YMRI in the News and other Political Gender Gap Coverage
There’s been much well-deserved coverage of the White Dudes for Harris call this week. YMRI is continuing to focus on the related, but slightly different, cohort of young men (who are certainly not all white).
The dynamics of the election have changed (a lot!) in recent weeks, but polls are clear that the 2024 election will be narrowly won on either side. Young men can be a potential source of votes for Democrats, if we make the argument to them.
YMRI Mentions
Kamala Harris’ campaign is reaching out to specific types of male voters
NPR, 7/30/24
KURTZLEBEN: Jackson Katz is a writer and cofounder of the Young Men Research Initiative, a super PAC aimed at energizing young progressive men.
KATZ: And so you'll see things like Men for Harris in a way that you wouldn't have seen Men for Biden 'cause that would strike people as very odd and even redundant.
“Will Men Vote for Kamala Harris? Polls Paint Bleak Picture for Democrats”
Newsweek, 6/27/24
According to a recent study by the Young Men's Research Initiative conducted from July 9 to 23, men aged 18-29 were more likely to be supportive of female candidates over Trump when presented with their policies, including support for high-paying jobs and affordable housing, rather than when they were presented with arguments centered around the importance of having the first female president. The study surveyed 1,092 men in that age group.
"The trend of young men drifting away from Democrats, and their increasing sexism, should be of huge concern to candidates up and down the ticket," the Young Men's Research Initiative study's author wrote. "But we can't give up on half of a generation that will be able to vote for another 50 years. This research shows that we can make inroads by changing how we talk about Democratic issues that young men already support. We should be using targeted messaging to reach them."
Other Coverage
The Election of Divorced Men vs. All the Single Ladies
New York Times, Jessica Grose, 7/31/24
“Republicans are sounding like a hostile manosphere podcast, with Vance mostly standing by his ‘childless cat ladies’ rant, and Trump using his speech at the Republican National Convention to call Nancy Pelosi ‘crazy’ and another speech last week to call Harris a ‘bum.’ Special guests like the Trump supporter Elon Musk are along for the ride, too.”
America’s New Political War Pits Young Men Against Young Women
Wall Street Journal, 7/28/24
“Vincent Lester, a 19-year-old landscaper in northeast Ohio, said liberals have failed young men like him by imposing what he called purity tests that alienate people with differing views. ‘A lot of young men are leaning toward the right,’ said Lester. He has no plans for college and lives with his grandparents, in part, he said, because he can’t afford his own place. The shift toward Trump includes Black and Latino men. Young Black men had backed Biden over Trump by about 70 percentage points in 2020, and Latino men backed Biden by more than 40 points, according to AP VoteCast. Journal polls found support for Biden shrank this year before the president withdrew from the race, leaving him with a narrow lead, as small as in the single digits, among nonwhite men.”
The Atlantic, Tom Nichols, 7/24/24
“The real men are not the ones who have to keep crowing about manliness and putting down women. Real men serve their nation, their community, and their family, and unlike Trump and his elected Republican coterie, they do it without whining or demanding credit.”
Hulk Hogan Is Not the Only Way to Be a Man
New York Times, David French, 7/28/24
“The Democratic Party must join the battle for the hearts and minds of young men. It matters not just for this election, though the vast and growing gender gap means that disaffected men could hand Donald Trump the presidency. It matters for how we mentor young men, and it matters for how we view masculinity itself.”
Politico, Laura Field, 7/24/24
“The one instinct that Vance and the rest of the New Right share is a deep skepticism about modern feminism and gender equality — or what the New Right calls “gender ideology.” Overt chauvinism that seeks to roll back much of feminism’s gains is one of the most obvious unifying threads of this varied movement, and Trump’s choice of Vance anoints and entrenches it into the culture-war side of the MAGA movement.”
Influencers driving extreme misogyny, say police
BBC, 7/22/24
“Online influencers like Andrew Tate are radicalising boys into extreme misogyny in a way that is ‘quite terrifying’, police are warning. Senior police officer Maggie Blyth said young men and boys could be radicalised in the same way that terrorists draw in followers. The National Police Chiefs Council described the issue as a ‘national emergency’ as it published a report into violence against women and girls.”
The Trump Shooter and the Growing Nihilism of Young Men
New York Times, Michelle Goldberg, 7/16/24
The Global Assault on Women in Politics: A More Misogynistic World Is a More Authoritarian World
The Economist, 7/3/24
The Economist, 6/27/24