Maybe Democrats should try listening to men

The Democratic Party is still trying to process why it lost the 2024 presidential election. Unlike in 2016, when the consensus was that Donald Trump only won because of Russian interference, the Democratic Party seems to realize that its brand is suffering, particularly among young men.

David Shor, the head of data science at the Democratic consulting firm Blue Rose Research, is out with two interviews Tuesday morning, one at Vox and one at the New York Times, about extensive survey data his firm collected over the 2024 election.

Among his most shocking findings is not only did Trump win a majority of all male 18-year-olds in 2024, but he also won a majority of nonwhite 18-year-olds. “That has never happened in Democratic politics,” Shor told Vox.

Shor does not offer a strong explanation for this, other than to downplay anything the Democratic Party may have done to make it happen since this is a global phenomenon that Shor seems to believe is much to blame on cellphones and “gender-segregated” online communities.

But while both of those factors do play a role, I wonder how much it helps Democrats among young men when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issues a statement like the one she did last week that called on male senators to, “Listen to the women, For The People.”

Or when former first lady Michelle Obama issues a major stump speech for then-Vice President Kamala Harris telling women that “we have every right to demand that the men in our lives do better by us.” 

“We have to use our voices to make these choices clear to the men,” Obama went on to say, “that we love — our lives are worth more than their anger and disappointment.”

Do Democrats even realize how dismissive and patronizing this sounds?

I understand that a woman has not been elected president and that women are underrepresented among CEOs, but collectively, women are doing much better than men these days.

Women make up 60% of college students and 66% of college graduates. Women are far less likely to be the victim of a violent crime or to go to jail. Women are far less likely to die on the job and are far less likely to commit suicide. 

Yes, there are fabulously wealthy and powerful men, but most men are neither. The entire ethos of the modern Democratic Party is that all men are part of an evil patriarchy that has been keeping women down for centuries and that, at most, men can be silent allies who should “listen to the women” when decisions are to be made, according to Pelosi. And then Obama comes along and tells them “their anger and disappointment” are worthless in the face of the pain women are supposedly suffering. On their absolute best day, all Democrats have to offer young men are the hollow pursuits of pornography, gambling, and video games. 

The real mystery is why young men haven’t abandoned the Democratic Party completely.

Fortunately, there is one institution that still brings men and women together: marriage. 

According to survey data from Echelon Insights, while there is a substantial partisan gap between young single men and women (D+28), the gap between young married men and women is zero.

ELON MUSK, FATHERHOOD, AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Unfortunately for Democrats, married men and married women between the ages of 18 and 34 favor Republicans by 8 points.

Maybe if Democrats embraced a positive vision for young men, one that helped them become husbands who provide and protect for their wives and children, young men wouldn’t be deserting the party in droves.