WHAT TRUMP AND REPUBLICANS FAILED TO REALIZE ABOUT YOUNG MALE VOTERS

Rosie Gray, Washington Post, November 5, 2026

In a Washington Post opinion piece, journalist Rosie Gray, author of the forthcoming book Here Are the Young Men, argues that Trump and Republicans overestimated young men’s ideological commitment to culture-war issues and underestimated their alienation. Trump won more than half of men ages 18–29 in 2024 with a masculinity-focused media strategy. In the midterms, however, exit polls show about 65 percent of young male voters backed Democrats, and young white men swung from favoring Trump by 28 points to favoring Democrats by 20. Gray notes it’s unclear how much of this reflects young men staying home rather than switching parties. Gray attributes the shift to economic strain, including shrinking jobs in male-dominated industries, men lagging women in education, and worries about inflation, housing, and employment. She also cites opposition to the Iran war, made more personal by automatic draft registration for men under 26 starting in December. She describes young men as increasingly disengaged from institutional politics and cautions that their support appears soft in either direction, so Democrats shouldn’t assume they’ve won them back. 

MAGA MADE THE WRONG BET WITH YOUNG MEN

Young Men Research Project, Equimundo, Charlie Sabgir, and Ross Morales Rocketto, Equimundo bylines, Substack, November 4, 2026

Writing for Equimundo, the Young Men Research Project argues that MAGA wrongly bet young men were committed to a politics of grievance. Citing early New York Times estimates, the authors note that men ages 18–29 shifted 38 points toward Democrats in House races since 2024, voting about 61 to 37 percent Democratic. They attribute the shift to broken promises on the economy and the Iran war. They also draw on Equimundo’s State of American Men 2026 survey, in which young men ranked fatherhood and financial stability among the most essential parts of manhood, far ahead of fame or great wealth. The authors caution that most young men remain political free agents who punish whichever party holds power. In the survey, 72 percent said elected officials don’t care what people like them think, and one in three agreed that a president who “tears it all down” is the only way forward. They urge policies that support young men’s aspirations, such as paid paternity leave, stronger guardrails on sports betting and prediction markets, and more third spaces for young men without college degrees.

GEN Z MEN SPLIT FROM GOP IN MIDTERMS, BROKE HARD FOR DEMOCRATS

Joshua Feldstein, Claire Leibowitz and Abigail Walker, The Hill, November 6, 2026

The Hill reports that voters ages 18–29 broke heavily for Democrats in Tuesday’s midterms, including young men, who had been an important part of President Trump’s 2024 coalition. Trump won 56 percent of Gen Z men in 2024, according to AP VoteCast. In 2026, 59 percent of white men ages 18–29 voted Democratic, according to Tufts University’s CIRCLE. The article cautions that this doesn’t necessarily mean young men’s underlying politics have changed significantly, and it points to economic worries and rising living costs as the main drivers. According to the article, Gen Z made up 12 percent of the midterm vote, and Democrats credit young voters with a major role in their historic wins in Texas. Organizers saw unusually large numbers of low-propensity and first-time voters turn out for a midterm, and Democrats now face pressure to deliver on their campaign promises. One analyst quoted suggests the Republican Party faces a broader identity crisis that will deepen once Trump leaves office in 2029. 

YOUTH AND CAREGIVERS RARELY AGREE ON WHO STAYS HIGHLY IRRITABLE THROUGH ADOLESCENCE

Bioengineer.org, November 5, 2026

A new analysis of more than 9,000 participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study found that youths and their caregivers rarely agreed on which children ages 10–13 were persistently and intensely irritable. Boys and girls rated themselves highly irritable at nearly the same rate (about 5 percent), but caregivers labeled boys persistently irritable more often than girls (2.0 versus 1.2 percent). Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, boys reported high irritability more than twice as often as their caregivers did. Caregivers of boys agreed with their sons’ self-reports somewhat more often than caregivers of girls did, but still in fewer than one in ten cases. The authors suggest that growing independence and anger expressed with peers or at school may hide much of what adolescents experience from caregivers. For young males, the findings indicate that many who see themselves as chronically hot-tempered go unrecognized at home, which supports asking adolescents directly in clinical assessment.

RESEARCHERS WARN CLINICIANS TO BE ALERT TO HEALTH RISKS OF “LOOKSMAXXING” AMONG BOYS AND YOUNG MEN

University of Toronto, EurekAlert! November 6, 2026

A new commentary in the Journal of Adolescent Health warns that “looksmaxxing,” a fast-growing online trend of trying to maximize physical attractiveness by rigid male appearance standards, may put some adolescent and young adult males at serious physical and mental health risk. Practices range from ordinary grooming, skincare, and exercise to starvation, steroid and peptide use, skin whitening, cosmetic procedures, and “bonesmashing,” deliberately striking the face to reshape it. The online communities behind the trend can fuel appearance comparison and body dissatisfaction. They also expose young males to pseudoscience, unregulated products, and content involving misogyny, racism, and self-harm. The authors urge clinicians to learn looksmaxxing terminology, ask about appearance concerns and body-change behaviors, and separate typical grooming from practices tied to distress or impaired functioning. Where warranted, they recommend screening for body dysmorphia, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, substance use, and suicidal thoughts. They favor harm reduction and media literacy over dismissing young males’ concerns, and they note that masculine norms may keep many from disclosing body image struggles or seeking help.

‘YOU’LL BE A MAN, MY SON!: IT’S NOT A CRISIS OF MASCULINITY WE’RE EXPERIENCING, BUT OF MENTORSHIP

Samuel Cornell, abc.net.au, November 4, 2026

In an ABC Religion & Ethics essay, University of Queensland researcher Samuel Cornell argues that boys face a crisis of mentorship, not of masculinity. With rites of passage, national service, and present fathers in decline, online influencers like Andrew Tate have filled the void. They offer young males scapegoats and products to buy but ask nothing of their character. Cornell holds that real mentors want something for a young male, not from him. He calls for screened, accountable offline mentoring programs that keep parents and schools involved. He credits mothers’ central role but maintains that young males need male role models who answer to families and communities, unlike influencers, who answer only to themselves.

STRIPED AND HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH EXPLORE LOOKSMAXXING, YOUNG MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH, AND THE MERCHANTS OF MASCULINITY

STRIPED and the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health, November 2, 2026

On November 2, Harvard’s Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) and the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health hosted a virtual panel titled Face Value: Looksmaxxing, Young Men’s Mental Health, and the Merchants of Masculinity. The panel examined how looksmaxxing culture affects the physical and mental health of young males. Panelists included Drs. Gaby Vargas and Stefan Breitling of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Center for Young Men’s Health, mental health clinician and author Trey Tucker, and Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The discussion covered how social media algorithms amplify extreme appearance standards, how businesses profit from young males’ body insecurities, and how extremist groups use messages about masculinity to recruit. Organizers argued that protecting young people’s health requires looking beyond individual choices to ask who shapes these pressures, who benefits from them, and how to build healthier online environments. A recording of the webinar is available on the event page.

Dennis J. Barbour, Esq.

President and CEO

Partnership for Male Youth

Newsletter Editor

dbarbour@partnershipformaleyouth.org