The Left Mocking Outreach to Men is Doing the Right’s Work for Them

What’s up with the circular firing squad?

When SAM’s plans to reach young men became public, we weren’t surprised to be attacked by Republicans. After all, they’ve been making an uncontested play for men’s votes for years now. But we were surprised, and disappointed, by the attacks from our allies on the left.

Writing about SAM, Politico noted:

In last year’s presidential election, the gender gap leapt to 13 percentage points nationally, up from 9 percentage points in 2020, the Democratic firm Catalist found in its final 2024 analysis that. Men’s support for Kamala Harris dropped by 6 points, winning just 42 percent of men — the lowest on record in recent elections.

That gap became even more pronounced among 18- and 29-year-olds. Just 46 percent of young men voted for Harris in 2024. The losses tracked across every racial group, and the most pronounced hemorrhaging came among Latinos and Black men.

Republicans Are Taking Aim at Us Because they Relied on Young Men in 2024

Last week, Fox News asked President Trump about SAM, his son took aim at us, and Charlie Kirk focused on SAM in his podcast. Republicans are mocking the effort to reach men because they’re scared of what it means for them.

It’s in Republican’s self-interest to quash any attempt to compete for young men’s vote. They want Americans to think that young men are with them ideologically, but it’s just not the case. Republicans invested in a calculated, long-term strategy to make inroads with young men in cultural spaces where Democrats were absent, and it worked. They’re worried they will lose if they have to compete.

Republicans built a small majority that relied on persuading young men that the Republican Party heard them and reflected them. And Republicans know that keeping it requires holding on to this swing demographic. The GOP is mocking this attempt because it’s a direct threat to their supremacy in the space.

Democrats and the Online Left Attacking Outreach to Men Reinforces the Message from Republicans that We Don’t Care about Them

We should have a conversation about the specifics of how best to reach young men and bring them back to the Democratic Party. But one thing is for sure: seven months after the 2024 election in which they swung to Republicans in record numbers, Democrats staying the course or tinkering around the edges is not an option. And disparaging efforts that attempt to bridge the divide is not a plan.

We need a strategy that reaches into the cultural spaces that Democrats have ignored for too long. That does not require building “the new Rogan”; after all Rogan was considered a lefty until he wasn’t. But it does require something more serious than just heading to the local sports bar (not that we’re opposed to that). SAM isn’t trying to study young men as if they’re aliens, but we are trying to treat them as seriously as we do any other population of potential voters: asking and listening to their opinions and challenges, researching how to reach them, and finding messengers and strategies to do that. We hear regularly from young men that they think Democrats care about other groups, but not them. We can face that reality and do something about it…or we can prove their point to them.

In the aftermath of the 2024 election, there was wide recognition that Democrats’ collapse with young men was a wakeup call to the party and a dire warning for future elections. So it’s unclear why the reaction of many on the left is to dismiss efforts to actually try to repair that relationship. As another Democrat once said, “Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one.” Democrats have to build something new to reach young men, and SAM is looking for people who want to pick up a hammer.

A Recap of Some of the Analysis of Democrats Losing Young Men Since the Election

Democrats Have a Problem Losing Young Men

Why Non-white Voters and Young Men Drifted to Trump, New York Magazine, 3/18/25

The Democrats’ young man problem is real, Vox, 3/3/25

The political shift among young men that Democrats can’t afford to ignore, Morning Joe, 2/28/25

Harry Johnson: Democrats Need to Get Serious About Building Trust with Young Men, Courier News, 1/17/25

The rise of Trump bros and why some Gen Z men are shifting right, USA Today, 11/18/24

I’m a Gen Z man. Here’s why so many of my peers supported Donald Trump, Fast Company, 11/7/24

Democratic Leaders Need to Reach Out

Newsom Tries to Understand ‘Bro Culture.’ Will It Change Him in the Process?, New York Times, 4/12/25

Democrats Have a Man Problem, The Atlantic, 3/14/25

Senator Ruben Gallego on the Democrats’ Problem, New York Times, 2/15/25

Can This Congressman Help Democrats Win Men Back?, GQ, 1/27/25

Democrats Need New Media Figures

Adam Friedland Could Be the Millennial Jon Stewart. But Does He Want That?, GQ, 5/27/25

Comics like Tim Dillon helped Trump reach young men. Democrats want in on the joke, CNN, 4/19/25

Hasan Piker on why the boys are all right (wing), Vox, 4/1/25

The Battle for the Bros, New Yorker, 3/17/25

Could This 20-Year-Old Be One of the Democrats’ Bro Whisperers?, New York Times, 12/19/24

Trump’s Win Leaves Democrats Asking: Where Are Our Bro Whisperers?, New York Times, 11/13/24

What Democrats Don’t Understand About Joe Rogan, Politico, 11/11/24

Men Are Struggling

Debate about Men Falling Behind Goes Mainstream, Bloomberg, 5/16/25

The plight of boys and men, once sidelined by Democrats, is now a priority, NBC News, 3/24/25

The story behind the rightward shift of young men, Washington Post, 2/27/25

How Do Young Men See the World? We Asked Them., Esquire, 2/12/25

Culture

Dems have abandoned men who just want to ‘get laid and have fun,’ vice DNC chair David Hogg says, New York Post, 5/11/25

Not just a game: Dems need to catch up on livestreams to earn back young men, advisers say, Roll Call, 3/10/25

Ambitious Democrats Have a New Game Plan: Yak It Up About Sports, New York Times, 3/9/25

Stephen A. Smith for President, New Yorker, 2/14/25