When President Joe Biden was still seeking reelection, Trump appeared to make significant inroads with young men. The annual Harvard Youth Poll, published in April, found that young men supported Biden over Trump by six percentage points, a dramatic reduction of 20 percentage points from his lead against Trump in 2020. The poll also found that young men were far less likely to identify as Democrats in 2024 than they were in 2020.
However, Harris may do better at the top of the ticket than Biden. The polls that showed Trump gaining with young voters may be an “artifact” of a race that no longer exists, Boatright argued. “Much of the polling this year suggested that Trump was going to perform better among a lot of groups—younger voters, Black voters, and so on—than any Republican nominee in decades,” he said. But if Harris does well with young men voters, that indicates that the gender gap may be, if not overstated, then less important in the presidential race.
Recent polling has Harris making up significant ground with young voters in general, helping her gain against Trump in key states. That trend may extend to young men, as well: A late July poll by the Young Men Research Initiative found Harris underwater with young men who were not registered to vote but up 17 percentage points against Trump among young male registered voters. A Pew poll published last week found that young men voters aged 18 through 29 supported Harris over Trump, 55 percent to 31 percent, with 14 percent support for Robert F. Kennedy.
