A New York Times/Sienna poll found that “men under 30 are much more likely to support” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris — especially when compared to women in the same age group. The outlet added, “In interviews with young men planning to vote for Mr. Trump, they described feeling unvalued. They said it had become harder to be a man. They valued strength in a president.”
Other interviewees felt the current culture in the U.S. won’t let “boys be boys,” with others raising concerns about an economy that makes it hard to “afford to have children” or “three meals a day.” Ultimately, NYT wrote, “many of the young men supporting Mr. Trump said they admired his strength and macho demeanor,” hence why a notable number of young men are leaning toward the Republican candidate.
It would seem, however, that the Harris-Walz campaign has caught wind of this and has recently sought new ways to appeal to young men. In hopes to gain support from this demographic, the Harris campaign created a Twitch account (a popular video game live-streaming service) in August. This account was used to stream Harris’s acceptance speech from the Democratic National Convention, and it received roughly 80,000 views.
Continuing with this method, Harris’s running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) chose to broadcast a popular Twitch gamer at his rally on Wednesday. The gamer, who goes by the title “Preheat,” has approximately 50,000 subscribers on the platform. During the rally, he was featured playing World of Warcraft while offering commentary on Walz’s rally. The stream was hosted on the Harris campaign’s Twitch account as Preheat “encouraged the viewers to vote for her.”
While the immediate outcome of using this strategy is still unclear, the Harris campaign’s efforts, as well as the recent polling, highlighted the topic of manhood that Family Research Council’s David Closson addressed in a comment to The Washington Stand. “We live in a time of crisis when it comes to masculinity,” he said. “For the last several years, we’ve heard phrases such as ‘toxic masculinity’ and ‘the feminization of America,’ and there are competing explanations and solutions for the plight of men in this country.”
Considering this “crisis of manhood,” Closson explained how it’s been in the making for many years, with “feminism likely being one of the many contributing factors.” But “when it comes to politics, the Harris-Walz campaign knows that their largest demographic is young women.” And as Closson emphasized, this is made evident by the fact their “number one issue in their campaign has been abortion.” While Harris “has flip-flopped on almost every issue,” abortion proves to be the one exception.
“So,” Closson continued, “the Harris campaign and the DNC has not made it a secret that they are running on what they believe are women’s issues, and the polls seem to bear this out.” In fact, this is what makes it unsurprising to look at the polls that show, “overwhelmingly, that young women seem to be favoring Harris and Democratic candidates, while Donald Trump and Republican candidates poll better among men.”
But it’s important to step “back from the particulars of this campaign,” Closson noted, and consider the “interesting commentary that occurs on the state of affairs when masculinity and manhood seems to be a part of the cultural conversation.” Being involved in ministry and serving as director of FRC’s Center for Biblical Worldview, Closson explained how he believes “pastors and ministry leaders ought to look deeper at the crisis of manhood in this country.”
“There’s no doubt that Trump appeals to young men because of his bravado, and because he projects an image of strength” in a time where “young men growing up today don’t have the role models and examples of masculinity prior generations had,” he added.
As a church, Closson urged, “We need to do more to seek young men out to paint for them a vision of what biblical masculinity looks like.” He described “the roles of a man as defender, protector, provider, and the spiritual leader in his sphere of influence at church and in the family.” Currently, “The church has a long way to go when it comes to casting a vision for biblical manhood from a political perspective.”
“I’m not at all surprised to see both campaigns seeking to poach the other’s voters,” Closson concluded. “What remains to be seen is if the Harris-Walz gambit of using Twitch and other social media accounts and video games will actually be effective.”
Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.