President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, in part, because of his appeal among men, and he is once again leaning into the manosphere as he tries to help Republicans running in this year’s midterm cycle.
Trump may not be on the ballot, but as the president travels around the country defending his record and providing political cover for Republicans contending with the politics of it in their respective races, he has surrounded himself with male icons, mostly sports legends.
From heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to featherweight and cruiserweight counterparts Floyd Mayweather and Jake Paul, Super Bowl-winning football coach and commentator Jon Gruden, and power baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, Trump appears to be attempting to use tying their popularity to the GOP less than a month before the Nov. 3 elections.
The Trumpworld strategy is the next step in the approach it adopted during the 2024 campaign, when the then-presidential nominee and would-be Vice President JD Vance took the time to sit down for lengthy interviews with bro podcasters, including Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Andrew Schulz, Adin Ross, The Nelk Boys, and Shawn Ryan.
There were also the premeditated primetime appearances of the likes of Ultimate Fighting Championship President and CEO Dana White and Hulk Hogan at that year’s Republican National Convention.
But in the two years since, many of those influential men have become increasingly critical of Trump for a range of reasons, from the economy and the Iran war to his perceived lack of transparency regarding the federal government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein. Even the UFC fight he held on the White House South Lawn for his 80th and the country’s 250th birthday.
“They’ve all lied straight to my face,” Shawn Ryan told fellow podcaster Steven Bartlett this month when discussing his disillusionment with Trump.
Ryan’s disappointment is captured in Trump’s polling, with the president’s approval rating among men decreasing from 55% after his second inauguration in January 2025 to 40% this week in The Economist-YouGov tracking poll. A similar 15-odd percentage point decline is reported in Quinnipiac University’s polls, while Marist College’s surveys recorded a smaller 10-point decline.
Trump’s appeal among men brought more low-propensity voters to the polls, expanding the Republican Party’s electoral base and making male voters a crucial demographic for the GOP. To that end, Trump has been hitting the stump with athletes in town to boost turnout among Republicans this November.
Historian Craig Shirley told the Washington Examiner the strategy may not be enough for Republicans, considering Democrats have an average 8-point edge in generic congressional ballot polling.
“Voters are not moved by athletes or celebrities to one side or the other,” Shirley told the Washington Examiner. “Just ask Taylor Swift or Robert DeNiro.
“Have you ever heard somebody say, ‘I voted for [former President Joe] Biden because Taylor Swift endorsed him?’” he asked. “It makes for pretty wire photos and photo ops but not much else.”
Shirley, who has written several books on another celebrity turned president — Ronald Reagan, underscored how “voters are moved by ‘what have you done for me lately.’”
“Frankly, Trump should be talking about what he’s done domestically for the American people,” he said. “Tax cuts, rooting out corruption, taking it to the elites, etc.”
Yet, pollster David Paleologos told the Washington Examiner that the Trumpworld strategy is imperative because “independents are key to swing the midterms.”
“As a general rule, independent men have been more accepting and supportive of Republicans than independent women,” Paleologos told the Washington Examiner. “It is always easier to win back a voter who previously supported you than it is to convince someone who has never been on your side.”
But independent men have also been “struggling with the fallout from the two global conflicts dominating in the news cycle, including high diesel and energy prices, high interest rates, and low consumer confidence,” according to Paleologos, who serves as the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
“Compounding those anxieties is the threat of data centers in their states which might impact their water and electricity, and you have a demographic that is feeling betrayed,” he said. “President Trump is trying to change that narrative and bring them back into the fold, but it remains to be seen if those problems go away or if a campaign can be won on testosterone alone.”
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Nevertheless, Republicans, including those at the Republican National Committee, stood by the strategy.
“Meeting Americans at UFC fights, college football games, and through podcasts has been a key ingredient in President Trump’s success with voters who typically don’t closely follow politics,” RNC spokesman Zach Kraft told the Washington Examiner. “Young men find it relatable that President Trump loves sports and actually knows ball, unlike the soy boy liberal politicians who show up for a photo op and just hope both teams have fun.”