The Quest to Bring Young Men Back to the Democrats

Ross Morales Rocketto, a Democratic strategist who served as lead organizer of White Dudes for Harris ahead of the 2024 election, believes that, after an electoral loss, Democrats tend to focus on “shiny objects”: the topics that they believe will appeal to voters—and donors—without necessarily giving thought to effective strategy. Morales Rocketto believes that the Democrats’ desperate focus on clawing back support from young men is the latest shiny object upon which the party has fixed its gaze.

But he worries that treating young men as a prize to be won assumes that they already might be lost. “I get maybe a little bit frustrated when I see things that are like, ‘Well, all we need to do is do some polling, and then we’ll have the messages that work for them, and then like, everything will be OK,’” Morales Rocketto said.

Much has been written about the social isolation that many men feel. But Democrats should not be surprised if young women are “collectively eye-rolling” over the recent emphasis on young men voters, said Thomas. She argued that there is still a very clear power imbalance in American society, highlighted by such occurrences as the overturning of the federal right to an abortion and the election of Trump instead of two different female candidates in 2016 and 2024.