Democrats: Solving the 'man problem'

A man wearing a MAGA hat — Many young men "view Democrats as weak" and want "leadership that signals strength" (Image credit: AP)

Democrats have revealed a central prong of their strategy to "connect with men," said Nia-Malika Henderson in Bloomberg, and the operative word is "cringe." To discover a message that will help win back the young male voters who have fled the party in droves, Democrats are spending $20 million on an initiative code-named SAM, which stands for "Speaking With American Men: A Strategic Plan." It will study male-dominated online communities and, says the prospectus, "the syntax, language, and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces." Great. To relate to disaffected males who see Democrats as "elite, risk-averse technocrats," the party's plan is to have high-paid consultants study them "as if they're an alien species." I can break it down for free, said Rikki Schlott in the New York Post. "It's all the man-bashing." Democrats are "hemorrhaging" young men because they push a progressive ideology that maligns everything from workouts to red meat as right wing, and trashes masculinity as "intrinsically toxic."

SAM has been ridiculed across the board, including by left-wing podcasters, said Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez in Rolling Stone. But the consultants behind it are trying to "engage with real problems." They include the financial worries faced by young men, who are being outpaced by women in the workplace, and the fact that many "view Democrats as weak" and want "leadership that signals strength" in an unstable world—something they believe Trump provides. Democrats' man problem is overblown, said Michael A. Cohen in MSNBC.com. Yes, there was an 11-point male voter shift to Republicans from 2020 to 2024. But polling across the past four elections shows male support dropped sharply when Democrats ran a woman—"and rebounded when the party nominated a man."

Reaching young men is a worthy goal, said David French in The New York Times, but too many are getting this "backward." What resonates with them is not a political message, but a personal one. At a time when young men are struggling, right-wing influencers approach them "from a perceived place of love and affection." It's a "profound shift" from the message of "the cultural left": that the "future is female," and masculine traits such as stoicism and competitiveness are harmful. To hear that they're valued and loved, "our sons should not have to turn to books or podcasts or social media." It's up to us—parents, teachers, pastors—to "fill the void in young men's hearts" and offer "a vision of masculine virtue" that embraces compassion instead of MAGA's vicious aggression.