The Self-Sabotage of the Male Vote

Why are men voting against their best interest?

I know you’ve heard this a ton, but this upcoming U.S. election is truly predicted to have the largest gender gap in American history.

Dubbed the "girls vs. boys" election, the presidential race is turning into the political Hunger Games. While young people used to voted pretty similarly (and voted in equal numbers for Obama for instance) the divide has grown over the last fifteen years. According to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, Harris leads Trump by 14 points among likely women voters, while Trump holds a 17-point lead among men. Even Black and Latino male voters have started to peel away from the left. It’s a profound split, emblematic of the broader shift of women increasingly leaning to the left and men shifting to the right, not just in the U.S. but globally.

Photo by Mariya Georgieva on Unsplash

While it’s no mystery why women have been drifting further left (one look at any JD Vance’s unearthed audio will tell you why he’s not winning over female voters), the narrative behind men’s increasing attraction to right-wing ideology is less clear.

Men’s Lives Becoming Less Manageable

But one reason for men’s rightward shift could be the growing sense that their lives are slipping beyond their control. Men are increasingly less educated, less mentally fit and more dislocated from their friends or communities. Their economic prospects are declining and their ability to protect and provide is dwindling. This decline in stability and security fuels a search for answers, often pushing them towards ideologies that promise a return to traditional familial structures, even if those promises are illusions.

Republicans Play the Man Card, and Democrats Miss the Mark

While Democrats rarely address men and their concerns directly, Republicans have capitalized on male suffering. Figures like Senator Josh Hawley have argued that the left is attacking masculinity, and have positioned themselves as defenders of "manly virtues" like strength, independence, and assertiveness. Trump has made being a male chauvinist his whole personality, enlisting men like Hulk Hogan and Dana White to publicly praise him as a "gladiator" and the "toughest, most resilient human being" at the RNC. This portrayal of hyper-masculinity was a core element of his appeal, framing him as the strong leader needed to face America's challenges.

But here’s the disconnect that keeps nagging at me: while women are moving left, aligning with a party that champions their core issues (like abortion rights, the top concern for women under 45), men’s valid struggles aren’t going to be solved by a Trump-Vance ticket. In fact, if you make a list of all the problems fueling the crisis in masculinity—like economic instability, lack of healthcare, and educational decline—many of them are issues that have been exacerbated by Republican policies and would likely worsen under Trump.

Struggling Providers: The Myth of Male Privilege in an Unequal Economy

Let’s take men’s inability to provide for themselves or their families, and how existential this feels for them given how central it is to the male identity.

Men's economic prosperity has significantly declined over recent decades, with wages stagnating and job security diminishing, particularly for those without a college degree. Male workforce participation has declined 10% since 1970. Additionally, the average male worker is making less today than he was in 1969. This is due to a number of factors ranging from the decline in manufacturing jobs, globalization, the increase in opioid use which leads to a broader economic squeeze that has left many struggling to keep up with the rising costs of living.

Men today face the added challenge of being stereotyped as universally comfortable and privileged, when in reality, a shrinking number actually enjoy such status. Many men are lumped in the same category as billionaires like Elon Musk, even though their lives more closely resemble those of working-class women. This is due to a growing income disparity among men, where the top 1%—mostly male—have seen their wealth skyrocket since the 1980s. Currently, the top 0.1% of earners (who are mostly white males) hold nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90% combined, highlighting an increasingly unequal economy. While there’s a large wealth disparity amongst women, it’s actually greater amongst men, and rarely gets the airtime it deserves. This disparity underscores a hidden facet of economic inequality that often goes overlooked in discussions about wealth gaps, where the focus is typically on gender or race rather than intra-group disparities among men.

Conservative policies like Trump’s tax cuts have further widened the income disparity among men, heavily favoring the wealthy. According to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Trump’s most recent tax proposals would primarily benefit households making over $450,000, with millionaires seeing an average tax cut of $70,000. Additionally, proposed tariff cuts on imported goods would cost the average household $1,800 annually, and Project 2025's tax overhaul could lead to higher taxes for many households earning less than $168,000. These measures would exacerbate the already significant gap between wealthy men and those struggling financially, deepening economic inequality within this group.

While men like Elon will get a raise from Trump’s policies (he gained more money than anyone in the world while Trump was in office) the white men without a college degree won’t, and yet almost 70 percent of them voted for Trump in 2020. While President Trump touts himself as the ultimate man’s man, he has spectacularly failed to both provide for and protect the very men he claims to champion.

Love on the Rocks: How Financial Woes Crash Men's Relationships

And your average man’s lack of financial stability has devastating consequences for his love life. This issue hits poor and working-class men the hardest, as they are now far less likely to be married than any other group. No wonder men are now more likely to say they want to be married compared to women. Economic pressures, low wages, and uncertain job prospects erect barriers to forming lasting relationships, leaving many men single and struggling to provide the stability traditionally associated with male roles. Even when relationships do form, financial insecurity often strains them, contributing to higher divorce rates—men without a job are 33% more likely to be divorced within a year. These economic challenges not only obstruct the path to partnership but also erode men's sense of adequacy in roles linked to stability and support, further deepening the divide between expectation and reality.

Another major factor contributing to men's decline is the loneliness epidemic and the current mental health crisis that disproportionately affects them. While you would expect men to support candidates who have their best interest at heart, many men continue to support the party responsible for defunding the very services designed to help them. For instance, Republicans have consistently targeted mental health funding. Despite men accounting for 80% of suicide deaths, Republicans cut off 900,000 individuals from access to the 988 Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They also proposed a budget that slashed funds for the State Opioid Response grant program, and proposed a $10.2 billion reduction for the National Institutes of Health. These cuts severely undermine essential mental health resources at a time when so many men are telling us that their need for support is greater than ever.

Men’s Health Crisis: Where the Promises Fall Short

Finally, male life expectancy in the United States has seen a sharp decline in recent years. And while access to healthcare could significantly increase the longevity of men’s lives, many of them still back the Republicans, who have repeatedly made it their number one priority to dismantle any healthcare reform. Regular medical check-ups, preventive care, and timely interventions can help save male lives. In fact, studies suggest that expanding access to healthcare services, including through policies like the Affordable Care Act, has the potential to reduce mortality rates and improve overall life expectancy for men. Men are also less likely to go to the doctor if they’re uninsured compared to women. But despite Mitch McConnell's promise to prioritize gutting Obamacare, a significant number of men, particularly white men, continue to align with the party whose policies would quite literally shorten their life.

A Missed Opportunity: Reframing the Progressive Pitch to Men

This isn’t just a sophisticated strategy on the right; it’s also a missed opportunity on the left to effectively communicate how their policies can benefit men. While the right capitalizes on rhetoric that appeals to traditional masculinity and economic frustration, the left has often struggled to make its case to men who feel left behind. And while their focus on sexism is crucial, the more they can expand their message to include male wellbeing too (and even better, connect both to patriarchy!) the more effective they can become at enlisting them to feel apart of the fight.

And frankly, there’s a lot of focus on how appeals to racism can lead white people to support policies that harm their own interests—like voting for tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy or supporting cuts to social programs that provide crucial support to their communities. However, the role of sexism in influencing men to vote against their best interests is often overlooked. Misogyny doesn’t just harm women; it also traps men in rigid, traditional roles and ideals that can drive them to make choices that undermine the well-being of women, and also their own.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash

Turning the Tide: How Democrats Are Making Inroads with Men

However, the upside is that this election already feels different. There are already promising signs of progress among progressives, with figures like Tim Walz exemplifying a strong yet compassionate masculinity that more explicitly speaks to the values that many men say they hold dear. I loved Jackson Katz’s analysis at of his DNC speech being a masculinity-theme pep talk where men were targeted in a more sophisticated way with football players and conversations about military service. By embracing leaders like Walz who demonstrate strength through empathy, accountability, and a commitment to community and family, progressives are beginning to show that their policies are not just about social justice but also about addressing the very real concerns of men in today’s world. The more progressives can offer a positive vision for masculinity that doesn’t rely on the platitudes and empty promises that are offered by the right, the more attractive they become to the disaffected male voter.

The long of the short of it is that Democrats have the best policies for men—they just need to get way better at pitching them. Men deserve more than just tough talk and empty promises—they need real solutions that speak to their lives, their families, and their futures. Democrats need to dust off those talking points, grab a megaphone, and start selling the dream and show men that supporting progressive policies isn’t just about doing the right thing—it’s about doing right by themselves. Let’s make it clear: the future doesn’t just include them—it’s built for them too.

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