In a weekend interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Gavin Newsom took a moment to speak directly to the Democratic Party about its struggles with young men. The California Governor remarked that Democrats had “ceded ground” on issues regarding masculinity, and that it has cost them electorally. In last year’s presidential election, men aged 18-44 broke for Donald Trump by 53% to 45%, marking a shift from the 2020 election when they voted for Joe Biden by roughly the same margin.

Democrats, especially liberal Democrats, often seem uncomfortable speaking to the plight of men. Historically in the US, women have faced very real discrimination in everything from the workplace to the right to make their own decisions about their reproductive health. Over time, many of them came to view the Democratic Party as the one which looked out for their interests. But what began as a reasonable effort to stand up for a marginalised group has sometimes led the party to simply ignore the needs of the other sex.

Far from creating a truly egalitarian society, men — in particular young men — are often now falling behind women in everything from education and employment to health outcomes, and increasingly report feeling unmoored and undervalued. Even many young girls now acknowledge that they are often performing better than their male peers in school.

The problem, as Newsom highlights, is that many Democrats seem oblivious to these developments, still stuck in a mindset that insists men remain widely more “privileged” than women and that notions of traditional masculinity are problematic. Moreover, as women — in particular, college-educated women — have come to make up a critical mass of the Democratic base, the party has correspondingly shifted to prioritising policies centred around abortion access, LGBT issues, and gender equality. Some have even pondered whether Democrats have simply given up on men.

Young men have taken notice of all this, and many have begun to rethink their loyalty to the party as a result. A Harvard IOP study last year found that though young males were much more likely to identify as Democrats (42%) than Republicans (20%) as recently as 2020, those figures had narrowed to 32% and 29% by 2024. Clearly, Democrats’ abandonment of men left an opening that Trump and other conservatives have been more than happy to fill.

Of course, Democrats other than Newsom are at least aware that they have a problem. Back in the spring, the New York Times reported on a well-meaning, if misguided, effort by the party to study how it can resolve this disconnect. The issue is that many see it as simply a matter of politics — something that can be fixed by, say, offering its own media alternatives to the “manosphere”. Confronted by popular podcasters such as Joe Rogan who appeal to Trump’s base, Democrats have engaged in increasingly desperate attempts to find a Left-wing equivalent, proffering the likes of Hasan Piker without success. Newsom has also moved into the podcast sphere, attempting to reinvent himself as a figure more palatable to swing voters who leant towards Trump last year.

His call for his party to be more thoughtful in resolving these issues is nonetheless a welcome one. He remarked to Tapper that “this is an issue our party needs to address. We can‘t afford, from an electoral perspective, to lose these folks.” He added that “Democrats need to understand it not as a zero-sum issue,” but as an issue that “defines our families, our relationships, defines the culture in this moment”.

There are some recent signs that Trump’s appeal to young men may not carry over to future Republicans. In last week’s elections, men aged 18–29 backed two moderate Democratic women for governor in both New Jersey and Virginia by double digits. Recent polling from a GOP pollster gauging early 2028 presidential match-ups also showed Newsom with a slight lead over Vice President JD Vance among young men.

Newsom’s efforts to meet young men where they are and show he cares about them provide a good model for other Democrats. But it remains to be seen whether party leaders — including the California Governor himself — will ultimately offer them more than just words.

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Michael Baharaeen is chief political analyst at The Liberal Patriot substack.

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