Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz turned to his high school-aged son to figure out why President Donald Trump appeals to young men.
Trump made historic inroads with men, particularly those who are young, black or Hispanic, in the 2024 election, causing Democrats to ask themselves why they have lost the demographics in such large droves. Walz said that his son, Gus, explained to him that Trump “understands belonging,” and said that the Democrats failed to welcome young men into their movement.
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“[Gus] is pretty in tune to this, but what he said was, he said, ‘dad, a lot of these young guys [aren’t] voting on the policy issues.’ And he wasn’t dissing them, he said they may know the policy issues, but most of them don’t. They’re doing it because there’s a sense of excitement, a sense of thrill in this, it’s entertainment or whatever. We all dismiss that. ‘Donald Trump’s a clown. Donald Trump’s rallies [are] a clown’ … But there’s a peripheral side of that that’s not criminal but is going down the same road of saying ‘you’ve got a place to belong.’” Walz said.
Walz compared the sense of belonging young Trump voters felt to being on a high school sports team, stating that they felt they were part of a movement and belonged.
“If you don’t give a kid a place to belong, they’ll go flying away,” Walz continued. “So while you want them to be involved in sports and music and things in school, because they will go find a group of folks. And I think Donald Trump understands belonging, he understands groups because look at it, he gives them a uniform, the red hat. He gives them some chance, some talking points, whatever, it’s not all that different than when we built sports teams in high school. You belong, you’re part of this.”
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“It’s not so much the policies, which I think is incredibly dangerous. But I don’t think we went out to get them,” the Minnesota governor said.
Trump earned 56% of the vote among young men between the ages of 18 and 29, while 46% of that demographic voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Tufts Now. The Trump campaign made major strides to reach out to younger voters, particularly males, by having the now-president go on podcasts that are widely viewed by Generation Z, including “The Joe Rogan Experience” and Theo Von’s program.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” is the most popular podcast in the U.S., with 56% of its listeners being between the ages of 18 and 34, according to Edison Research. Eighty-one percent of its listeners are male.
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Rogan said on Oct. 30 that Harris blew her opportunity to appear on his show after her campaign asked him to travel to her for an interview rather than appearing in his studio. He said the show extended an “open invitation” to Harris, but that she did not take him up on the offer.
A majority of males, 55%, voted for Trump over Harris, an NBC News exit poll found. Trump became the first Republican nominee to win Hispanic men in a presidential election, earning 55% of support among that voter block, according to the NBC News exit poll.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
