Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP
Supporters wear shirts with the message “Men 4 Choice” while waiting in line to see President Joe Biden speak during a reproductive freedom campaign event at Hillsborough Community College, April 23, 2024, in Tampa, Florida.
This story is part of the Prospect’s on-the-ground Election 2024 coverage. You can find all the other stories here.
Since the start of her bid for the presidency, “We trust women” has been one of Kamala Harris’s key themes. The vice president repeatedly underlines her support for reproductive rights so that voters know that she stands firm in her commitment to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade. Her pro-choice stance, however, may not resonate as strongly with one group of voters that has raised concerns in Democratic circles.
Young American men between the ages of 18 and 34 are the only group in a survey of 20 developed countries that has become more conservative—and Democrats have reason to be concerned that Harris’s strong emphasis on abortion may be contributing to declines in enthusiasm among the kinds of voters that she needs to prevail over former President Donald Trump.
The Harvard Youth Poll released in late September 2024 found that young voters overwhelmingly favored Harris over Donald Trump on climate change and abortion. However, after President Biden dropped out of the race, though overall support for Harris in her contest against Trump soared among young women (+47), the bump was more modest among young men (+17).
On abortion, a Survey Center on American Life report showed that 45 percent of all men identified as pro-choice compared to 63 percent of women. Young men were less likely to strongly oppose abortion restrictions than young women, 55 percent to 38 percent, a trend that is not only national, but global. An Ipsos poll conducted in 2023 revealed that 46 percent of Gen Z men thought abortion should be legal in all or most cases, far less than any other generational cohort.
Some college-age, pro-choice Democratic men are more interested in a range of topics rather than any one issue like abortion. “I definitely think abortion is one of my top things, but I think it’s just knowing what these people have done in the past as my biggest issue,” Emmett Hill, a junior at Morehouse College, says. “It’s more of a personality issue with everything being so polarized.”
“The economy is one thing, immigration is another,” says Samuel McKinney, a junior at the University of Alabama and vice president of the UA College Democrats. “But I really don’t like the way Trump talks about people he disagrees with,” he adds. “The issue I find driving me the most is the future of political discourse in America.”
Young American men between the ages of 18 and 34 are the only group in a survey of 20 developed countries that has become more conservative.
Another Survey Center on American Life poll, conducted in August 2022, noted that 70 percent of men 18 to 29 years old were focused on inflation and gas prices and 46 percent were focused on abortion laws. Among women in that age bracket, 55 percent were concerned about gas prices and 64 percent were concerned about abortion laws.
Some young Democratic men’s views echo those of University of Alabama senior Riley McArdle, chairman of the UA College Republicans. McArdle, who is pro-life and believes abortion should be left up to the states, finds that men are disinterested in abortion and are more concerned about the economy. His number one issue is inflation. “College students are already on a limited budget,” he says. “[Inflation] really does affect us in a way that it doesn’t affect a lot of other people.”
Sunjay Muralitharan, the vice president of College Democrats of America and a junior at University of California San Diego, notes that the GOP’s public messaging appeals to young men who are unsure about the future or how they’re going to provide for their families. But, as he explains, they do so in a way that “sprinkles a bit of misogyny in there.”
“That’s something that can easily be remedied if Democrats portrayed an alternate view of masculinity. As a man, you should stand up for others around you. You should work hard to ensure that you have the capacity to determine whether you’re successful. You respect that some women might want to spend their lives raising children, others may not,” Muralitharan adds.
Muralitharan also adds that Tim Walz “epitomizes” this “modern masculinity.” Walz was a small-town teacher, member of Congress, and now governor and vice-presidential candidate. Not only is he successful, he’s a family man who respects women’s right to choose. To combat the misogynistic rhetoric from Trump and Vance, Democrats can and have pointed to Walz, showing young men that if they respect others, they can be as successful as he is.
As the Prospect’s Paul Starr noted in September, the problem lies with those liberals and progressives who link “toxic” to “masculinity,” which leaves young men with the impression that Democrats see them as “nothing but trouble.” Combine that view with the growing disparities in college graduation rates between men and women and “rising distress” and “deaths of despair,” and Democrats are in a perilous electoral position.
The Harvard poll did show promising signs for overall youth voter turnout, with 74 percent of young Democratic voters stating they will “definitely” be voting in November. But the intention to vote doesn’t necessarily mean that young people will actually cast a vote. To solidify her support among Gen Z voters—who were critical to Biden’s victory in 2020—Harris must point to specific economic policy goals in addition to her firm pro-choice stance. Presenting young men with an alternative masculinity, one where you can still be successful while respecting women’s right to choose, will be critical to winning larger percentages of Gen Z men.
