Young Men

One group that broke for Donald Trump and allowed him to ooze back into the Oval Office was young men, aged 18-29. A lot has been written about Gen Z turning towards Republicans. I think that misses the point. Joe Biden won 18-29 year olds with 60% of their vote; Harris won it with 54% and actually lost men aged 18-29 by a single point. Her erosion among young voters - and I can't find the data, but I think it was mostly with young men - is what cost her the White House and plunged us into the orgy of corruption and incompetence that Trump brings with him like locusts.

This has naturally led to a million think pieces about how Democrats need to reach out to young men and go on Joe Rogan and Theo Von. I think that misses the point.

Author Jason Pargin makes the point that one thing that has young men upset is that we have de-masculinized work in so many ways, and this has an effect on certain groups of young men. Think of it this way: you're 24, you hated school and who were your teachers? Mostly women. You then want to get a good job, ideally doing manly things. Those jobs - construction, manufacturing - are tough to get, but you can get a retail gig. Who's your manger or HR director? Probably a woman, especially in HR. I'm sure there are male HR directors out there, I just haven't come across any.

Your whole life, women have been in significant positions of authority over you, and if you are stuck in a McJob, then you also aren't exactly prime dating material unless you're really charming. 

Resentment builds up, especially against women in positions of authority.

I don't think this is necessarily full-on misogyny. Sure, there are incels out there being venomous towards women, especially online. Overall, though, I think it creates a simmering undercurrent of resentment against women in authority and the way they exercise that authority. 

One thing I hate at work are these broad based emails that seem to suggest that everyone is making this one mistake and we all need to stop doing that. In fact, it's likely a couple of people but rather than deal with them, we get these mass emails. Now, I'm old and I'm less likely to take it personally, but it's still annoying and for young men, it feels oppressive.

Many of them will outgrow this. I did. I was - not quite resentful of women, but hurt by them when I was young. I tried to articulate it, but I was confused. It was just there and I doubt it made me more appealing to them.

I think a lot of young men carry some sort of anger about women controlling their lives until they grow up and realize it's not women doing that, it's just part of having a job or whatever. 

So, Democrats. If you want to win back young men, nominate a man. Unless you think Biden's strength with young voters was because of his youthful charisma, there seems to be a lot of evidence that young male voters just don't want to have a female president. I think they can grow out of it, and I understand not catering to a level of bigotry, but that's my suggestion. I don't like it, but I think it's true.