Vice President Harris has ramped up her efforts to win over young men in the last days of the campaign, as former President Trump has show strong support with the demographic.
Trump’s strength with young male voters has been a recurring narrative in the campaign’s final months, though pollsters caution that some of these supporters might not turn out for the former president.
“The young men who are voting for Harris say that they’re definitely voting at a higher rate,” said Anil Cacodcar, the chair of the Harvard Youth Poll. “Voter intention among those young men who are voting for Harris, or say they’re voting for Harris, is higher than that for young men voting for Trump.”
Trump’s support within the group has always been relative, with Harris consistently holding more than a 10-point lead among younger male voters. Among those younger male voters who say they will vote, Harris has a 20-point lead, according to Harvard’s latest youth poll, which is the largest in the U.S.
Harris holds a far larger lead with young women, with polls showing a 30-point split among younger female voters between Harris and Trump. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found support among similar lines, with young women backing Harris by 40 points and young men backing Harris by 12 points.
In the last month, Harris and her surrogates have worked to drive up their score among younger male voters amid growing alarm from younger Democrats that the campaign was ceding its lead with this demographic to Trump.
“The Democratic Party cannot just assume that young men would vote for them…I have definitely seen an increase in outreach from the Harris campaign to young men,” TikTok influencer Henry Sisson told The Hill. “Different examples range from ads highlighting how Trump’s tariff plan would increase liquor costs to live streams on Twitch playing Madden 25 with Governor Walz and Rep. AOC…[They] have made a real effort to reach out to young men, which they’ll continue to do.”
Last week, Gov Tim Walz (D-Minn.) played video games on Twitch with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), which the Harris-Walz campaign pointed to as evidence of their efforts to “meet young men where they are.”
According to the campaign, a Twitch livestream of a Walz rally in Tucson had the highest unique reach among Twitch streamers and was the second most-watched Twitch livestream since Harris for President launched the account in August.
In recent weeks, the Harris campaign has also rolled out support from and events with influential men, including Lebron James, Mark Cuban, Steph Curry, Magic Johnson, Calvin Johnson Jr, Emmitt Smith and Bad Bunny. The campaign also recently launched Athletes for Harris, co-chaired by Curry, Johnson, Dawn Staley, Thomas Booker and Chris Paul.
“[Trump] has put more machismo out there, and there are young men out and loud for Trump, but then there are young men out and loud for Kamala,” said Simon Isaacs, who helps plan events for Hotties for Harris. “But I also think there are definitively fewer MAGA hats on young men compared to 2016 and 2020…there is certainly a very loud minority of men but I think we are also reaching young men and beginning to invest in a space that Democrats have historically ignored.”
Even amid Democratic insistence that Harris will maintain support within younger voters, Republicans are projecting confidence that they will make historic inroads with the younger male demographic.
“A lot of people are frustrated right now. At the end of the day, Gen Z can’t afford to buy a home, you know, can’t afford to fill up a tank of gas, can’t really afford to start a family or do any of these very basic things, stuff like that is going to get people out to the ballot box more than buzz words,” said Brilyn Hollyhand, chair of the RNC’s youth advisory council.
Hollyhand has worked with the Trump campaign to develop a three-pronged strategy to reach younger men: getting the former president on apps like TikTok, interviews with popular male social media influencers like Joe Rogan and Logan Paul, and on-the-ground outreach events on college campuses.
The Trump campaign has invested heavily in reaching out to younger men, focusing on messaging about masculinity and the economy.
According to Cacodcar, the messaging has been effective in pulling younger male voters closer to Trump than previous Republicans have been able to in this demographic, but this trend has been growing for years.
“We’ve been charting this gender gap for many, many years now,” Cacodcar said. “This gender gap has been consistently, consistently widening every survey that we’ve done since 2020, so much of that you know, headway with young men among Republicans has already been made.”
Rachael Dziaba, a research team lead at the Harvard Institute of Politics, said there has been “a lot of groundwork laid by Republicans” this cycle.
“I think the Trump campaign has been able to capitalize on like, feelings of the visibility, feelings of frustration not being able to afford a home, or, you know, afford groceries to reach these voters,” Dziaba said.
According to David Hogg, one of the founders of the March For Our Lives movement who now co-leads young voter mobilization group Leaders We Deserve, Democrats have “historically disinvested” in the group.
“I do think polls are overestimating how much young men are going to vote for Trump and underestimating how much young women are going to vote for Harris,” Hogg added. “I think a lot of the young men who are saying they’re going to vote for Trump in polls are saying that because they’re opposed to the system and they’re saying that to give the middle finger to the system but will they actually vote.”
Hollyhand also acknowledged a “possibility” that polling showing the enthusiasm gap among younger male voters backing Trump and Harris could pan out, but that Republicans “were doing everything possible to prevent this from happening.”
Hollyhand is on a college campus tour to mobilize voters, and the GOP has also partnered with Turning Point America, a conservative action group led by Charlie Kirk, who has been barnstorming campuses to drive out voters for the former president.
