‘They hate women’ followed by other opinions
The Re-Wire Policy Conference held in Tacoma on December 3, 2024 featured a panel discussion with five local political consultants: three Democrats and two Republicans.
We posed this question to the panelists: “Young men as a voting group received attention during the election. What do you see going on with young men politically?”
Watch each of the panelists’ reactions to this question.
Considering their responses, we’ll take this opportunity to call attention to our blog post published last week written by Cassandra Sage, an education advocate and mother of four sons: A Commission on Boys and Men Could Host Listening Sessions Focused on Young Men’s Concerns.
These were the five members of the panel on ‘Politics: Looking Ahead to 2025’ (from left to right):
- Sandeep Kaushik, Soundview Strategies
- Paul Graves, Enterprise Washington
- Eileen Pollet, Ravenna Strategies
- Michael Charles, Upper Left Strategies
- Kevin Carnes, Causeway Solutions
What’s going on with young men politically?
Below is a partial transcript of the video above.
Sandeep Kaushik: Next question. I think this is a good question. ‘Young men as a voting group received attention during the election.’ And I should say, not just attention but young men moved 29 net points towards Trump between 2020 and 2024 — young men of all races, men under the age of 30. Biden won them by about 15 points and Trump won them by 14 points I think. ‘So what’s going on with young men politically?’
Eileen Pollet: They hate women. I mean I don’t — women don’t like them because they hate them. So I don’t — pretty simple.
Kevin Carns: That’s a little simplistic don’t you think?
Sandeep Kaushik: Yeah [laughs], I mean…
Eileen Pollet: I don’t think it’s that complicated.
Sandeep Kaushik: So Kevin, you have a different take?
Kevin Carns: Well, you tell a young man that they are not good enough for long enough and they will react.
Eileen Pollet: No one’s telling them that. People are saying women are also as good as them.
Kevin Carns: Society’s telling them that constantly. It’s not as pronounced here, but the only demographic group that Republicans actually carried was 18 to 24 year olds, and by almost 5%.
Eileen Pollet: It is sad. Turnout in swing states with young people was up from 2020. Like, turnout was good! They just didn’t vote the same way that they previously…that we used to count on young people to be able to vote.
Looking to survive
Michael Charles: I haven’t heard any discussion about this yet, but I think that if we’re not talking about economics and growing inequality, and who growing inequality feels like it’s starting to impact, it’s 18 to 24 year olds that are looking for jobs, that are looking for careers, that are looking to survive in a society that’s getting increasingly more inequitable, increasingly more expensive to live in.
At what point do you say like — all these culture war issues aren’t impactful to me. It’s that I can’t afford to buy groceries, it’s that I can’t afford to do this. And those are the young men that are like, ‘Ok I hear all these other things going on, but really the only thing I care about is my pocket book.’ Whether that’s ok or not — you know, that’s a discussion to have, but I think that’s what men are thinking.
…Watch the video for the rest of the political consultants’ reactions to the question.
See also: Spokane’s Kirsten Fuchs on Youth Prevention Work: Cannabis, Tobacco, Suicide Prevention [Video]