Democrats are increasingly frustrated by their party’s approach to luring back men who supported President Trump in November’s election.
In more than a dozen interviews, Democrats griped that while it’s still early, they have been underwhelmed by the initial efforts of their party to understand what went wrong and how they can rebuild.
“We have to refocus the party on what it once was and the reason I joined it 30 years ago, which was because it was the party of the working class and working families,” said Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, who served as a senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during his 2020 presidential campaign.
“When you’re not talking about the working family, you’re never going to get these men back,” Rocha said. “I see a lot of people flailing about, spending money on focus groups and polling, which is not going to fix the problem.”
Rocha was referring to a New York Times story late last month that highlighted a $20 million effort launched by Democrats to “reverse the erosion of Democratic spending,” particularly among young men.
The effort has a name — SAM — which stands for “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan,” and it details how it will “study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces.”
“Above all, we must shift from a moralizing tone,” stated the effort’s principles and guidelines, which the Times obtained.
But the effort quickly became a punchline with Democrats as political pundits and the hosts of “The View” largely declared it a waste of money and inauthentic.
During the 2024 campaign, Republicans became better at speaking to men through podcasts like the “Joe Rogan Experience” and through conservative influencers including Theo Von.
“They kicked our asses all over the place with these guys,” one top Democratic strategist acknowledged. “They met male voters exactly where they were and we, on the other hand, had nothing comparable.”
The GOP’s message to voters during the 2024 cycle was also bite-sized and digestible, even Democrats acknowledge now. While Democrats were speaking to voters about “democracy,” Republicans homed in on issues that male voters found more relatable including the economy and immigration.
As a result, 56 percent of young men supported Trump in 2024, a significant bump for the president in that demographic. In 2020, 41 percent supported the president, according to an analysis of Associated Press exit polls.
Now, more than six months into their efforts, Democrats say their party is largely still missing the point of why so many men — including some Democrats and independents — abandoned their party in support of Trump.
They appear to have not learned their lesson in why they lost, some Democrats acknowledge.
“One pretty simple and obvious answer: If you want blue-collar men — and women — to support you, go hang out with them and their unions,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale, who has spent considerable time working with unions and their members. “The answer is so obvious that it could only be missed by a convening of Ph.D. political scientists and billionaires trying to study them like they’re some exotic species.”
Vale quipped that Democrats were still in the “hey, let’s have another conference” phase of their rebuilding efforts. At the same time, he urged his party’s leaders to find candidates and staff who “talk to voters like a normal human and not someone who is looking to lift up a debate about the abundance agenda.”
There is some hope for Democrats seeking to rebuild.
A string of polls show that Trump’s approval rating with men may be taking a hit, giving Democrats a boost as they plan for the midterm elections next fall.
A Pew Research poll revealed that Trump fell from a 52 percent approval rating in February among men to 44 percent in April. And an Economist/YouGov poll showed that Trump’s approval rating also fell from 55 percent in March to 45 percent in April among male respondents.
Still, even if Trump loses support, Democrats say they need to offer more.
“We need authenticity and you can’t manufacture it in a lab, a war room or a donor meeting,” said Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist who served as an aide for the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “We can’t figure this out in a week or two. It has to be part of an ongoing conversation, and we’re just not there yet.”
Democrats need to get a better idea of what motivates men, Mollineau said. And, he added, “it’s going to take some time to know if we got it right because the odd-year elections aren’t always the greatest barometer.”
Rocha said Democrats need to change their ways of thinking. He said his party should take a page from Sen. Ruben Gallego’s successful campaign last cycle, when the Arizona Democrat hosted boxing matches and met supporters at a rodeo to win over their support.
“The missing piece is we’re still relying on the same people who broke the problem to fix the problem,” Rocha said.
First, Rocha said, Democrats need to have an open dialogue with voters.
“It’s common knowledge that we got our ass beat,” Rocha said. “Part of winning back these men is to explain that we’ve lost our way with this party. It gives you credibility.”
“We’re not going to win back all of them, but we don’t need all of them,” he added. “We need to win back 20 percent, and then we can win every election.”
