. like how they thought ousting mccarthy was an own goal and the progressives won't even force pelosi to put progressive bills up for a floor vote. any transformative lib is also going to have to avoid getting bernie'd by the establishment too.

they've boxed themselves in and are resistant to change because that would mean those with power giving it up. and it's sooooo 1800000000.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682448)

Rampell graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts (AB) in anthropology in 2007 after completing a 150-page-long senior thesis, titled "Hawk the Vote: Marketing Voting to American Youth", under the supervision of James A. Boon.[5][1][6]

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682180)

Interests

comparative hierarchies and heterodoxies, history of anthropological ideas, language and culture, ritual and literature, discourses of interrelated arts

Short Bio

James Boon has done fieldwork in Java and Bali and library research on the history of Indonesian studies and anthropological representations. His work bridges comparative studies of societies and institutions; colonialist ethnology; literary analysis and the history of ideas; and approaches to kinship, ritual, myth, music, and media. His teaching has addressed cultural practice and critical theory; the art of reading hybrid texts in ethnology; language and culture in endless translation; and dramatically cross-cultural studies.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682195)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LetjeMSbiDA

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682742)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682202)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GH6WQYzXYAEKHSs.jpg

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5683984&forum_id=2#48682204)