Democrats Can Forget About Their Male Problem

Party officials are desperate to woo young men, but they can still win elections without them

Democratic donors are spending $20 million to figure out how to talk to young men. Called SAM (Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan), Democrats want to “study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces.” “Above all, we must shift from a moralizing tone,” the plan demands, according to the New York Times.

This idea was widely mocked in the press and on social media. It follows the Left’s obsession with finding a “liberal” Joe Rogan and other influencers to spread its message to the bros. Democrat-aligned groups plan to spend heavily on outreach to podcasters and influencers, hoping at least one will turn out to be their Rogan.

It’s undoubtedly true that Democrats are in trouble with young men. But it’s not going to be solved by finding a libtard Joe Rogan or learning how to speak in bro. The Democrats’ message itself is off-putting to young men.

Conservatives relish this situation and predict permanent political power based on the Democrats disarray. But one should be cautious about such triumphalism. It’s common for parties to despair over its loss of a particular demographic group and ponder how they can win these voters back. However, Democrats can still win the White House without going full bro. There are enough demographics who would vote for a compelling message to compensate for this deficiency. Circumstances can change dramatically in politics. Few thought Donald Trump would be president again when he left the White House in 2021. Democrats could stay woke and still win big in 2028.

It’s par the course for parties to do some serious introspection after presidential defeats. The losing party often obsesses over how it needs to win over a certain demographic to be victorious again. After 2004, Democrats felt they needed to moderate so they could win over “NASCAR Dads.” After 2012, Republicans felt they needed to embrace amnesty to win over Hispanics. After 2016, Democrats felt they needed to do something to win back working-class whites. In all three situations, the losing party won the next presidential election with a completely different program than the one they felt they needed shortly after defeat.

Democrats won in 2008 with a liberal black guy. Republicans won in 2016 with a guy who called Mexicans rapists. Democrats won in 2020 with the wokest platform in American history. The parties stopped worrying about which demographic they were losing and just ran on a platform their voters wanted. 2020 may be an exception as Democrats only “won” under exceptional circumstances that had little to do with their message. But in that election, Democrats didn’t bother winning back Middle America. The party just focused on its new coalition and didn’t concern itself with the heartland.

There are competing paths for the Democrats to choose. One side wants the Dems to tone down wokeness and move to the center. Another wants the party to adopt left-wing populism and aggressively challenge Trump. And others want the Democrats to stick to wokeness as it appeases various interest groups who demand gender pronouns, DEI, and open borders. None of these paths seem likely to appeal to young men.

The one way Democrats could win over the bro demographic is to take a hard-line against Israel. Nearly every bro-caster is critical of Israel’s war in Gaza and wishes America would put an end to it. This unites Rogan, Theo Von, and Hasan Piker. However, Democrats seem disinterested in going down that path. The most vocal Israel critics were primaried last year and Jewish Democratic donors feel the party still isn’t adequately pro-Israel. Many of the “moderates” who want the Democrats to be less woke also want the party to be more pro-Israel. That’s unlikely to do much good with the bros.

Democrats can’t rely on left-wing influencers like Hasan to serve as propagandists. They attack Democrats as much as Republicans. Piker and his cohorts think Democrats are too beholden to AIPAC and corporate interests. They don’t want their audiences to be loyal Democratic footsoldiers. Any influencer who becomes a mouthpiece for the DNC will not have as much credibility as the independent ones.

Even if Democrats did learn how to talk to young men, they still will offer little to this demographic. Young men view the Left as the side that wants to take their fun away and control their language. It’s the party for overbearing girlbosses, gays, and angry blacks. This isn’t a party a straight white guy wants to cast his ballot for. To successfully court young men, Democrats would have to piss off much of their base. This was similar to how Republicans wanted to court minorities in the 2010s. The Republican base wanted less immigration and no amnesty, while the GOP establishment wanted the opposite to secure Hispanic votes. In the end, the base won out and Donald Trump was sent to the White House. It’s likely the Democratic base will prevail against attempts to “de-wokify” their party.

This is evident in how the Democrats undermined David Hogg as a DNC vice chair. The young white male will likely lose his seat after a woman claimed his election violated the party’s own rules to elevate women to such positions. This argument worked on the party leadership. Hogg has complained that the party doesn’t know how to talk to his demographic. It appears the party cares more about pleasing its identity blocs than appealing to straight white men.

But young men aren’t the key to electoral victories. Guys under 30 aren’t known for showing up to the polls. They’re low-propensity voters. They turned out in high numbers in 2024 due to the unique appeal of Trump and outrage over the excesses of woke. It’s not guaranteed Republicans can remanufacture this. The guys may fail to show up to vote, and/or non-white young men may return to the Democratic fold. Even in 2024, men under 30 were a small part of the vote. Only 14 percent of voters were under 30, with the majority of them being women. It’s why Kamala still won the youth vote despite all the concern over young men.

Democrats are in a bad state right now. Their approval rating sits at an abysmal low and they can’t figure out what they are for. But they’ll probably decide on something and be competitive in the midterms. If the economy goes south and the successor to Trump fails to recreate the magic, the Democrats can easily win the next elections.

And they will likely do it without the bros. It would be in the Right’s interest for Democrats to waste millions on male outreach, as it will produce no results.. Democrats are never going to win enough bros to win elections. It’s as stupid as Republicans creating a whole platform solely to win over blacks.

The Democrats’ problems with young men make ample fodder for reporters, but it’s not a problem the party will solve. Even without the woke scolding, Democrats offer little to young men, particularly young white men. It’s a party ruled by women, minorities, and gays. If you’re none of the above, you have to debase yourself like the “White Dudes for Harris” did last year. Guys don’t want to be like that. They want to vote for a party where they’re not forced to apologize for who they are. Right now, that’s the Republicans.

It would be great if young men decided elections, but they’re too low-propensity to claim this status. Other demographics could drift back to the Democrats and give them victories. The future doesn’t need to be male for them to win again.