alienating their base.
To recruit new voters one needs to segment the market well, as resources are limited and one cannot target everyone, and formulate relevant strategies based on this. Geographical segmentation is clear as the focus was on the swing states for they provided the path to the White House in different combinations. In this election, the strategies employed by both candidates were divergent. Kamala, to her detriment, chose to primarily focus and keep hammering the same issues,‘ the right for a woman to make decisions about her body, identity politics, and Trump is unfit for office’. She, therefore, lost the chance to woo new voters; all she did was reassure her base which was unnecessary as they were going nowhere. Trump, on the other hand, was successful in reaching young voters of both gender, especially those who voted for the first time, Hispanics and Black voters, who in the past were safely in the Democrats ' basket.
This successful raiding of the Democratic terrain and coming out with 9 % of the votes cast by men 18-29 years demographic calls for closer scrutiny and is a topic of discussion especially on the conventional media. Why would they swing for Trump and turn away from the Democratic Party? On the surface, it would seem that they simply voted for Trump because he is a man. But research has shown that there is more to it than meets the eye. In a discussion titled‘ Nation Debates Modern Manhood & Its Attraction to MAGA’ on CNN’ s Abby Philips Show aired CNN, 21st November, 2024 the panellists discussed why this was so. It turns out that the Democratic Party‘ left out the men in its campaign and messaging’. Scott Jennings provided useful context to the issues by stating that,‘ there is crisis of young men in the country who feel disconnected and disengaged from the rest of their families, communities, and political and civil culture’. He continues to say that telling men who are trying their best that they are either not good enough or the problem has a negative boomerang effect. Essentially, it sends the message that " patriarchy is over " and pushes them to the backseat.
This is further corroborated by an article by Scott Galloway in his upcoming book,‘ What’ s Going on With Men’ and based on his research says;‘ young men are in a crisis of underemployment and under socialization. Manufacturing jobs that were once the ticket to the middle class for men without college degrees have been offshored making men feel like inadequate mates, employees, and citizens. As a result, many men feel stuck, isolated, despairing, and unproductive. They are more prone to obesity, drug addiction, and suicide, and are vulnerable to misogyny, conspiracy theories, and radicalization. In short, there is a crisis among young men who feel disconnected, unappreciated, and disrespected’. On one hand, they are battered by the economy, and on the other, by society, leaving them feeling trapped with no way out.
So how did this affect their voting patterns? You may be tempted to ask. In the same discussion it turns out that these young men desperately searching for empathy and a hero in their space, were attracted to Trump’ s unapologetic, brash, and tough guy persona, identifying not so much with what he said but how he said it. They also find the concept of MAGA appealing because it feels‘ fun’, like football and beer- giving it a sense of manly authenticity. It feels real and relatable to them.
As we have discussed, the Democratic Party ignored this constituency until it was too late, and when they did engage, they spoke down on them. This is something I will address in my next takeaway. By focusing too much on reproductive rights and bringing women on stage during the campaigns to talk openly and in detail about what the reversal of Roe vs Wade has made then go through, the Party further isolated the men. As a commentator wrote on YouTube‘ The Democratic Party has become a party of feminists and the alphabet community. There is no place for the heterosexual male.’ Another one had this to say,‘ Young men came of age in an era of " toxic masculinity " where males were being blamed for every ill in the world, and yet we ' re surprised that they gravitated towards someone, Trump’ who made them feel good about themselves. There is room for positive masculinity’. Though these are random comments they reflect what may have been overlooked by the Democratic Party‘ kwa ground’ as we say. It is important to state that young men are progressive and believe in women’ s rights and do support them in this cause but it was not the key issue as far as they were concerned and keeping on hammering it did not further Kamala’ s cause.
So why did Black Men and Latinos specifically swing for Trump like never before? Being minorities and due to historical disenfranchisement, they tend to get the short end of the stick as a matter of course. There is a bar of low expectations when it comes to them, especially the Blacks. Former U. S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette says that Trump’ s‘ direct communication style and focus on empowering black entrepreneurs resonated with a demographic long underserved by both major parties. The Republican establishment has historically failed to engage authentically with black voters, but progressive Democrats’ messaging hasn’ t been particularly appealing either, emphasizing a victim narrative rather than an aspirational vision’ She went on to say that Trump showed them that they mattered and had something valuable to offer and it is not surprising that they rewarded him.
This was echoed by Richard Reeves, The President‘ American Institute for Boys & Men’, in a discussion on Amanpour CNN, aired Nov 11 2024, titled, The Male Vote: The Dems fatal miscalculation & what Trump got right’. He says it was a case of neglect by the Democratic Party rather than misogyny that cost them the male vote, more so young voters.
In conclusion, gender was a pivotal issue in this election. Trump’ strategy of deliberately targeting by understanding where their shoes pinched and coming up with a relevant message hit home. More importantly, his persona rather than his policies or messaging, may have tipped the scales in his favour. One of the reasons Latinos swung his way by 12 points is that they were unified by one factor- conservative family values rooted in religion. The Republican Party being conservative on one hand and the far left messaging of Democrats on the other, made the Latinos gravitate to the right.
So in the battle of the anatomy, as it were, testosterone triumphed.
Take Away Three: Keep In Mind The Three M’ s: Message, Messenger & Media
This take-away regards communication and answers three questions: what messages are being sent out there? How are they being delivered? By whom? Which media is being used? How these are answered largely reflects a candidate’ s strategy and Kamala’ s had three key messages. The first was on reproductive rights targeting women, the second targeted the LBGTQ community, and the third was to discredit Trump as unfit for office. As we have seen, these were far off the mark with the majority of the voters, especially the undecided ones, who were grappling with more urgent matters such inflation and a porous border. In addition, the Democrats, in their quest to be politically correct, used
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