The Guardian: 'A fatal miscalculation': masculinity researcher Richard Reeves on why Democrats lost young men

[Tommymac]

‘A fatal miscalculation’: masculinity researcher Richard Reeves on why Democrats lost young men

Good read.

In the months leading up to election day, pollsters were fixated on one demographic: young men. This group, often elusive in political data, was showing signs of a notable swing toward Donald Trump and away from the progressive viewpoints of young women.

Traditionally a policy wonk, Richard Reeves became an unlikely media mainstay this election cycle, sought after by those trying to decode the concerns and motivations of these gen Z male voters. Reeves is president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, which he started in 2023 to create research-based approaches to bettering the education, mental health, and work and family life of men. Many of the institute’s policy proposals were outlined in Reeves’s 2022 book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It.

Before the election, Reeves told the Guardian he was critical of the Democrats’ inability to talk directly to men about their policy platform. He pointed to poorer educational outcomes with fewer men graduating from college and worsening standardized test scores. He also spoke about the worsening mental health, loneliness and suicide crises among this group and the lack of willingness by Democrats to address them directly. Now, with Trump claiming victory with significant support from American men, he says he understands why so many chose to vote Republican.

SNIP

The expectation was we’re going to see this break towards Trump among men overall and we’re going to see a break towards Kamala Harris among women overall. But only half of that really seemed to come true. Trump did overperform among young men, but Harris underperformed among young women. That is a surprise. I think that an election that was initially expected to be about women and women’s issues turned out to be an election about men. My former colleague Elaine Kamarck, now of Brookings Institute, was on NPR saying that abortion just didn’t play as big an issue as people thought. It’s not that women didn’t care about it. It just wasn’t as salient.

Another data point to be discussed. Not certain I agree or understand it all yet, but we need to examine all threads to try to understand what we can do to mitigate the situation.

We can win Our Rights back - but I fear not in my lifetime.

[CrispyQ]

1. ...an election that was initially expected to be about women and women's issues turned out to be an election about men.

Of course it did. We've seen this play over & over & over again. I'm going to the forest to live with the bears.

[Aviation Pro]

2. Well, it gets down to the following, most of these "men" are doing combat sports and shooting

I warned many a few years ago that if you want to see where the country is headed just show up at a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio or a gym or an indoor range.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. "Harris underperformed among young women" - what's the benchmark?

Neither https://edition.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results nor https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/exit-polls/ show an age with gender breakdown, so it doesn't seem to be a comparison with last time. In 2024, women aged 18-29 were the most Harris-voting group of any by age with gender: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls (61 to 37).

So what are you measuring that against?

[LisaL]

4. The question isn't

whether CDC is going to take a gender gap in suicide seriously.
The question is, is there even going to be a CDC?