After an election campaign dominated by masculine appeals, young men shifted to the right for Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, Pat Verhaeghe didn’t particularly value Donald Trump as a leader.

Then Verhaeghe began watching more of Trump’s campaign speeches online and his appearances at sporting events.

The pro golfer’s YouTube channel series even featured a collaboration between the former president and Bryson DeChambeau, where he filmed a round of golf for under-50s while chatting with his partner.

“I regret saying this, but a while ago I thought he was an idiot and not a good president,” said the 18-year-old first-time voter. “I think he’s a great guy now.”

Verhaeghe is not alone among his friends in suburban Detroit or young men across America. Although much of the electorate moved to the right to varying degrees in 2024, young men were among the groups making this happen swung sharply toward Trump.

More than half of men under 30 supported Trump, while Democrat Joe Biden had won a similar share of that group four years earlier, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. White men under 30 were firmly in Trump’s camp this year – about 6 in 10 voted for Trump – while young Latino men were split between the two candidates. Most black men under 30 supported Democrat Kamala Harris, but about a third backed Trump.

Young Latino men’s views of the Democratic Party were much more negative than in 2020, while young Black men’s views of the party didn’t really change. About 6 in 10 Latino men under 30 had a somewhat or very favorable opinion of Democrats in 2020, but this year that number fell to about 4 in 10. On the other hand, about two-thirds of young black men had a favorable opinion this year about the Democrats, which was almost the same as what they thought of the party four years ago.

“Young Hispanic men and really young men in general want to feel valued,” said Rafael Struve, deputy communications director for Bienvenido, a conservative group that focused this year on reaching young Hispanic voters for Republicans. “They are looking for someone who will fight for them, who will recognize their potential and not just their problems.”

Struve called the assassination attempt on Trump during a July rally in Pennsylvania one of the defining moments for Trump’s image among many young men. Trump, Struve said, has also been able to reach young men more effectively by focusing on non-traditional platforms such as podcasts and digital media channels.

“I think hearing directly from Trump really made all the difference,” Struve said of the former president’s appearances on digital media platforms and outlets aimed at Latino communities, such as town halls and business roundtables where Trump attended in Las Vegas Vegas and Miami took part.

In addition to spending three hours on Joe Rogan’s chart-topping podcast, Trump also accepted DeChambeau’s “Break 50” challenge for the golfer’s more than 1.6 million YouTube subscribers.

Trump already had an advantage among young white men four years ago, although he widened the gap this year. About half of white men under 30 supported Trump in 2020 and slightly less than half supported Biden. Trump’s gains among young Latinos and black men were greater. According to AP VoteCast, his support increased by about 20 percentage points among both groups — and their feelings toward Trump also warmed.

It wasn’t just Trump. The share of young men identifying as Republicans also increased in 2024, largely consistent with support for Trump among all three groups.

“What concerns me most is that the election clearly shows that America has shifted significantly to the right,” said William He, founder of Dream For America, a liberal group that works to attract young voters and Harris’ presidential candidacy.

With his bombastic demeanor and a political agenda centered on a more macho view of culture, Trump framed much of his campaign as a courtship for men who felt despised by the country’s economy, culture and political system. Young women also leaned slightly toward the former president, although not to the same extent as their male counterparts.

It’s unclear how many men simply didn’t vote this year. But there’s no doubt that the last four years have brought changes in youth culture and the way political campaigns aim to reach younger voters.

Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign developed policy agendas tailored to black and Latino men, and the campaign recruited a number of leaders from black and Hispanic communities to advocate for the vice president. Her campaign began with a wave of enthusiasm from many young voters, expressed in memes and the adoption of pop culture trends like pop star Charli XCX’s “Brat” aesthetic. Democrats hoped to channel that energy into their youth voter mobilization efforts.

“I think most young voters just didn’t get the message,” said Santiago Mayer, executive director of Voters of Tomorrow, a liberal group that engages younger voters. Mayer said Harris’ campaign pitch to the country was “largely muddled” and focused on economic messages that he said could not be easily conveyed to younger voters who were not yet turning to the political media.

“And I think that the measures themselves were also very narrow and targeted, even though we actually needed a simple, bold economic vision,” said Mayer.

Trump also embraced pop culture by appearing at UFC fights and soccer games and appearing alongside comedians, music stars and social media influencers. His strategists believed that the former president’s ability to attract attention and make his statements go viral contributed more to the campaign than paid advertising or traditional media appearances.

Trump’s campaign also heavily cultivated networks of conservative online platforms and personalities who supported him, while also engaging with a broader universe of podcasts, streaming sites, digital media channels and meme pages to listen to him.

“The right has been extremely successful in recent years at infiltrating youth political culture online and on campuses, thereby radicalizing young people into extremism,” said He, who cited conservative activist groups like Turning Point USA as having an outsized influence in online discourse . “And the Democrats ran their campaigns in a very old-fashioned way. The battlefield today is cultural and increasingly online.”

Republicans could lose broad support if they fail to improve the lives of Americans, Struve warned. Young men in particular could leave the party in a post-Trump era if the party loses the authenticity and bravery of the president-elect.

Bienvenido will double down in the coming years to consolidate and accelerate the changes in voting behavior seen this year, Struve said.

“We don’t want this to be a one-time thing,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Mich., and AP poll editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.