A Democratic donor group recently undertook a well-publicized, two-year, $20 million study aimed at developing a strategy to recruit young male voters. Since men under the age of 30 broke for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election by a 12% margin, his opposition is desperate to win back the crucial voting bloc.

The Speaking with American Men plan, as a published proposal, carries analytical section subheads such as “What do young men think about? Understanding the Shift” and “Authentic Upstream Cultural Engagement.” The introduction says:

Recommended Stories

• The 'anti-Zionist' threat: American Jews increasingly the target of anti-Israel violence
• The presidents and Iran, a history
• McDonald's vs. the media: There will never be another political showman like Trump

“Young men are facing challenges in education, employment, and social mobility, while also navigating evolving societal expectations around masculinity. Many feel sidelined by progressive narratives that do not fully acknowledge their struggles or aspirations. The Democratic Party‘s failure to engage them has allowed conservative influencers to dominate the conversation, offering them a sense of identity and purpose that Democrats have neglected.”

Within the plan, young males voting Republican are not described as independent or rebellious but as unhappy, struggling, and misinformed. The report’s academic, diagnostic tone begs the question whether the effort hints at an overly cerebral, distant approach to more sensitive questions.

Is the Democratic Party and the progressive philosophies currently guiding it inherently feminine and certain to alienate many males? Does the tendency by some members of the Democratic coalition to attack men as toxic drive their targeted recruits away? Is the study looking to understand today’s masculine identity, or do its authors hope to feminize its subjects?

Michael A. Genovese, president of the Global Policy Institute and author of Presidential Power and Nuclear Arms, sees the rightward shift of young men as a backlash against the rise of women.

“Women are going to college and graduating from law and med schools at a higher rate than men,” Genovese said. “That means that the center of power and influence is beginning to lean towards women in the workplace. This is a threat to male identity.”

Genovese wasn’t afraid to adopt a left-leaning take when examining the history of masculine and feminine identities in politics.

“While I am always reluctant to quote (Karl) Marx, he certainly was right about one thing: Men’s superior earning capacity has guaranteed their power over women,” he said. “Thirty and 40 years ago, women went to college to, among other things, find a suitable husband and breadwinner. What was once an intelligent calculation is no longer valid. Today, the prospects of women are of a higher order than those of men. And, as long as men (boys) eschew college, this trend will increase. Some men have reacted with hostility and resentment.”

While Genovese believes Democrats have profited from a commitment to women’s rights issues, he sees the party as easily defined as “feminine” and often at odds with men.

“The Republicans under Trump were able to exploit this cleavage,” he said. “Donald Trump gave men permission to fully express their resentments,” including “Trump’s comments about how women look, his overt sexism,” and “his macho style appeals to young men who are confused and feeling left behind.”

Genovese’s remarks echo an underlying tone of pity or disapproval in the Democratic efforts to understand masculinity and win over young men. An examination of the SAM report reveals a perception of these males as lost, troubled, or duped, instead of seeing them as a socio-political category with a different or more aggressive worldview.

In the published plan section “Track User Journeys,” the SAM preparers say, “Young men don’t get radicalized by accident. They go online looking for information, and the right has become very adept at utilizing the algorithms to cycle them into a right-wing funnel. By better understanding this journey, we can be where they are, exploring alternative pathways through content and conversations.”

In that statement, male voters are not moderate, right-leaning, or conservative. They are “radicalized” and need to be led out of that affliction. In line with the therapeutic tones of that statement, Genovese said he wonders if Democrats can get young men “to face reality” and develop policies that address the needs and concerns of males he sees as left behind.

Most right-leaning commentators view SAM dubiously, if not outright mocking the concept of studying an American voting bloc as though it’s the topic of a nature documentary. CNN conservative commentator Shermichael Singleton summed up the view on X:

“Democrats have a serious problem with men. ‘Trump is bad’ isn’t a platform. ‘Democracy is at stake’ isn’t a message. Men want purpose, stability, respect, not lectures about toxic masculinity. Until Democrats get that, they’ll keep losing male voters.”

Moving away from the purely political perspective on the masculine/feminine policy matter, economist Randy Albelda believes 20-something-year-old men are driven to Trump due to very basic concerns.

“Housing costs, food costs, and low wages in many jobs mean the economic situation for many young people is difficult,” Albelda said. “I think that progressive Democrats are talking about policies that young women understand to be in their economic interests, like child care, educational opportunity (in particular debt forgiveness), paid family and medical leave, health insurance, and dealing with climate change.”

The senior research fellow for the Center for Economic and Policy Research believes those women’s problems are in the economic interests of young men, but not immediately.

“It is still the case that women do more care work than men,” she added. “Men may not see these issues as important to them, or don’t see how these policies might make their economic lives less difficult.  In any event, these economic issues seem to be far less appealing than Trump’s very intentional cultural stroking of the manosphere.”

ISRAEL LOOKS TO US TO HIT IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR FACILITY

Considering the SAM study and use of terms such as “man-o-sphere” that treat the culture of young masculinity as though it exists on a different planet, Genovese said he wonders if its tone of examining young males as though they are children in need of correcting will accomplish anything for Democrats who can’t stop judging and criticizing the men they claim to want to welcome back into their fold.

“Republicans pander to young men, going so far as to celebrate their faults,” he said. “Democrats lecture to and point fingers at young men. Our politics have become so divided and divisive that young men, and many others, become mere pawns in the endgame of accumulating power. Each party deserves criticism, not praise for the way they have mishandled the very real problem of male identity in a changing world.”

John Scott Lewinski, MFA, is a writer based in Milwaukee.