Back in June, former President Donald J. Trump appeared on a podcast interview with Logan Paul, the wrestler and social media star. They chatted about immigration and the economy, but also about boxing and the existence of aliens — which Mr. Trump described as “very possible.”
Finn Murphy, a 20-year-old college student in Carolina Beach, N.C., generally stays away from politics. But when he listened to snippets of the podcast, he liked what he heard. That’s why, hair still wet from an afternoon of surfing, he was standing in line last week alongside people three times his age to cast a vote for Mr. Trump.
“He’s strong; he’s a man,” Mr. Murphy said. “I’m here to make sure he wins.”
Young men like Mr. Murphy have traditionally been among the least likely to vote in presidential elections. Campaigns and pollsters frequently struggle to reach them, because they are less prone than most to pick up the phone, trust institutions or participate in politics at all.
But in this election, Mr. Trump has made a concerted effort to court Gen Z men, especially white, Black and Latino men without a college degree, seeking out the podcasts and influencers that they flock to and appearing on shows where he exhibits a bravado and disdain for cultural norms.
In recent years, young men have become more conservative and increasingly anxious about their economic status. In two national surveys conducted by The New York Times and Siena College this month, the gender gap among young Americans was stark, with young women backing Vice President Kamala Harris by 42 percentage points, and young men favoring Mr. Trump by 12 points. Mr. Trump is betting that he can harness all of this to motivate a wave of young men to vote on Election Day.
If successful, the gambit would be, perhaps, an even more surprising version of the feat Mr. Trump pulled off in 2016, when he persuaded a significant number of white, working-class and low-propensity voters to vote Republican for the first time. Young men without college degrees represent a greater challenge because past trends suggest they are unlikely to vote in large numbers. Pollsters and strategists from both parties said they were skeptical that 2024 would be any different.