Both in theory and in practice, they have everything: they live in the world's richest nation, also powerful militarily, subjugating and blackmailing with largely controlled media that sum up praises and try to hide the flaws of a system where violence prevails due to access to weapons and a wide range of drugs.

All of this competes as a potion to weaken minds and understanding of where they should be headed: such is the uncertainty of a youth who initially felt attracted to Donald Trump's narrative but today feels confused about their support.

Many young people who voted for the current president are dismayed by his term, according to media outlets opposed to the billionaire mogul such as The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, as well as those more inclined to support him like Fox News and the infamous agency Infobae. But, Microsoft News points out, they also do not hear an appealing message from their Democratic opponents.

As many estimate, in the United States "people vote with their wallets" and they have little, almost nothing, in consideration of the aggressions and abuses of their predominant military establishment, therefore, driven by economic anxiety, young men leaned to the right in the 2024 elections — 15% more than in 2020 — and helped Trump win the White House, which triggered a round of soul-searching among Democratic politicians and strategists, who were dismayed by the fall of this once-reliable demographic group.

A year and a half later, many young people say they are disillusioned by Trump's second term, and recent polls by The New York Times/Siena College have revealed that the president's approval rating among them has fallen about 10 percentage points.

At the same time, despite efforts by Democratic politicians to reach young people after the 2024 elections, many said they still had not found a convincing message that resonated with them, because their discontent went far beyond politics. They feel intimidated by an unforgiving job market, pessimistic about such personal issues as their romantic prospects, and generally insecure about their place in society.

NOTHING AT ALL

No party, they said, addressed their concerns, which is why Democrats raised alarms about various indicators of their failure: men are graduating from college at an ever-decreasing rate and are 10 percentage points less likely to earn a bachelor's degree than women; their average hourly wage, adjusted for inflation, is lower among the working class today than it was 50 years ago; and they account for 70% of what are known as "deaths of despair" — suicide or overdose.

However, with midterm elections this fall and another presidential contest drawing closer, many young people said their political loyalty remains entirely up for grabs.

Shauna Daly, managing director of the Talking with American Men project, one of many efforts to understand this cohort, said Republicans had woven anxieties about employment, homeownership, and marriage into an "aspirational version of the future."

"The connection between these things is a certain feeling that the world that was attainable for older generations, particularly their grandparents and their parents, is not attainable for these young people," Daly said, stating that Democrats had to challenge the appeal of "going back in time" while presenting an alternative vision. Some Democrats acknowledge they have no easy solutions to the cultural dilemmas that have drawn young people to the right.

California Governor Gavin Newsom suggested that Democrats had been "timid" on male issues. The party, he said in an interview, needed to preach an affirmative vision of masculinity that appreciates the desire to be a caregiver or a family protector.

"These are not things that men should be ashamed of," Newsom said. Still, many Democrats said they were confident that most young people are more open to liberal views than recent conventional wisdom suggests.

Arianna Jones, executive director of NextGen America, a liberal group, said her organization had held informal text conversations, called Pulse Check, with 35,000 voters on college campuses in recent weeks, asking them about the issues that matter most to young people. Cultural or gender issues did not make the list.

Instead, they found that what mattered most to the young voters they surveyed was corruption and Trump's perceived authoritarianism, as well as the economy. Behind that, war with Iran was a major concern, Jones said: respondents worried about gas prices and felt Trump had abandoned his promise to avoid foreign entanglements.

ECONOMIC INSECURITY

Above all, the root of young men's anxieties is economic insecurity.

Jobs traditionally held by men, such as manufacturing, are declining, while "care economy" roles historically dominated by women, such as nursing and teaching, are projected to increase by 1.6 million by 2033.

A group of politicians — some considered potential presidential contenders in 2028 — have focused on possible solutions, such as Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox.

The most prominent of this group appear to be two Democratic governors, Newsom and Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who have launched initiatives in their states aimed at incentivizing more men to become schoolteachers, as well as addressing mental health issues and increasing job opportunities that do not require a college degree. "We are seeing so many of our young people and boys not as if they are a problem to be solved," Moore said in an interview, but rather as "an asset to be unearthed."

Newsom has reflected publicly on the difficulties of young men. At a symposium in Sacramento in March, he said he had begun to follow these issues closely after discovering that his son was following right-wing influencers online.

He said he continues to hear from young people expressing "this sense of hopelessness, that both parties have abandoned them."
They felt Trump had not "delivered on the promotion and promise in any meaningful and substantive way," Newsom said. "But at the same time, they don't feel that our party offers an alternative."

REFLECTION

In a society like that of the United States, where private property in the hands of the same old exploiters controls everything and they are only interested in profit, young people find that their development collides with the high cost of health care and, above all, education, forcing them to abandon their studies, nullifying their vocation.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff