Young men in the U.S. are trending more and more conservative and rejecting the Democratic Party’s fixation with abortion, according to a new report.
The liberal magazine The American Prospect published an analysis this week, trying to understand why young American men (typically aged 18 to 34) are turning towards conservative politics at a much higher rate than American women in the same age range and young men in other developed nations. The answer? Young men are overwhelmingly uninterested in the Democratic Party’s chief platform plank: abortion. Instead, young men are more concerned about issues like the economy, inflation, jobs, housing, and immigration.
A Harvard Youth Poll from September showed that, prior to Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and being replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, most young voters preferred Harris to former President Donald Trump, especially on the issues of abortion and “climate change.” However, once Harris did take over as the Democratic presidential candidate, she failed to garner the support of young men. Among young women, Harris gained a 47-point lead over Trump, but only a 17-point lead among young men.
One reason for this trend, The American Prospect noted, is that young men do not see abortion as a priority for the president, while women in the same age range do. A survey from the Survey Center on American Life, for example, found that less than half (45%) of men identify as “pro-choice,” in comparison to 63% of women. Among young men and women, the discrepancy was even greater, with 55% of young women reporting that they are “strongly opposed” to pro-life laws, compared to only 38% of men in the same age range.
The American Prospect also noted that an Ipsos poll conducted last year found that less than half (46%) of men in Generation Z said that “abortion should be legal in all or most cases,” which is a share significantly smaller “than any other generational cohort.”
A 2022 study from the Survey Center on American Life reported that young men are overwhelmingly more concerned with issues like inflation and immigration, rather than abortion. According to the study, 70% of men aged 18 to 29 held “inflation and gas prices” as top issues, compared to 55% of women in the same age range. Meanwhile, only 46% of young men considered abortion to be among their top concerns, compared to 64% of young women.
The American Prospect cited several college students in its report, including Sunjay Muralitharan, the vice president of College Democrats of America at the University of California San Diego, who said that “the GOP’s public messaging appeals to young men who are unsure about the future or how they’re going to provide for their families.” Another young Democrat, Samuel McKinney, vice president of the University of Alabama College Democrats, admitted that his party’s abortion priorities were out of step with his own. “The economy is one thing, immigration is another,” McKinney said of his priorities ahead of the election. He explained that Democratic rhetoric regarding Trump and “abortion bans” was not a motivating factor, but he simply doesn’t “like the way Trump talks about people he disagrees with. The issue I find driving me the most is the future of political discourse in America.”
In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, said, “Killing an unborn child is not and never has been part of the American dream. No one — even the women screaming, ‘Shout your abortion’ — actually wants to have an abortion.” She continued, “But people do want a way to provide for their future, have the ability to buy a house in a safe neighborhood, and eventually raise a family with someone they love. This is the American dream.”
Szoch went on to note that Democrats have “abandoned this, and apparently, they have succeeded in convincing young women that the American dream is not achievable without killing unborn children.” She added, “Fortunately, young men seem to be holding on to the belief that America is a great country — one where every person deserves an opportunity — and that starts with recognizing that killing unborn children cannot be at the center of the president’s agenda.”
Numerous other surveys and studies have also shown the Harris campaign floundering among young male voters, and even losing steam among traditionally Democratic voting blocs. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that “men under 30 are much more likely to support” Trump over Harris, prompting the Harris campaign to try to connect with young men over video games. Based on a series of interviews, NYT said that young men planning to back Trump “described feeling unvalued. They said it had become harder to be a man. They valued strength in a president.” Others expressed concerns over the economy, inflation, and housing, saying that it had become increasingly difficult to “afford to have children” or “three meals a day.”
Other demographics have also begun to break for Trump. The former president has received the highest share of support from black voters of any Republican presidential candidate in decades, according to polls. Young black men in particular are skewing in favor of Trump, even berating former President Barack Obama for campaigning for Harris.
In a shocking move, the Teamsters Union announced this year that it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate, but the union’s internal polling revealed that the vast majority of union members plan to cast their ballots for Trump. The Teamsters have historically endorsed Democrats for president and haven’t refused to endorse a candidate in almost 30 years.
Following Trump’s presidential debate against Harris last month, Independent and undecided voters largely aligned themselves with Trump, as did voters in battleground states.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.